Göring och kriget mot terrorismen

Jag har snubblat över ett citat ur boken Nuremberg Diary, av Gustave Gilbert, en underrättelseofficer som intervjuade flera nazister som var fängslade inför krigsrättegången. En av de han talade med var Hermann Göring, som 18 April 1946 skall ha sagt en sak som får det att isa sig längs ryggraden. Följande är ett utdrag ur boken:

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Parallellerna till idag är slående. Från Bill O'Reilly som kallar människorättsgruppen ACLU för "terrorister", till Rush Limbaugh som ifrågasätter krigsmotståndarnas "patriotism". Exemplen kan göras många. Ospecificerade hot står som spön i backen, som vid Bush's presskonferens 11 oktober, 2001:

Today, the Justice Department did issue a blanket alert. It was in recognition of a general threat we received. This is not the first time the Justice Department have acted like this. I hope it's the last. But, given the attitude of the evildoers, it may not be.

Generella uttalanden som ovan leder till en ständig känsla av rädsla, att man kommer bli angripen vilken sekund som helst. Gång på gång matas vi med dessa varningar, oftast utan att någonting händer. De gånger då någonting verkligen händer, har det märkligt nog inte föregåtts av någon varning. Kongressledamoten Jim McDermott sade att "man kan få rädda människor att göra vad som helst". Hur?

Well, you make them afraid by creating an aura of endless threat. They played us like an organ. They raised the orange, up to red, then they dropped it back to orange. They will continue, in my view, as long as this administration is in charge, of every once in a while, stimulating everybody to be afraid. Just in case you forgot. It's not gonna go down to green or blue. It's never gonna get there.

Är det fler än jag som får kalla kårar?


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