Posted September 7, 2002

Berlin Telling Washington to Shove It

To Scott McConnell:

I very much appreciate your work, both on Antiwar.com and the upcoming magazine The American Conservative. It is frequently mentioned that Germany (Schroeder) has clearly declared it/he would not support – (no soldiers, no weapons, no money) – any Iraq war attempts. I am 54 years old now, and I always followed politics, so I can tell you: this is a sensation! Our country has been run since the early 1950s in "Westbindung", westbound. This aphorism means nothing other than: Germany obeys all orders from Washington (and Tel Aviv, for that matter).

The effect is breathtaking, Schroeder was trailing his conservative opponents in the polls by a margin, when he made this declaration. (Elections: Sept. 22) His contras (Conservatives) cried foul, complained about letting down the US, unbelievable, shame etc. etc. etc...and, yes, war is an option! The result is that Schroeder stands to win the election after all – at least the race is open. (The floods and his reactions there were also a factor, but hey, it only concerned a few).

At Schroeder's rallies only one point draws the really huge applause, and that is when he repeats his rejection of any Iraq involvement!

~ Rainer Vogel, Ulm, Germany

Justin's Prophetic Vision

I've been reading Justin Raimondo's column for about a year now. I love the man! He seems to always "hit the mark" no matter who he sets his sights on. I just read his archived article "Global Interventionism: The Price We Pay", written July 28, 1999. The man is a genius, truly a prophet. Not that it should take a rocket scientist to see that our "War on Terrorism" wasn't coming and that we would eventually become the target of retaliation for our policies of world domination, but I am impressed with the degree of accuracy of Justin's statements, a full two years before 9/11.

Now, 9/11 didn't surprise me one bit either, as a matter of fact, in the month before that fateful day, I sensed that something BIG was about to happen. I just didn't know what it was going to be, and never imagined the scope of what was to come. I never dreamed the "New World Order" would move so quickly to place the stranglehold on American civil liberties that they have in the past year. But as I look back, I guess if I were a would-be emperor, I'd be doing the same thing.

I just noticed the editor's note praising "Justin's foresight." I'd say "prophetic vision" would be more appropriate. I can't ever remember reading anything of Justin's that I didn't agree with, where he didn't go straight to the heart of the matter.

Please forward this letter of praise to him so he knows that others salute his efforts at speaking the truth. Thank you.

~ Jim Clay

Lobotomized Marines

Regarding "Marine Corps Morality" of September 3:

I, a mere WWII Navy veteran, concluded that to be a Marine is to be lobotomized. One of their commandants after WWII was quoted: "If the president tells us to saddle up and go, we saddle up and go."

~ Brian M.

Israel: The Abusive Husband

Re: Pat Buchanan's remarks, it's pretty obvious to me why Israel (the party seemingly most threatened by alleged Iraqi WMS's) isn't undertaking any panicky preemptive action.

They need American buy-in! The Israelis are like an abusive husband who needs to drive away all his wife's friends because they stand in the way of his total psychological domination. If Israel sits back and let the U.S. attack Iraq, it will destroy any remaining ties of affinity that even moderate Arab regimes have for the U.S. Israel will be the only remaining U.S. "ally" in the Middle East (an ally that deliberately bombed the USS Liberty and sold Pollard's intelligence to the Soviets). The "Israel first" crowd in the U.S. government will have succeeded in burning all our bridges for us.

~ Kevin Carson

Terrorism: The Low Budget Total War

Regarding "The Claims for Total War Revisited" of September 2:

Aren't "terrorists", who might be considered low budget "total warriors", being told today that their methods have hurt their cause, that their total war is a disutility, by people threatening them with total war, a utility? We may have reached that point in time where discussion is rendered useless until pictures of the next Dresden are released; at which time, the next Churchill blames the generals for the atrocities, while democrats world-wide ask insouciantly: what could I have done to stop it?

~ John Flanagan, Peoria, Illinois

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