Post by Pracau on Feb 2, 2005 7:20:39 GMT
This is the first of three linked posts to the Godlikeproduction.com forum taken from a thread that contains some of the best analyses I've found on the web, with many of the posts made by this unknown author.
Read all three. Between them, they will bring tears to the eye, and tears of hope are poweful, I think.
I had to share them. I hope you don't mind
JohnP
—————————————————<br>
I would like to take the opportunity to say something now to my American friends who must be getting the impression that there is an awful lot of American-bashing going on in Europe. To a certain extent this is true, but it has much more to do with shock over behavior which we Europeans have simply never seen displayed by the rather special people from across the Atlantic.
In an earlier post I mentioned how well respected Americans were in Europe for as long as I can remember. I speak from personal experience. WW II was barely over when I was born. My father had served in the German army in what was known as the Gebirgsjäger. They were specially trained for combat and reconnoiscance in the high mountains. He eventually wound up on the Russian Front, was wounded, captured and interned in one of the camps. By sheer luck he and a few buddies escaped and made their way on foot through Russia. After many months they reached Hungary. They were captured again but miraculously my father as the only one of the group accidentally wound up on a train with wounded Russians heading west. He made it home. Several of my uncles on both my father´s and my mother´s side never did.
The purpose of this introduction is to give a background for why we hated the Russians with a passion. After the war we were occupied by Russians, British, French and Americans. No-one wanted to have anything to do with the Russians. The British were strange and always gave the impression that they looked on us as inferiors that stuck them the unpleasant duty of keeping an eye on us. The French kept mostly to themselves and did not like to interact very much.
Everyone loved the Americans though. We know that it was them who had bombed us, so there was initially quite a bit of resentment. But when we got to know them, they turned out to be mostly warm human beings with compassion, generosity and an extraordianry ability to make us feel comfortable. Many of our girls fell in love with American soldiers and eventually married them. Those girls were usually the envy of their friends. As a child I remember often being picked up by a soldier and swung in the air. They would also always have a little treat in their pocket, some chocolate or chewing gum. These things were a rare delicacy and the American soldiers were the only ones that ever gave them to us.
I also remember our families receiving care packages sent to us from people in America who did not know us. They sent us huge boxes of oatmeal, dried milk, raisins cans of a yellow kind of cheese that was delicious and also clothes. There was always a little note with the packages saying something like "A gift from the people of the United States of America."
One of the outstanding things about the American soldiers was that we trusted them. They were fair. I don´t remember any occasions where one of them mistreated any of my people. Based on these experiences we came to look up to the Americans as big brothers or uncles. We children had no fear of them and our parents never gave us any warnings to stay away from them. This was not true for the others. Particularly those in the Russian sectore were quite fearful of the occupation soldiers.
When I grew a little older we sometimes were taken to the only movie house in town. This only happened once or twice a year. They were always American movies dubbed in German. There were usually one or two animated cartoons first. These were my favorites. The main feature was often a war movie starring John Wayne and some of the other American actors of the time. Of course, the Americans always won and the German soldiers were usually not portrayed in a very good light. Nevertheless, we had acquired such a good opinion of the American soldiers that we actually routed for them in the movies. Whenever the Americans got the better of the German army we cheered.
Throughout my younger years I maintained this attitude toward the Americans, as did all my friends and the adults in my community. When the Americans fought in Korea, we were totally on their side. We sent letters of appreciation and followed their appeals when they let us know that there was a need of clothing and toys for the Korean children. I remember feeling very proud helping collect such things and sending them off for the Americans to distribute to the Koreans. Later, when the Americans fought in Vietnam, we had grown up and our attitudes toward was had become more mature. We did not think that the Americans being in Vietnam was a good thing. For one, we knew that the French had started the whole thing and we could not understand why the American soldiers had to die because of the mess that the French had made.
Even so, we regarded the American troops as heroes and wished them well. There were no disparging words about the possible injustice of the Indochina wars. We were only hoping that it would be over soon and that the American men and boys would make it home in one piece. I remember standing in front of the Vietnam memorial looking at the endless list of names and felt an incredible sense of sadness. It was as if all the names on that long wall were relatives of mine. I left flowers and cried.
What I am trying to convey is that we Europeans have always had a soft spot in our hearts for the American people, even those of us who had been on the other side of a war with them. We found them to be charming with a unique touch of trusting innocence and openness. Many of our younger couples tried to imitate what they saw of American styles and habits. This appreciation for the American people is still there.
When I talk with others and the subject turns to criticism of American actions in the Middle East, it is always the U.S. government that gets the bad words. We were perplexed and angry when we learned about Iraqis being tortured by American interrogators, but we also understood that this could not be truly respresentative of the behavior of all the U.S. soldiers there.
Still we keep hearing and seen many things that make us wonder what happened to the people we thought we knew so well. There was the terrible assault on Fallujah, of which we learned that the Americans had used napalm and white phosphorus munitions. We learn of Iraqi civilians being killed at road blocks and sons and fathers being disappeared from out of their houses. All of this confirms our initial thoughts that it would be wrong for the Americans to invade Iraq. Our own government also thought that the regime there was bad and that Saddam Hussein had passed up many chances to avoid drawing the ire of the Americans. Nevertheless, taking such a radical approach as the American did was wrong in our view.
We had demonstrated by the millions in the hope that this would make President Bush reconsider and practice some patience. Yet everything we heard was that he did not care for the opinions of the world´s people. It became quite clear that he woud send young American men and women there, and we felt sorry for them because we knew that they would have an awful time of it. We also felt sorrow for the Iraqi people. Yes, they had suffered under an oppressive regime, but their children went to school and they did not have to worry about being killed if they went out on the road.
Something happened in the last few years that made us question whether we really knew these people whom we had once considered friends. Our politicians were cut down with sharp and arrogant words by people like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. We saw lies being told to the American people and to the world about all the weapons of mass destruction that the Iraqis were supposed to be hiding. Our own intelligence told us that this was not the case. With every official explanation coming out of Washington it became clearer that the people around President Bush did not care about the truth and would say whatever came into their mind.
Before the recent elections we were hoping that the American people too were fed up with all of this and would choose a new leader. Not that we had a lot of enthusiasm for his opponent, but we thought that surely the Americans would not want to keep a thief and liar in the highest office of their government. Imagine our surprise when we saw that they reelected President Bush. Now it was no longer a case of the American people being taken for a ride. They wanted it. They reelected the man that had practiced shameless crony capitalism and was ruining the American economy. Everyone could see it it seemed except the Americans.
_________________________Go to Part 2
Read all three. Between them, they will bring tears to the eye, and tears of hope are poweful, I think.
I had to share them. I hope you don't mind
JohnP
—————————————————<br>
I would like to take the opportunity to say something now to my American friends who must be getting the impression that there is an awful lot of American-bashing going on in Europe. To a certain extent this is true, but it has much more to do with shock over behavior which we Europeans have simply never seen displayed by the rather special people from across the Atlantic.
In an earlier post I mentioned how well respected Americans were in Europe for as long as I can remember. I speak from personal experience. WW II was barely over when I was born. My father had served in the German army in what was known as the Gebirgsjäger. They were specially trained for combat and reconnoiscance in the high mountains. He eventually wound up on the Russian Front, was wounded, captured and interned in one of the camps. By sheer luck he and a few buddies escaped and made their way on foot through Russia. After many months they reached Hungary. They were captured again but miraculously my father as the only one of the group accidentally wound up on a train with wounded Russians heading west. He made it home. Several of my uncles on both my father´s and my mother´s side never did.
The purpose of this introduction is to give a background for why we hated the Russians with a passion. After the war we were occupied by Russians, British, French and Americans. No-one wanted to have anything to do with the Russians. The British were strange and always gave the impression that they looked on us as inferiors that stuck them the unpleasant duty of keeping an eye on us. The French kept mostly to themselves and did not like to interact very much.
Everyone loved the Americans though. We know that it was them who had bombed us, so there was initially quite a bit of resentment. But when we got to know them, they turned out to be mostly warm human beings with compassion, generosity and an extraordianry ability to make us feel comfortable. Many of our girls fell in love with American soldiers and eventually married them. Those girls were usually the envy of their friends. As a child I remember often being picked up by a soldier and swung in the air. They would also always have a little treat in their pocket, some chocolate or chewing gum. These things were a rare delicacy and the American soldiers were the only ones that ever gave them to us.
I also remember our families receiving care packages sent to us from people in America who did not know us. They sent us huge boxes of oatmeal, dried milk, raisins cans of a yellow kind of cheese that was delicious and also clothes. There was always a little note with the packages saying something like "A gift from the people of the United States of America."
One of the outstanding things about the American soldiers was that we trusted them. They were fair. I don´t remember any occasions where one of them mistreated any of my people. Based on these experiences we came to look up to the Americans as big brothers or uncles. We children had no fear of them and our parents never gave us any warnings to stay away from them. This was not true for the others. Particularly those in the Russian sectore were quite fearful of the occupation soldiers.
When I grew a little older we sometimes were taken to the only movie house in town. This only happened once or twice a year. They were always American movies dubbed in German. There were usually one or two animated cartoons first. These were my favorites. The main feature was often a war movie starring John Wayne and some of the other American actors of the time. Of course, the Americans always won and the German soldiers were usually not portrayed in a very good light. Nevertheless, we had acquired such a good opinion of the American soldiers that we actually routed for them in the movies. Whenever the Americans got the better of the German army we cheered.
Throughout my younger years I maintained this attitude toward the Americans, as did all my friends and the adults in my community. When the Americans fought in Korea, we were totally on their side. We sent letters of appreciation and followed their appeals when they let us know that there was a need of clothing and toys for the Korean children. I remember feeling very proud helping collect such things and sending them off for the Americans to distribute to the Koreans. Later, when the Americans fought in Vietnam, we had grown up and our attitudes toward was had become more mature. We did not think that the Americans being in Vietnam was a good thing. For one, we knew that the French had started the whole thing and we could not understand why the American soldiers had to die because of the mess that the French had made.
Even so, we regarded the American troops as heroes and wished them well. There were no disparging words about the possible injustice of the Indochina wars. We were only hoping that it would be over soon and that the American men and boys would make it home in one piece. I remember standing in front of the Vietnam memorial looking at the endless list of names and felt an incredible sense of sadness. It was as if all the names on that long wall were relatives of mine. I left flowers and cried.
What I am trying to convey is that we Europeans have always had a soft spot in our hearts for the American people, even those of us who had been on the other side of a war with them. We found them to be charming with a unique touch of trusting innocence and openness. Many of our younger couples tried to imitate what they saw of American styles and habits. This appreciation for the American people is still there.
When I talk with others and the subject turns to criticism of American actions in the Middle East, it is always the U.S. government that gets the bad words. We were perplexed and angry when we learned about Iraqis being tortured by American interrogators, but we also understood that this could not be truly respresentative of the behavior of all the U.S. soldiers there.
Still we keep hearing and seen many things that make us wonder what happened to the people we thought we knew so well. There was the terrible assault on Fallujah, of which we learned that the Americans had used napalm and white phosphorus munitions. We learn of Iraqi civilians being killed at road blocks and sons and fathers being disappeared from out of their houses. All of this confirms our initial thoughts that it would be wrong for the Americans to invade Iraq. Our own government also thought that the regime there was bad and that Saddam Hussein had passed up many chances to avoid drawing the ire of the Americans. Nevertheless, taking such a radical approach as the American did was wrong in our view.
We had demonstrated by the millions in the hope that this would make President Bush reconsider and practice some patience. Yet everything we heard was that he did not care for the opinions of the world´s people. It became quite clear that he woud send young American men and women there, and we felt sorry for them because we knew that they would have an awful time of it. We also felt sorrow for the Iraqi people. Yes, they had suffered under an oppressive regime, but their children went to school and they did not have to worry about being killed if they went out on the road.
Something happened in the last few years that made us question whether we really knew these people whom we had once considered friends. Our politicians were cut down with sharp and arrogant words by people like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. We saw lies being told to the American people and to the world about all the weapons of mass destruction that the Iraqis were supposed to be hiding. Our own intelligence told us that this was not the case. With every official explanation coming out of Washington it became clearer that the people around President Bush did not care about the truth and would say whatever came into their mind.
Before the recent elections we were hoping that the American people too were fed up with all of this and would choose a new leader. Not that we had a lot of enthusiasm for his opponent, but we thought that surely the Americans would not want to keep a thief and liar in the highest office of their government. Imagine our surprise when we saw that they reelected President Bush. Now it was no longer a case of the American people being taken for a ride. They wanted it. They reelected the man that had practiced shameless crony capitalism and was ruining the American economy. Everyone could see it it seemed except the Americans.
_________________________Go to Part 2