Jewish World Review Nov. 21, 2001 / 6 Kislev, 5762
Debra J. Saunders
Depraved minds think alike
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com --
IN the name of G-d, both men committed
atrocities that rank among some of the worst the
world has known. In 1925, Adolf Hitler wrote in
"Mein Kampf," "By defending myself against the
Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." Osama
bin Laden said, "Hostility toward America is a
religious duty, and we hope to be rewarded for it by
G-d."
Both Hitler and bin Laden determined that their
groups -- Aryans for Hitler,
Muslims for OBL -- were superior by nature. These
were difficult arguments to maintain, however,
because their superior groups weren't as powerful
as their alleged inferiors. So they each created their
own scapegoats.
Hitler blamed "the Jews" for keeping down his
Master Race. "Wherever I went,
I began to see Jews, and the more I saw, the more
sharply they became distinguished in my eyes from
the rest of humanity," Hitler wrote.
His disciple, bin Laden, targeted Americans, Jews
and "infidels." Like Hitler, OBL took the mere
presence of others to be synonymous with actual
assault. "The people became aware that their main
problems were caused by the American occupiers
and their puppets in the Saudi regime," he once
explained, "whether this was from the religious
aspect or other aspects in their everyday lives."
And: "America has spearheaded the crusade against
the Islamic nation, sending tens of thousands of
troops to the land of the two Holy Mosques," said
bin Laden. You'd think American troops were
attacking Saudis. But the real affront was American
military superiority -- cause for OBL's charge of
"humiliation."
Both fanatics blamed moderates as the reason their
group was not pre- eminent. Hitler complained of
Germans' "steadily increasing habit of doing things
by halves." OBL warned, "Whoever denies even a
minor tenet of our religion commits the gravest sin in
Islam."
Both said that their side deserved defeat for not
being radical enough. Hitler called Germany's WWI
defeat "more than deserved." OBL said the wildly
disparate Saudi society "is a curse put on them by
Allah for not objecting to the oppressive and
illegitimate behaviors and measures of the ruling
regime."
Both men complained that they were persecuted for
their beliefs. "Mein Kampf" -- German for "my
struggle" -- told the saga of Hitler's battle for
power, including his jail time. OBL could have
penned "Mein Jihad," as he railed against the
"confiscation of human rights" and that co-believers
"were ridiculed, prevented from travel, punished
and even jailed." An odd indignation from men who
had other people killed for being dissidents, Jewish,
American, or for being nearby Americans.
Hitler wrote that Terror "will always be successful
unless opposed by equal terror." OBL told
journalist David Bamber, "There are two types of
terror, good and bad. What we are practicing is
good terror."
Hitler wrote that Germany would be free only when
its "international poisoners are exterminated." OBL
has proclaimed a jihad against Americans, infidels
and Jews, with civilians as fair game.
My generation frequently has wondered how the
world could not have been alert to the evil of Hitler,
especially after he made his insane, murderous
agenda clear in "Mein Kampf." Today, many
anti-war types have been willing to paper over the
bloody plans of bin Laden, so hungry are they to
make America the world's
villain.
Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders's column by clicking here.
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© 2000, Creators Syndicate
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