Today, President Bush took a jab at the apparent democratic nominee for his job, Barack Obama, by saying that Obama’s apparent appeasement of terrorists is the same as some United States and European leaders appeased Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany in the 1930’s. First off, no one appeased Hitler in the run up to World War II. If you look at history, Hitler began taking over Europe in the wake of World War I which devestated the great powers of Europe. Hitler initially took parts of Europe that were taken from Germany after the WWI. No one in Europe was ready to go back to war to stop Germans from reuniting with Germans, even if it broke treaties. Once Hitler took Poland, he was warned to do nothing else and when he did, WWII officially began and Europe went back to war in 1939.
Barack Obama would not stand around and listen to terrorist demands if terrorists took over a country and he is not saying anything different. From what Obama has said in speeches and his platform on his website, Obama advocates diplomacy before war, which makes more sense (and is a simple concept taught even in Pol Sci 101) than Bush’s Iraq War which has a ’shoot first, ask questions later’ plan; and five years, thousands of lives, and billions of dollars later, we are still asking questions, to say the least.
Bush is basing his statements on a quote from Senator William Borah (R-Idaho), who was a U.S. senator during WWII. In 1939 Borah said, “Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.” Hitler had a country full of citizens wanting revenge on Europe because they felt like they were treated unfairly by the Treaty of Versailles. Nazi Germany also built a dominating military and raised ungodly amounts of money. Politicians throughout Europe and the United States in the 1930’s had no choice but to “appease” Hitler beacause it was politically and militarily nearly impossible to do anything else. With that said, Obama and other current democrats would have no problem attacking a terrorist group who is attempting to take over the Middle East, like Hitler did to Europe, but no terrorists group have the capabilties of doing so.
In short, Bush’s comparison has no merit…and to think that Bush has a degree in history.
