ralper

Today the world lost a hero. Simon Wiesenthal died at the age of 96. Mr. Wiesenthal dedicated his life to bringing the Nazi murderers to justice. In later years Mr. Wiesenthal fought antiSemitism and racial and ethnic hatred. When asked why he dedicated his life to finding the Nazis and bring them to justice his reply was something like, "So that those who think about murdering in the future will know that justice will be done."

Today the world lost a great man.

Simon Wiesenthal, rest in peace.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/obituaries...Wiesenthal.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9404749/

Matt_in_VA

That what Mr.Wiesenthal did was admirable and noteworthy.

Not to deminish his accomplishments in ANY WAY, I still can NOT recitfy in my mind how you do not see Saddam Hussien's gassing thousands of Kurd's in the same light? I certainly can do the math, and understand the ratio of of thousands versus millions. But is not a person that klls thousands worthy of being stopped as well?

ralper

Matt,

I knew you'd throw that in here. You seem to need to justify the war in Iraq at every opportunity.

I don't condone, by any means, Suddam Hussains actions, but at the same time, I don't think you can compare his actions to those of the Nazis. If only by the numbers involved. And yes, while every life is valuable, a regime that murders six million people because of their religion, a regime which has a stated purpose of the "final solution", a regime which is responsible for throwing the world into a world war resulting in the deaths of probably the excess of 50 million people and the destruction of cities, a regime bent on European and perhaps world conquest is worse in my book than Suddam Hussain.


As compared to Hitler and the Nazis, Mr. Hussain was a two bit dictator in league with Papa Doc, Idi Amin, Ferdinand Marcos, The Shah of Iran, the Kamar Rouge (sp) and many, many others that I've yet to hear you call for the overthrow of.

Metalhead

[QUOTE=ralper,Sep 20 2005, 06:38 PM] Today the world lost a hero.

cordycord

Given the tone of this quote, you would think that if SW were still young, he'd be walking in to the Palestinian territories with explosives strapped to him. Oops I forgot, that's the forte of Hamas and the other valiant murderers now demolishing the synagogues that the Israel left in Gaza as a peace gesture.

ralper

What exactly does that have to do with the passing of Simon Wiesenthal?

Honda 367

"Partly because of dogged pursuit by Mr. Wiesenthal, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, many did pay, including the Gestapo officer who arrested Anne Frank in her secret attic, the commandant of two death camps in Poland and, most spectacularly, Adolf Eichmann, the industrious technocrat who used his knack for solving problems to contrive the mechanics of the Nazis' Final Solution." by Michael Ollove (Sun Reporter) Baltimore Sun, 21 September 2005

When we were in Amsterdam, we waited a long time to enter Anne Frank's museum. People wait in lines to make their visit to this place. It is as if time was suspended and you could actually see what she saw and what her life was like in hiding. I am glad Simon Wiesenthal went after the Nazi criminals.

Metalhead

Yes, desperate people - desperately poor and thus basically defenseless people who have had their land stolen from them commit desperate acts; just the sort of acts many Americans would resort to were we to find ourselves in a similar situation. This is not a difficult concept to understand unless, of course, one happens to be afflicted by the anti-Arab racism that so permeates this society.

dean

Although he didn't catch them all. I'm sure that most if not all lived in a constant state of fear and paranoia because of Wiesenthal - like Josef Mengele for example. There's no small amount of justice in that, or in the fact that Wiesenthal outlived them all.

Metalhead

My initial response was a study in contrast; between that which the corporate media reports and that which it ignores (i.e., it has long, dutifully and rightfully reported on the life and times of Simon Wiesenthal while it largely if not completely ignores the desperate plight of Palestinians residing in the occupied areas of Palestine, the IDF's (Israeli Defense Forces) intentional slaughter of 33 American servicemen and the wounding of 171 others in 1967, and many other issues and events that do not fit the US government/business agenda. http://www.ussliberty.org/
Speaking of selective outrage, here is an example of a Nazi terrorist who has forever escaped the radars of the likes of Simon Wiesenthal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Bosch


Peace with social justice,
Guy