Dave Lindorff: MoveOn Shouldn't Apologize for Those Ads: "The truth is that the two ads are pretty darned good. The first shows Hitler in a parade and speaking, followed by scenes of German troops attacking, planes bombing, tanks firing, and victorious troops goose-stepping into occupied territory, as a voiceover says 'A nation warped by lies--lies fuel fear--fear fuels aggression--invasion--occupation.' As the scene fades from Hitler giving a raised arm salute to Bush with his hand raised at his inauguration, the voiceover says, 'What were war crimes in 1945 is foreign policy in 2003.'

"And the truth: The Bush administration deliberately stoked public fears after 9/11--just as the Nazi's used the Reichstag Fire--to win support for an illegal, unprovoked invasion of Iraq, an act of aggression which, at the Nuremberg Trials, was specifically determined to be a war crime. The ad might have added that the 'shock and awe' terror campaign that was the centerpiece of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, was also by definition a war crime, since its target was the Iraqi public.

"As for the second controversial ad, it features first a picture of Hitler, speaking in German, with a voiceover translating the lines as 'We have taken new measures to protect our homelandSI believe I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.' Then, as Hitler continues to speak, the voiceover says, '"God told me to strike Al-Qaeda, and I struck him." As the picture morphs into George Bush, the voiceover continues, "and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did." With a picture of cheering Germans in the background, the voiceover concludes, "Sound familiar?"

"And the truth here? President Bush did in fact publicly claim divine instruction to have been behind his decisions to invade Afghanistan and later Iraq--a rather scary example, if he is being sincere, of the very kind of megalomania that characterized Hitler... They were legitimate warnings that the American public is being manipulated by demagoguery, jingoism and the worst kind of lies... What they are saying is that the same technique used by Hitler and his National Socialist brownshirts to whip up nationalist fervor in Germany in the early and mid 1930s is being employed today by the Bush Administration and the Republican Party, and to the same end--to get the American public to acquiesce in surrendering its democratic rights, to accept one-party rule, and to agree to a national policy of permanent war in the name of American global hegemony."

Dave Lindorff: MoveOn Shouldn't Apologize for Those Ads: "The truth is that the two ads are pretty darned good. The first shows Hitler in a parade and speaking, followed by scenes of German troops attacking, planes bombing, tanks firing, and victorious troops goose-stepping into occupied territory, as a voiceover says 'A nation warped by lies--lies fuel fear--fear fuels aggression--invasion--occupation.' As the scene fades from Hitler giving a raised arm salute to Bush with his hand raised at his inauguration, the voiceover says, 'What were war crimes in 1945 is foreign policy in 2003.'

"And the truth: The Bush administration deliberately stoked public fears after 9/11--just as the Nazi's used the Reichstag Fire--to win support for an illegal, unprovoked invasion of Iraq, an act of aggression which, at the Nuremberg Trials, was specifically determined to be a war crime. The ad might have added that the 'shock and awe' terror campaign that was the centerpiece of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, was also by definition a war crime, since its target was the Iraqi public.

"As for the second controversial ad, it features first a picture of Hitler, speaking in German, with a voiceover translating the lines as 'We have taken new measures to protect our homelandSI believe I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.' Then, as Hitler continues to speak, the voiceover says, '"God told me to strike Al-Qaeda, and I struck him." As the picture morphs into George Bush, the voiceover continues, "and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did." With a picture of cheering Germans in the background, the voiceover concludes, "Sound familiar?"

"And the truth here? President Bush did in fact publicly claim divine instruction to have been behind his decisions to invade Afghanistan and later Iraq--a rather scary example, if he is being sincere, of the very kind of megalomania that characterized Hitler... They were legitimate warnings that the American public is being manipulated by demagoguery, jingoism and the worst kind of lies... What they are saying is that the same technique used by Hitler and his National Socialist brownshirts to whip up nationalist fervor in Germany in the early and mid 1930s is being employed today by the Bush Administration and the Republican Party, and to the same end--to get the American public to acquiesce in surrendering its democratic rights, to accept one-party rule, and to agree to a national policy of permanent war in the name of American global hegemony."