Dumbest thing a rightwinger's said in a while

[Partha]

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/ ... 014381.php

It must be said, however, that [World War II interrogators] faced a different enemy in a different war. The Germans fought to expand territory through traditional warfare, at least as arrayed against the US and the West. While they conducted sabotage missions in the US through espionage, they did not use terrorist infiltrators to attempt to kill thousands of American civilians. They also did not face religious extremists who believed that death brought them to Allah and 72 waiting virgins for taking out women and children. One can make a case that the civilized techniques of PO Box 1142 worked because their [Nazi] detainees also believed themselves civilized members of the Western culture.

Yes, folks, you heard it here. The folks who gave you Buchenwald, Belgen-Bersen, Treblinka, Dachau, and Auschwitz (not to mention their homegrown eugenics programs) were more civilized than Iraqis that we're fighting now.

But we're gonna give them democracy.

[Rsak]

I will take "quoting out of context" for $2000 Alex.

[Partha]

Put it in context, then, chimp.

[Harlowe]

Civilized was probably the wrong term to use - it was most likely easier because you had a country to target as an enemy, you knew where they were going, where they lived and what they were trying to do - basically you had a big red bull's eye target.

Don't forget the awesome lure of 72 virgins waiting for you!

[Garrdor]

Anglo-christo peoples aren't in a hurry to fight eachother.

The darker skinned people who deny your god - Yes, they will be the target.

[Rsak]

It isn't an issue of how civilized they are, but how they fought the wars against their foreign enemies.

The Nazis were shown to be uncivilized when it came to dealing with their domestic enemies, but they generally followed the socially accepted rules of war (Geneva Conventions).

Al Qaeda and Islamic Extremists do not follow those agreed upon rules. They target civilians for the purpose of inspiring fear and terror.

[Partha]

They target civilians for the purpose of inspiring fear and terror.

Like bombing London, right?

[Kulaf]

I think he is talking front line soldiers.....not german high command. You could expect a frontline german officer to afford you (an enemy) quarter if you asked for it and expect to be treated humanely in accordance with the Geneva Accords. I don't think you needed to worry much about having your head removed with a hacksaw when you were captured by the germans in WWII.

[Partha]

One word, and one link.

The word is Malmedy.

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tg ... 54-12.html

This is the link.

History, once again, not your strong point or his.

[Ddrak]

How the other side treats your guys is irrelevant. Trying to focus on that means you're completely missing the point anyway.

Dd

[Kulaf]

One word, and one link.

The word is Malmedy.

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tg ... 54-12.html

This is the link.

History, once again, not your strong point or his.

Again.....a special order from the german high command......and not representative of the general treatment afforded to PoW's.

[Partha]

You didn't click the link, I see.

[ZanypherCocoapuffs]

Romantic notions of war: civilized gentleman's combat. Didn't that shit die before World War 1?

Christ, war is war. Whatever methods, tactics, or situations you're in, war is pretty much what it is. It's not pretty; it's not fun; and it's not anything to be romanticized. It's hell, it's death, it's destruction. Whether you're being beheaded as a prisoner, shot from 50 yards away, bombed with napalm, obliterated with artillary fire, cruise missiled, flame thrown (throwered?), speared, run over with a tank, sunk in a submerged tin can with no exits, vaporized in nuclear fire, burned to death inside a wooden fortress, trampled by a charging horse cavalry, kamikaze'd by some wacko Japanese fundamentalist who forgot what solid objects colliding does to your health, gladiatored and / or lioned, sniped, or just plain old beaten to death with a fist, it's not exactly something to glamorize or be proud of.

I just kilt a man. I just died. Thanks for stopping by! See you in a war novel sometime!

[Garrdor]

*hands Zany an oscar*

[Rsak]

London was a military objective both infrastructure wise and leadership wise. That is not the same thing as using living weapons to specifically take out a civilian target.

No one is claiming the Nazis were good guys but the simple truth of the matter is they went about the war differently then todays terrorist organizations. That may simply be because the people interviewed were Americans and were of European descent and were fighting a war against other Europeans. They might have saw some of the actions as honorable because they are still within the culture of the people being interrogated. In the situation now we have a clash of cultures and it has quite a few effects on how we can effectively fight this war.

[Partha]

London was a military objective both infrastructure wise and leadership wise.

No. There were military objectives within the city, but the city itself was not a military objective. The conflation of the two is lazy and/or eliminationist thinking.

[Rsak]

A war is never perfect and exceptions will always be found on how they fought that war (Dresden by Allies, London by Germany), but you certainly can look at the whole and see what type of war they fight. Germany fought as a nation against other nations for the purpose of occupation and conquering. Islamic Extremists kill themselves to generate fear and achieve moral victories as they race to the 72 virgins. They simply are not the same and stating so is not "dumb".

[Partha]

No, but stating that they are WORSE than the Nazis is industrial grade dumb. Matter of fact, the only thing dumber is trying to justify it.

[Rsak]

So having an opinion is dumb? Guess that makes everyone here industrial grade dumb....

[Kulaf]

You didn't click the link, I see.

Actually:

On the basis of the above exposition, I declare, on behalf of the Soviet Government and people, that the responsibility for the bloody butchery, perpetrated on Soviet prisoners of war in violation of all the universally accepted rules and customs of war, rests with the criminal Hitlerite Government and German Supreme Command, the representatives of which are now sitting on the defendants' benches.

I kinda sorta did. Did you?