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CounterPunch
January
14, 2003
War on Germany
A Modest Proposal
by MATTHEW ALBRIGHT
Bush's "axis of evil" is in need of
revision. In the past week, Iraq and North Korea have tried to
prove themselves worthy of the phrase, but Iran is comparably
dull and makes a rather boring bad guy. It is time to add a country
to the axis that has long been known to contribute to evil regimes
in terms of weapons and technical knowledge. This country was
recently named explicitly in the weapons report Iraq delivered
to the U.N. as the number one supplier of parts, plans, and weapon
know-how to Saddam Hussein' regime. The new evil: Germany.
Given the current political climate in
Germany, the country' role as fertile ground for the 911 masterminds,
and its assistance in the buildup of Iraqi' arms over the past
two decades, it would be apropos of U.S. foreign policy at this
time to force a regime change in Germany. Since the Bush administration
is in the mood anyway, we might just as well use armed force
to achieve this end. The U.S. is currently forming two war fronts:
one against terrorists and one against Iraq and Hussein' regime.
By sending U.S. soldiers into Germany, we would be going a long
way toward defeating both these enemies. German businesses
can take credit for the majority of material and technical expertise
that now make up Iraq's armament, including the "weapons
of mass destruction2 that make up the justification for the impending
U.S. invasion. Up until the Gulf War, German companies were the
main suppliers to Iraq' nuclear weapons program, poison gas facilities,
ballistic missiles, and long-range delivery system. After the
war, German companies continued to dodge the embargo. Two German
businessmen were arrested in October for selling material in
1999 for Iraq's "supergun," capable of shooting biological
and chemical weapons at troops in Kuwait. More recently, it was
reported that the German government has known since 1999 of a
German company that assisted Iraq with electronic technology
that can be adopted for use on the battlefield.
We have German journalist Andreas Zumach
to thank for getting a hold of the expurgated sections of the
Iraqi report which demonstrates just how helpful Germany was
in the Iraqi weapon buildup. In last week's Die Tageszeitung,
Zumach reported that the Bush administration is keeping details
of Germany' involvement quiet and building up a larger case against
the country in order to force it to acquiesce to any subsequent
actions the U.S. may take against Iraq. But this backroom political
maneuvering is just the kind of mamby-pamby diplomacy that got
us into both the terrorist and Iraqi problem in the first place.
It's time to cut the head off the snake. Invade Berlin.
It's better to go after the drug pushers
than the drug addicts. Why put all the blame on weapon-addicted
tyrants? During the 90s, the German government's reaction to
the discovery that its businessmen were arming Iraq was tepid
at best. Government spokesmen tried to place the blame of the
development of Iraq's weapon program on other states, even though
70% of the technically sensitive material needed came from Germany.
170 German companies were investigated at the opening of the
Gulf War, but most of the cases were dropped or dismissed in
court and only a handful of businessmen went to prison.
On the terrorist front, the three ringleaders
of the 9/11 attack developed the plan while living and studying
in Hamburg (It has been repeatedly pointed out that none of the
terrorists came from Iraq). These three were the brains and held
the technical expertise of the attack; the German crew flew three
of the four planes on September 11.
The German political scene is suspicious
as well. Gerhard Schröder won his recent bid for Chancellor
on an anti-American platform. In September, his justice minister
compared President Bush' methods to those of Hitler. In January,
Germany will become a non-permanent member of the Security Council
and will be in yet a stronger position to poison the United Nations
with its hatred of the United States. The time to act is now.
The expurgated section of the Iraqi document
also lists 24 U.S. companies that aided Iraq in its military
buildup. Lest the Bush administration be accused of hypocrisy,
and since it has its holsters on anyway, it would be political
wise to force regime changes on these companies as well. (It
would win votes as well, showing that Bush can respond with armed
force against corporate scandals.) Alongside Bagdad and Berlin,
it is time to send the marines into the corporate offices of
Honeywell, DuPont, and Hewlett Packard. Let the wars begin.
Matthew Albright
lives in Durango, Colorado. He is the author of "Profits
Pending: How Life Patents Fail Science and Society,"
which will be published in May, 2003 by Common Courage Press.
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