Nobody seems to be asking the obvious: Why should Germany be involved in the first place? Murat Kurnaz is a Turk, his German residence permit was already expired when he was picked up in Afghanistan. 63 % believe that Germany should have helped him anyway…
Now German nutroots blame their foreign minister Steinmeier for this would-be terrorist’s lock up in Gitmo for 4 years:
GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER UNDER FIRE
When in Doubt, Choose Security
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier continues to face criticism over the case of Murat Kurnaz. As more and more details of the case are revealed, it is becoming clear that Steinmeier, as head of the Chancellery from 2002 to 2005, played a role in preventing Kurnaz from leaving the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.
AP
Under fire: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
There are times when global politics are secondary. During a dinner with DER SPIEGEL last Thursday evening in an expensive restaurant on Place Jourdan in Brussels, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier talks in meticulous detail about Cyprus, Kosovo, Iraq. Now and again he jokes about the foibles and abilities of other foreign ministers.
After the hors d’oeuvre he touches on the German army’s mission in Afghanistan. But it isn’t until the main course is served that Steinmeier asks: “Do you want to talk about it now?” After a rundown of the world’s crises he knows it’s time for him to turn to his own personal trouble spot: The case of Murat Kurnaz, who spent four and a half years in detention at Guantanamo Bay where he was mistreated.
Speaking of Germany,,,,,somewhat OT, but check this out. It is very validating, especially in light of the thread re a new political party.
We have a big battle on our hands:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21447
Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant
By Debris Trail
FrontPageMagazine.com | March 1, 2006
I used to know a man whose family were German aristocracy prior to World War Two. They owned a number of large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.
“Very few people were true Nazis” he said,
“but, many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”
We are told again and again by “experts” and “talking heads” that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.
Although this unquantified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is, that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars world wide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is, that the “peaceful majority” is the “silent majority” and it is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The Average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of Killing that included the systematic killing of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving”.
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun. Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, [Serbs], Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others, have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Absolutely spot-on, Gramfan: I say terrorism works:
Terrorists kill a few and thousands no- hundreds of thousands are intimidated and scared sh*tless…
See what happened with cartoon rage? Hardly a newspaper or a TV-channel anywhere willing to put them on display!
Is your email working yet? I sometimes get good stuff sent to me,like the piece above.
Steinmeier erred on the side of caution so now he must be crucified. If I had to choose between imprisoning someone who’s innocent on the chance he might commit a terrorist act or letting him go I’d pick the former everytime. Mr. Ugly was freed eventually-had he committed a terrorist act there would have been no way to bring back the dead.
By the way, I thought I was reading the article off the Al-Jazeera site the way it mentioned the poor guy’s horrible inprisonment-Der Spiegel must be its German affiliate. Mistreatment? They probably forced the guy to take regular baths!
Spiegel spin doctors are almost criminally pro-Muhammedan…