History Repeating?

This week's Letter to the Editor from the Arizona Republic comes to us from Mr. Larry S. Rader of Tucson, Arizona. Under the heading - Freedoms Lost? Review History - Mr. Rader writes the following:

People today don't seem to have any perspective on our nation's history.

We are currently in a world war against terrorism just as we were fighting worldwide during our conflict with Germany and Japan. Our objectives today, as then, are all about winning. Let's see if any perceived loss of freedoms today compare with what happened during World War II.

All Japanese-Americans were placed in internment camps while their property was confiscated. Newspaper accounts of the war were censored as well as all correspondence between our military personal and the folks back home.

German saboteurs who came ashore in the United States were rounded up and tried by a military tribunal and immediately executed. African-Americans fought in segregated units. Rationing of gasoline, meat, shoes, and tires were commonplace. Air raid alerts were routine where entire cities were blacked out.

Anyone still want to talk about all the freedoms we're losing? Can you imagine the outrage of today's media and certain politicians if a fraction of these policies were in place?

I'm trying to think of any loss of freedom that actually affects me. So far, I have found none. The resilience of the "Greatest Generation" sure puts us to shame.

I hate to break it to Mr. Rader, but there are no internment camps in America since the start of the War on Terror. Neither Muslims nor Arab Americans have been rounded up with their property confiscated. The Japanese internment has been recognized as one of the most oppressive acts of the American government since the forced relocation of American Indian tribes during the Jackson administration. I'm sure that there are a large number of Americans who would have felt safer had our government interned our Arab population, but, fortunately, wisdom reigned and history was NOT repeated in this situation. Score one for freedom.

The War on Terrorism is NOTHING like World War II in any way, shape or form. World War II was a congress declared war on existing nations - Germany, Italy and Japan. The War on Terror is against an ideology, not against a specific country - quite different. The idea of torturing our enemies was apprehensible during WWII, yet it is being condoned now. Japanese internments were NOT tortured during WWII. Can the same be said of prisoners interned in CIA camps overseas today? Highly doubtful. Mayhaps Mr. Rader is comfortable with this, but I am not.

The fact that African American troops fought in separate units has nothing to do with the racially unbalanced Armed Forces we have today. The war against the middle class and poor in this country has left little opportunity other than military service open to people who can't get into college any other way. Just as separate units was a slap in the face to American freedom, so is a racially unbalanced military brought on by inadequate opportunity for people of color in our country today.

Finally, yes Americans were asked to make sacrifices concerning the war effort by way of rationing and necessary censorship of troop movements and locations in mail sent to families of servicemen made sense and the American public was made aware that it would happen beforehand. These could hardly be termed "loss of freedoms," and in no way do they compare to the presidential abuse of warrantless wiretapping as practiced by this Administration today.

If you want to compare the WWII era to today, Mr. Rader, go back a bit farther to when the Germans had their freedoms taken from them by the Enabling Act of 1933. Good people like you were all for giving up their freedoms to a fascist government then, to protect them from a propagandized socialist threat. It scares me when good Americans are equally willing to give up their freedoms to protect themselves from a propagandized terrorist threat.

I suggest you get a better grasp on history, Mr. Rader. As George Santanya said, "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."

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