There was a journalist named Hannah (?) Arendt who covered the Nuremburg trials and coined the phrase "banality of evil." I have forgotten the name of the man whose trial she covered, but he was essentially a bureaucrat who did the paperwork to keep the concentration camps in supplies. But he knew what was happening there and he was a participant. Apparently he went to his death never quite understanding what he had done wrong
On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 16:43:02 -0500, Larry C. Lyons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > First off I am not invoking the Hitler rule here. > > A few years ago there was a very interesting book called "Hitler's > Willing Executioners." The author, a historian, examined why > relatively ordinary people in Germany not only allowed but willingly > participated in the concentration camp system. What I found striking > was that many of them could have been our neighbours and friends. I > think a similar set of circumstances was at work with most of the > people who supported the Ba'athist regime. > > You want a job, or to get a better job within the Oil Ministry, or the > Ministry of Education etc, then you became a member of the Party, and > a willing and vocal supporter of Saddam. In a lot of cases many Iraqis > had little or no choice. > > If its a choice between starving and letting our kids starve, and > kissing Saddam's ass, I think most of us would be have done the same - > pucker up and go to it. One of the most difficult jobs whomever takes > over the governement in Iraq after the elections is going to have that > problem sorting through those who did whatever to survive and those > who were willing and enthusiastic participants. > > larry > > On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 15:23:40 -0500, Jerry Johnson > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > First thing to remember about Fallujah. It was/is a center of the Bathist > > party, wasn't it? > > > I don't have a better solution than to excluded them, since many are the > > scum of the earth as proven by their participation in Hussein's regime, but > > we should expect a little resistance from those completely locked out of > > the plans for the future. > > > > Jerry > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:136800 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
