Barbarity, 9/17/2003

On July 26, 2003 the Marshfield News-Herald asked its readers to comment on their editorial “Tell us if you disagree with photo choice” namely should the News-Herald have shown the pictures of Saddam’s dead sons. Before I  comment,  some historical facts.  In  the winter of  1813  Napoleon Bonaparte abandoned his troops in Russia. He had to cross Germany. He was hated, he was unprotected, he was recognized  and not molested. In  1870 France under Napoleon III  declared war on Prussia. France lost, the emperor was taken prisoner, wined and dined in Germany and  sent to England to join his wife in exile. In l916 Wilson, campaigning,  promised the American public to keep the US. out of the European conflict. On April 1917  the US declared war on Germany. This change of heart was brought about  by means of atrocity propaganda. The media clamored “Hang the Kaiser!” But civilization still held. The Kaiser was not hanged, but sent to Holland into exile. In  September l939 France and England declared war on Nazi Germany. After the French government had capitulated the Nazi soldiers dismissed the defeated government with an  honor guard. At the conference at Yalta (February 1945) Roosevelt proposed  to shoot outright  50 000 Nazi officers. The Katyn massacre (falsely blamed on the Germans) which eliminated the Polish officer elite was to be repeated. But cooler heads  insisted on the charade of war crime trials proving that there was still a conscience albeit a bad one. Saddam’s sons and his fourteen year old grandson were simply assassinated in a very unsporting fashion,  by means of missiles and grenades. (Our government is emulating Israel.) Many news papers displayed the battered faces of Saddam's two sons, This was an advance toward barbarity. I think I  complied with the request of  the  Marshfield News-Herald.