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February 13, 2012
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Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
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Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
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Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
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February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
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Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
July 14, 2003
/ 14 Tamuz, 5763
What Einstein taught Bush
By
Jonathan Gurwitz
Genius or not, the president certainly mastered a very important history lesson that many of his critics either never did or are conveniently choosing to forget
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
On Aug. 2, 1939, a Jewish scientist wrote a letter to the president of the
United States, warning him that a fascist dictator was working on a project to
produce a new type of weapon that "if carried by a boat and exploded in a port
might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding
territory."
The scientist was Albert Einstein. The letter itself was the product of
conversations Einstein held with Edward Teller and Leo Szilard, also Jewish
scientists.
They met with presidential adviser Alexander Sachs, himself Jewish, who
agreed to deliver the letter to the president, Franklin Roosevelt, personally.
The dictator was Adolph Hitler, and the weapon they believed posed a threat to
American and international security was the atomic bomb.
Shortly thereafter, with the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the American
administration — against popular sentiment — began supporting a small
nation under siege and its boisterous wartime leader with large amounts of
military and economic assistance.
Opponents charged that this lack of balance in U.S. policy would drag the
country into a war in which it had no truck.
Opposition rallies took place across the United States under the banner
"America First," led by popular figures such as national hero Charles
Lindbergh. Both on the left and the right, Americans demanded that the
administration focus on the homefront and economic problems rather than
pursuing a foreign agenda.
More extreme opponents claimed that American policy was being unduly
influenced by "international Jewry."
On December 11, 1941, four days after being attacked by Imperial Japan, and after Germany had declared war on the United States in fulfillment of the Tripartite Pact, the United States declared war on Nazi Germany, though Germany had not attacked it, nor did Germany pose any immediate threat to the continental United States. The result of this decision was that American troops were sent to Africa, Italy and the shores of France, siphoning off critical manpower and materiel from the war against Japan.
The result of this decision was that American troops were sent to Africa, Italy
and the shores of France, siphoning off critical manpower and materiel from the
war against Japan.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their lives in the war in Europe,
millions more European civilians were killed. Cultural monuments were
destroyed and cities laid waste, including the baroque treasure of Dresden,
and priceless works of art disappeared or were destroyed as Allied forces
advanced on Berlin.
As the war drew to a close, Allied troops discovered camps where the Nazis
killed political opponents, artists, intellectuals and one religious minority in
particular by the millions.
But in the end, nearly six years after Einstein had warned Roosevelt about the
threat of the first weapon of mass destruction, Hitler had no atomic bomb.
There remains today a lunatic fringe of revisionist historians who believe that
the war in Europe was contrived by Jews, that the Holocaust is a hoax whose
primary function is to extort money from innocent Europeans and land from
innocent Palestinians, and that the true criminals of World War II were
Churchill, Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Truman, not Hitler, Tojo, Goebbels and
Goering.
The advocates of such theories are normally recognized for the frothing
maniacs that they are.
But transfer such theories to the debate about the war in Iraq, and you'll find
them not only on the extreme fringe of left- and right-wing politics, but front and
center, in major newspapers and periodicals, espoused by columnists,
politicians and professors without any regard for context or the ironies of
history, let alone facts.
To read the fallacious charges today about the war in Iraq is to re-read that
history: that the war was foisted on the United States by a neo-conservative
Jewish cabal; that President Bush is a puppet of the war Cabinet of Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon; that the war was a diversion from the real threat
posed by al-Qaida and from more pressing economic needs at home; that the
destruction of buildings and artifacts has greater moral bearing than the
slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent people; and that the failure to
find Saddam's weapons of mass destruction renders his removal from power
immoral.
Einstein, Teller and Szilard — three of the greatest scientific minds of all
history — were wrong about Hitler's possession of atomic weapons, but not
about his drive to acquire them.
Given enough time, or unimpeded by Allied and Norwegian commando attacks
on the Nazi heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway, Hitler might well have
developed the first useable atomic weapons. And the world we live in would be
a much different place.
Whether Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed useable weapons of mass destruction at the beginning of 2003 and whether groups like al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad have them today is less significant than their well-established drive to acquire such weapons. And terrorist groups like al Qaeda posed a threat to the vital interests of the United States long before September 11th, and Osama bin Laden had issued his "fatwah" against the United States years before President Bush declared war on terrorism. Likewise the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction is there today, even if few people take it seriously. Will it require a December 7th or September 11th-type shock by weapons of mass destruction before this threat is fully recognized?
The day that useable nuclear, chemical or biological weapons are wedded to
the extremist, apocalyptic ideologies of Islamo-fascism is the day our world
changes, and the day that Einstein's warning to Roosevelt becomes a
prophecy.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading."
Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Jonathan Gurwitz, a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, is a co-founder and twice served as Director General of the Future Leaders of
the Alliance program at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. In 1986 he
was placed on the Foreign Service Register of the U.S. State Department. Comment by clicking here.
© 2003, Jonathan Gurwitz
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