A GERMAN THOUGHT

A GERMAN THOUGHT

If any still feel this war on terror is a mistake, here is an opinion from
an unexpected source. This is not a problem that is going to be easy to
solve.
It's fascinating this should come out of Europe. Mathias Dapfner, Chief
Executive of the huge German publisher Axel Springer AG, has written a
blistering attack in DIE WELT, Germany's largest daily paper, against the
timid reaction of Europe in the face of the Islamic threat. This is a
must-read by Americans.

EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE (Commentary by Mathias Dapfner CEO, Axel
Springer, AG) A few days ago Henry Broder wrote in Welt am Sonntag,
"Europe -your family name is appeasement." It's a phrase you can't get out
of your head because it's so terribly true. Appeasement cost millions of
Jews and non-Jews their lives, as England and France, allies at the time,
negotiated and hesitated too long before they noticed that Hitler had to
be fought, not bound to toothless agreements. Appeasement legitimized and
stabilized Communism in the Soviet Union, then East Germany, then all the
rest of Eastern Europe, where for decades, inhuman suppressive, murderous
governments were glorified as the ideologically correct alternative to
all other possibilities. Appeasement crippled Europe when genocide ran
rampant in Kosovo, and even though we had absolute proof of ongoing
mass-murder, we Europeans debated and debated and debated, and were still
debating when finally the Americans had to come from halfway around the
world, into Europe yet again, and do our work for us. Rather than
protecting democracy in the Middle East, European Appeasement, camouflaged
behind the fuzzy word "equidistance," now countenances suicide bombings in
Israel by fundamentalist Palestinians. Appeasement generates a mentality
that allows Europe to ignore nearly 500,000 victims of Saddam's torture
and murder machinery and, motivated by the self-righteousness of the peace
movement, has the gall to issue bad grades to George Bush .. Even as it is
uncovered that the loudest critics of the American action in Iraq made
illicit billions, no, TENS of billions, in the corrupt U.N. Oil-for-Food
program. And now we are faced with a particularly grotesque form of
appeasement. How is Germany reacting to the escalating violence by Islamic
Fundamentalists in Holland and elsewhere? By suggesting that we re ally
should have a "Muslim Holiday" in Germany? I wish I were joking, but I am
not. A substantial fraction of our (German) Government, and if the polls
are to be believed, the German people, actually believe that creating an
Official State "Muslim Holiday" will somehow spare us from the wrath of
the fanatical Islamists. One cannot help but recall Britain's Neville
Chamberlain waving the laughable treaty signed by Adolph Hitler and
declaring European "Peace in our time". What else has to happen before
the European public and its political leadership get it? There is a sort
of crusade underway, an especially perfidious crusade consisting of
systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims, focused on civilians, directed
against our free, open Western societies, and intent upon Western
Civilization's utter destruction. It is a conflict that will most likely
last longer than any of the great military conflicts of the last century -
a conflict conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by "tolerance" and
"accommodation" but is actually spurred on by such gestures, which have
proven to be, and will always be taken by the Islamists for signs of
weakness. Only two recent American Presidents had the courage needed for
Anti-appeasement: Reagan and Bush. His American critics may quibble over
the details, but we Europeans know the truth. We saw it first hand:
Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War, freeing half of the German people from
nearly 50 years of terror and virtual slavery. And Bush, supported only
by the Social Democrat Blair, acting on moral conviction, recognized the
danger in the Islamic War against Democracy. His place in history will
have to be evaluated after a number of years have passed. In the meantime,
Europe sits back with charismatic self-confidence in the multicultural
corner, instead of defending liberal society's values and being an
attractive center of power on the same playing fie ld as the true great
powers, America and China. On the contrary - we Europeans present
ourselves, in contrast to those "arrogant Americans", as the World
Champions of "tolerance", which even (Germany's Interior Minister) Otto
Schily justifiably criticizes. Why? Because we're so moral? I fear it's
more because we're so materialistic, so devoid of a moral compass. For his
policies, Bush risks the fall of the dollar, huge amounts of additional
national debt, and a massive and persistent burden on the American economy
- because unlike almost all of Europe, Bush realizes what is at stake -
literally everything. While we criticize the "capitalistic robber barons"
of America because they seem too sure of their priorities, we timidly
defend our Social Welfare systems. Stay out of it! It could get
expensive! We'd rather discuss reducing our 35-hour workweek or our
dental coverage, or our 4 weeks of paid vacation ... Or listen to TV
pastors preach about the need to "reach out to terrorists. To understand
and forgive". These days, Europe reminds me of an old woman who, with
shaking hands, frantically hides her last pieces of jewelry when she
notices a robber breaking into a neighbor's house. Appeasement? Europe,
thy name is Cowardice. ---God Bless America