Posted on 03/11/2005 6:26:47 PM PST by nypokerface
"This looks like one of the more honorable things Clinton did. If American soldiers stole these goods, the American government should be held accountable."
-OK, I am going to have to disagree with you on this one. Settling sets a bad precedent. Sure $25MM is nothing to the US Government but there are certain principals we should work to maintain:
1. Once that gold left your house in Nazi hands, it was gone. If you have an issue with that, talk to the German government.
2. Once the US intercepted a Nazi train, its contents during war time belong to the U.S.
3. Once an American dies in battle, all bets are off. Total War. That means, no reparations.
If you want to dissuade people from fighting the U.S. you must stick to the Total War principal. The spoils the U.S. got from their adversary (in this case, the German government), belong to the American people. If anyone has a beef, its the U.S. taxpayer against any officer who kept that stuff for his personal use. All of those confiscated items should have been turned over to the GAO to be sold to help finance the war and pay the widows and orphans of U.S. soldiers who are now buried all across Europe.
End of story.
Once that gold left your house in Nazi hands, it was gone. If you have an issue with that, talk to the German government.
So larceny of an item creates a property interest in that item? I'd like to see you explain that "principle" in front of a judge.
You are right, but the story makes no mention of names and people. I would be willing to bet that the names are well known, at least to those old enough to have been alive. If it were enlisted men, they would have been jailed by now, and had their assests seized....IMO.
I'd like to say I disagree, but you may be right.
Sounds like a great movie ping.
"So larceny of an item creates a property interest in that item? I'd like to see you explain that "principle" in front of a judge."
War trumps municipal justice. I would not defend that position if the bullets were not flying. Total war during war. Want it to stop? Surrender-then we will go back to civil justice.
PING
The entire story save the last news item is told in "The Gold Train" by Ronald W. Zweig. The train was filled with a lot of valuables which were not that valuable once they were loaded onto boxcars - things like fur coats and oriental carpets. I think there were some attempts to get some of the stuff out to auction when it was captured, in order to use the proceeds to help the DPs but what with the chaos of the end of the war, and all.
The bad news is there is more where this came from. The US Army or its officers stole reams of valuables from the local populace in its areas of occupation, frequently issuing requisition receipts signed by 'George Washington' or 'Mickey Mouse'. This went right on up to the theft of both the Reichsbank Gold horde and the equally large Singleton Gold horde found nearby. Niether ever seen again.
The corruption was so bad that it resulted in a Congressional inquiry. I think false receipts were handed over for both of these.
Underlying this is the export of US tort law, both in space and time ('slavery' compensation), which is going to get interesting, all backed by the politics of 'Cosmic Justice' so accurately described in Thomas Sowell's book of the same name.
The main problem with the export of US tort law is that it will boomerang:
For Example: Swiss Banks and the Holocaust bank accounts: Similar quantities of funds were deposited in US banks.
More 'final' settlements for holocaust victims, slave labor, etc: Will result in compensation claims from those trapped in Europe by the refusal of US/others to take fleeing jews from Nazi Europe.
Others try to get in on the act but without US tort law and an some institution with money to be sued for, it does not fly: Witness the Ukrainian attempts to rebrand the famine as the 'Holodomor' and seek compensation. Lots of luck with that.
Re: Payment for liberation of Europeans: The US never liberated anyone in Hungary. The Bolshevik Horde had already swept half way across Austria.
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