Again, where is your concrete argument reference von Braun? Nothing, thank you. And you did intend to construct the typical BS argument that one hears so often.
Tell me specifically what von Braun did that constitutes a war crime?
All you do is bla bla bla. Never do you construct an argument that ties von Braun to a war crime, because you CAN NOT. Shear association does not make one a war criminal. Just like no one is saying anyone who was in the Serb Army is a criminal. However, there were a few that did do bad things, and they do deserve to be prosecuted once identified.
I quote you, ****“Nazi scientists were brought in bulk under Paperclip program. American space program was led by people who worked P.O.W.'s to death. (Nazi rockets were lablled V1, V2, American was labelled SaturnV, go figure).”**** Your own words. Who were you insinuating? Von Braun.
Different people got different sentences because they did different things. Some got nothing, and there was no national interest at stake for letting them off. What did Karajan have that we needed? He was a card carrying NAZI party member. But did he commit any crime? Association alone is not enough.
So, in your previous post you attempt to argue with “guilt by association”. In this last post your reasoning took you down the road of arguing with the “straw man”.
“Following the logic of your post, even Hitler is innocent because also did not kill anyone with his own hands, just like Von Braun. “ You wrote http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
Many of the war criminals of WWII evaded justice. This was not because of a deliberate intent of the US, rather the inability to determine who the bad players were, many slipping out and going to places like Argentina or Switzerland. Many in the most senior positions committing some of the gravest crimes were known, such as Eichman. However, the names of the machine gunners who gunned down 4,000 POW in Dachau as machine gun practice, those people are forgotten in history and no one was going to volunteer that information on themselves. Those that committed these crimes after the war didn’t jump up and yell, “HELLO, yes I was the one who cut down hundreds just to practice my skills on that MG42.” In fact, there were many cases where years later the US forces identified individuals with a questionable past who had been working for them in Germany and they were not high level scientists. No one was a NAZI when the war was over, and they all claimed that they fought the Russians. Many from the SS had strange scars in place of a tattoo. There was also an issue with the shear volume of people you’re dealing with. Documents were destroyed, people kept their secrets, there were millions of people to deal with, many of the victims were dead, many of the bad guys fled, and you didn’t have modern capabilities to sort the shear volumes of data. Just think of the shear MILLIONS of people that were moving because of the displacement of boarders, POW returning etc. Germany was occupied by several nations, not just the US. I assure you; many war criminals got off or were identified years later not because of a systemic intent, but rather because of the overall situation.
Do you realize that the case of Arthur Rudolf which you reference MAKES MY POINT?
Too many in the US even today, a German in WWII is synonymous with NAZI. That’s not the case. But even so, the NAZI party had OVER 8.5 million members (1 in 6 German adults). As I attempted to explain before, if you were going to be a “somebody” you had to join. While amoral and most surly were knowledgeable at least to a large degree of the evil this party was involved with, most of these members did not personally do anything for which you can call them a war criminal.
Arthur Rudolf once he returned to Germany in the mid 80’s didn’t even get prosecuted by the Germans because there was inadequate evidence of wrong doing. Like the conspiracy theories of the US knowing about the imminent attack on Pearl Harbor, this argument of “We let NAZI war criminals off the hook that worked for us” BS keeps surfacing. Truth is, Arthur Rudolf more or less “settled” this issue and left the US and renounced his US citizenship on our request. He was never found guilty of anything and most likely never would have been (But this is speculation). He feared for his safety and we didn’t want the mess, so he left. It’s pathetic when you have to resort to something like this in an attempt to make your point.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rudolph
**** BTW - I suggest you read your own link to the FBI record since it’s rather amusing that you post a link that has a bunch of American colleagues saying what a great guy he was and nothing incriminating in it! ****
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However, I will even “somewhat” agree with you. The laws of man are imperfect, and those who apply these laws are imperfect as well. This is true even today as it was in 1946 when Europe was a mess. But the statement that the US shielded NAZI war criminals is largely folklore. It’s one of those frequently repeated statements that when you press people for real tangibles ends up empty handed. Just like the theory that we were aware of Pearl Harbor before it happened, or that the bomb need not be dropped; this argument that you propose is usually presented in conjuction with another agenda, but is hollow when it comes to facts.
Von Braun was in position to prevent this and he did not. Neither did Rudolph.
Your notion that membership in Nazi party was not criminal act itself goes against The Nuremberg judgement. NSDAP was declared to be a CRIMINAL ORGANISATION.
As of idea that foreknowledge of Pearl Harbour is some kind of conspiracy theory, it shows that your knowledge is at least 50 years behind the published facts.