Nazis, Witches, and Herrings... Oh my!

They hope we don't notice...

Facing 29000 counts of murder

John Demjanjuk, a naturalized U.S. citizen and retired Cleveland auto-worker, was deported on May 11th to Germany where he faces 29,000 counts of murder for war crimes he committed as a guard at several Nazi concentration camps. The U.S. Supreme Court made a wise decision upholding the revocation of his citizenship and deportation. There is no place in America for war criminals like Demjanjuk. While we have no room for him, it is the height of arrogance and hypocrisy for the German courts to pursue tens of thousands of murder counts against the man.

Demjanjuk worked for the German government and did exactly what he was ordered to do. His treatment of the prisoners in the camps and the Polish people he arrested was disgusting and inhumane, but was not extraordinary for S.S. guards working for Hitler's Reich. Demjanjuk was a German official participating in the business of the German people. He did not break any German law.

He might be guilty of the 29,000 murders he has been accused of, but he should not be tried alone. The entire population of Germany should be tried for pursuing a policy of murder. This is a national crime and it is time for the German people to acknowledge their part in it.

The German government has been very apologetic. Just last week, the German ambassador to the U.S. made an apologetic speech at the dedication of the Holocaust museum in Skokie, Illnois. Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, and it is true that few people deny the Holocaust. They just wish the world would move on. The people of Germany are sick of the word Germany being a synonym for genocide. This is why Demjanjuk is being tried. He is the scapegoat for a crime committed by millions. He will pay the price for the sins of the German people.

Many histories explain it away by saying that Hitler had extraordinary speaking powers and was a persuasive individual who knew how to manipulate the media. He is portrayed as a hypnotizer. In history books, the sins of the Holocaust are the result of one man's anti-Semitic projections. The masses of German people were simply cogs in the Hitler machine.

This common interpretation of history is flawed. It is the work of historians who cannot comprehend that a fully industrialized country like Germany would or could sink to such barbaric levels. It took something or someone supernatural to make this happen. It is an abnormality. These historians fail to see the barbarity and inhumanity interwoven in the fabric of the modern nation-state. These states, pushed forward by, what Eisenhower called, the military-industrial complex, think nothing of individuality and freedom. Human life is a commodity and is not sacred.

The modern state is also democratic. Hitler's rose to power in a democratic Germany. He went from out-of-work veteran and struggling artist to world conqueror because the people of Germany chose him. He reflected them. He was the embodiment of their vicious world view. He was not the cause. He was the effect.

American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that "in every work of genius, we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty." Emerson explained that there is no such thing as genius. No one is considered a genius, as Hitler was during his hey-day by the Germans, unless he reflects the minds of the people who revere him.

Demjanjuk makes a suitable scapegoat and example for the German people, especially because he is not a German. He is a Ukrainian. This denial of responsibility should not go unnoticed.

The German people, not Hitler, bear the burden of the sin of the Holocaust. They will do so for generations and should accept the judgement of the world. It was not Hitler, and it certainly was not a lowly S.S. guard like Demjanjuk. If anyone should stand trail for 29,000 murders, it should be the German people.

Witch Children of the Congo

Nightline on Thursday featured a disturbing report on a serious child abuse epidemic in the Congo and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It seems that it has become common practice in the Congo for families, undergoing tough times and facing myriad problems in an effort to simply survive, to accuse their own children of witchcraft.

A Congolese government official told the ABC reporter that he believes children can be witches is they "have distended bellies or dark eyes." Many children with developmental or psychological diseases have also been identified by locals of witchcraft. The AIDS deaths of relatives are said to be caused by the dastardly deeds of these little witches. Of course, we know that distended bellies are not the result of a secret union with the devil, but the result of malnutrition. Listless eyes, perhaps the "dark eyes" identified by the Congo official, can often be found in the malnourished and diseased.

Many Congolese parents have begun to take their children to exorcists. These hucksters purport to be pastors- men of Christ- and set up shop performing magic tricks to make it seem they are doing something to cast out evil spirits. They were taped pouring hot candle wax on children, burning them, and then pretending to pull the wax out of the body of the children. It is, according to them, the skin of demons. The pastors also poke things in the children's eyes, blinding them. Pastors, men of God, stab, abuse, and maltreat children. They do all of this for a hefty fee from the struggling families.

70% of Congo's homeless children have been accused of witchcraft. It seems to be an excuse for parents who cannot afford another mouth to feed. These "witches" roam the villages as outcasts, starving, afflicted, and with no human dignity. While the pastors would have us believe it is demons causing all of this affliction, it is obvious that poverty is the real demon. We can exorcise that demon if the U.S. finally takes leadership and the initiative to be a voice for justice and health in Africa. President Bush's PEPFAR program was a great start. It is time for Obama to make Africa a top priority. I cannot stand to see the continuance of this hopeless poverty, a poverty that is the result of Western ignorance.

While this is an issue, what disturbs me most is that criminal snake-oil salesmen are claiming to be pastors. They are committing the worst of sins. Taking the name of God in vain is a one-way trip to hell. Making yourself the object of worship, particularly for profit, is faithless and far more evil than any witchcraft. Their sin is particularly malodorous when one considers the poor families they take advantage of. The Christian Churches should stand up and strongly and forcefully reject these quasi-pastors who claim to speak in God's name.

Cheney wants us to look the other way

One of the worst things about the Bush administration and one of the reasons he was eventually rejected by most Americans was that torture was used in our war on terror. Torture surely leads to hostile feelings toward the U.S. around the world. It is true that attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq increased dramatically with the release of photos of prisoner abuse at the Abu-Gharib prison. Torture makes us unsafe. If it has any effect on terrorism, it is not the effect we might want.

The policy, before being fully implemented, was researched by an army of lawyers headed by America's worst Vice-president Dick Cheney. (Good veeps should do nothing but sit around and wait for the president to die... like Dan Quayle always did.) Cheney wanted Bush to have nearly unlimited powers to collect information to fight the terror threat. If it meant sacrificing freedom of even American citizens, it was okay with Cheney. If his actions made a mockery of the Constitution, so be it. It is all for your safety.

It is no surprise then that Dick Cheney's lifelong political ally, Donald Rumsfeld, headed a military that made torture part of its policy toward prisoners. Cheney, himself, said that the president would fight this war from the shadows, "the dark side." When the Abu-Gharib torture news shocked the nation, it was only a matter of time before Rumsfeld took the hit for his friend Dick Cheney and his boss George W. Bush, and resigned.

Rejection of torture was a central part of John McCain's message in the 2008 election. McCain, a victim of torture while serving as naval officer in Vietnam, time and again criticized his fellow Republicans Cheney and Bush for allowing such a damaging policy. He rightly stated that such action would lead to more terrorism and would focus the aim of terrorism against the people of the United States.

This is why to hear Dick Cheney attack President Obama's decision to reassess America's treatment of prisoners today was very disturbing. It has been centuries since a former administration so publicly criticized the administration that followed them.

Despite Cheney's obvious involvement in the matter, conservatives in the media today spent the last week attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi denied that she knew anything about torture, but CIA officials have testified that she was completely briefed on the methods being used by American interrogators. It is easy to catch Pelosi in lies like these since she lies so often, but making her the center of attention at this time is a red herring. She will not lose her seat as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity hope. She has lost the last few shreds of credibility she had, but she will keep her seat.

Pelosi knew about the torture. Cheney and CIA friends like Cofer Black administered the torture. Who should we criticize most for engaging in activities that did not reflect the will of the American people? Who put the American people more at risk?

Get real.