The ghost of Adolph Hitler: Nazi influence in America
By John Stanton Online Journal Contributing Writer
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October 25, 2003—Here it is 2003 and the ghost of the notorious Nazi, Adolph Hitler, haunts America. He's in the White House in Washington, DC, and soon the governor's mansion in Sacramento, California.
He roams the halls of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. His Nazi minions Arthur Rudolph and Werner Von Braun provided the know-how to put American astronauts on the moon and nuclear warheads into space.
Rudolph, according to reporter Linda Hunt, was guilty of war crimes in WWII. "In 1969, Americans cheered as our astronauts took their first steps onto the moon. The giant rocket that blasted them into space was Rudolph's crowning achievement as NASA's project director for Saturn V. Fifteen years later, Rudolph relinquished his U.S. citizenship and left the country rather than face Justice Department charges that he had committed war crimes while working in an underground factory that had used Dora Concentration Camp prisoners as slave labor."
Americans should find it a bit unsettling that their presence on the moon and the space-based military dominance they enjoy was built, in good measure, on the backs of 6,000 human beings who would ultimately be executed by the Nazi SS in the Spring of 1945. According to Hunt, exactly 40 years after the liberation of Dora, in April 1985, the Alabama Space and Rocket Museum paid tribute to 40 Germans who stood surrounded by the press, in front of old V-2s and the Saturn V Rocket they helped build for the United States.
There is no monument to the Dora Concentration Camp. Why? Americans do not wish to be reminded of what WWII French Resistance leader, and Dora prisoner, Jean Michel said about the day that U.S. astronauts first walked on the moon, "I could not watch the Apollo mission without remembering that that triumphant walk was made possible by our initiation to inconceivable horror."
Hitler's influence is everywhere in America.
Nazi Know-How and the CIA
Hitler's ghost occupies the hallowed ground of the US Central Intelligence Agency.
General Reinhard Gehlen was Hitler's top Soviet spy during WWII and was recruited by Allen Dulles, the first director of the CIA. According to Martin Lee, writing in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Gehlen returned to West Germany in the summer of 1946 with a mandate to rebuild his espionage organization and resume spying on the East at the behest of American intelligence. That date is significant as it preceded the onset of the Cold War, which, according to standard U.S. historical accounts, did not begin until a year later, according to Lee. The early courtship of Gehlen by American intelligence suggests that Washington was in a Cold War mode sooner than most people realize. The Gehlen gambit also belies the prevalent Western notion that aggressive Soviet policies were primarily to blame for triggering the Cold War.
Based near Munich, Gehlen proceeded to enlist thousands of Gestapo, Wehrmacht, and SS veterans. Even the vilest of the vile—the senior bureaucrats who ran the central administrative apparatus of the Holocaust—were welcome in the "Gehlen Org," as it was called, including Alois Brunner, Adolf Eichmann's chief deputy. SS Major Emil Augsburg and Gestapo Captain Klaus Barbie, otherwise known as the "Butcher of Lyon," were among those who did double duty for Gehlen and U.S. intelligence, indicated Lee.
Sympathy for Ford's Devil
Hitler's ghost is present in the assembly lines of America's automotive manufacturers. It's amusing listening to the Ford advertising campaign that features the Rolling Stones song, Start Me Up. More appropriate, it seems, would be the Stone's classic recording of Sympathy for the Devil.
From 1939 to 1942, Ford Motor Company produced thousands of combat vehicles for the Nazis at its Cologne, Germany, production facility, reaping enormous profits that would ultimately be used to design the next-generation of Fords driven by Americans in the 1950s. During the height of WWII, Ford shipped raw materials from America to the Cologne plant to ensure that production would not be interrupted by Allied bombing and that Hitler would remain a happy customer.
According to Ken Silverstein, Ford vehicles were crucial to the revolutionary Nazi military strategy of blitzkrieg. Of the 350,000 trucks used by the motorized German Army as of 1942, roughly one-third were Ford products. Imagine the surprise of American troops when they saw the enemy—the Wehrmacht—driving around in Ford vehicles.
"They were understandably an unpleasant sight to men in the US Army," reported Silverstein.
IBM received lucrative contracts from the Nazis to build databases that would be used to determine population demographics and track down Jews, Christians and other threats to the Nazi Party. Profits from those efforts, like Ford's were sent home to America to perform research and development for new profit-making technologies. It's the same story for General Motors, Kodak, Dupont, and General Electric (owner of NBC news).
Who Won WWII?
"As the world enemy wages war against the White Race and Western Civilization in every corner of the world, we have found that the ONLY WAY to shock our people awake is through BOLD ACTION. Too many others would rather try to TALK the problem away, while we realize that the time has come to FIGHT!" That from a website of the American Nazi Party. With the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger in California (his father was a member of the Nazi Party, opting to be a member of the storm-trooping "Brown Shirts" who eagerly pursued and persecuted Jews, Christians and Gypsies) and Nazi-tainted George Bush II in the White House, the American Nazi Party, the Aryan Nations and other despicable hate groups have received an unintended acknowledgement that their hateful struggle on behalf of the "white race" has merit.
And why shouldn't they when their government officials and so-called leaders tacitly sanction ethnic cleansing, demean Islam and Arabs or strive to eliminate the civil rights gains of minorities and same-sex groups.
It's no surprise to find Hitler's ghost in the offices of Senator Trent Lott who said of white supremacist Senator Strom Thurmond—an opponent of integration and civil rights in the 1960s—"When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."
Hitler's ghost visits the House side in the offices of Representative Tom DeLay, an avowed Christian Zionist, who advocates the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by Israel and is a proponent of the Security Fence, while at the same time admonishing those who will listen to him to "stand unashamedly for Jesus Christ."
And in the Pentagon, Hitler's ideology, has a friend in the form of US Marine Corps Lieutenant General William Boykin who believes that "God supports the US military because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian . . . Our spiritual enemy will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus."
That what the Aryan Nation says too. They proclaim that they have God's support. Like all God-fearing Nazi's, they hope "To ordain, establish, and pledge our fidelity to our Aryan Racial Nation, under the Law of God, the uniting of our individual strength as a united lawful power, for the preservation and total independence from all alien influence and control over our Faith, Children, and Destiny. "
"I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator," said Adolf Hitler.
"God told me to strike at Al Qa'ida and I struck them. And then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did. With the might of God on our side we will triumph," said George W. Bush. Or was that Hitler talking to Bush?
Hitler's ghost haunts the United States of America.
John Stanton is a Virginia based writer. He is the author (along with Wayne Madsen) of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II." Reach him at cioran123@yahoo.com.
Following is the text of President George W. Bush's [1/20/2005] inaugural address, as recorded by The New York Times:
Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, members of the United States Congress, reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow citizens:
On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.
At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half a century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical. And then there came a day of fire.
We have seen our vulnerability and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder, violence will gather and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.
We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the maker of heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government because no one is fit to be a master and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.
So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.
The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause.
My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people from further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve, and have found it firm.
We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.
We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies. Yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.
Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.
Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:
All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.
Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country.
The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it.
The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people, you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice and America will walk at your side. And all the allies of the United States can know: we honor your friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on your help. Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies' defeat. Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens: From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well, a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world. A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy, the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments, the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice.
All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.
America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home, the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.
In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time. To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.
In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character, on integrity and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.
In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service, and mercy and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another, and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.
From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?
These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth, are bound to one another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes and I will strive in good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set free.
We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages, when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty, when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner Freedom Now they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.
When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, It rang as if it meant something. In our time it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength, tested but not weary we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.
May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America.
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