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Posted on 12/22/2005 2:44:54 AM PST by F14 Pilot
In calling the Holocaust "a myth," as he did last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has drunk from the bloody cup shared by the malevolent enemies of equality and justice, the ultra right-wingers and haters who live in history's shadows.
Need it be said, again? The gas chambers, the bureaucratic system of murder, the efforts to sever an entire people from their place in this world, did happen, did exist and remains a unifying cause for those who choose justice, now and forever more.
This latest outburst gives the Bush administration a second opportunity to send a strong message in support of Israel and of the global community, and to make a clear statement against bigotry and hatred. This time, President Bush should not let the moment pass — as he did after Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" in an October 28 hate-filled speech.
Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust and his denigration of an important ally and close friend of America was an outrage. But so, too, was the tepid American response.
The Bush administration — which so often answers challenges with confrontational language — took this occasion to whisper. With the exception of America's ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, who denounced the remarks as "pernicious and unacceptable," the Bush administration explained those comments as if they had been uttered by a crazy relative — and then returned to its talking points on Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted widespread condemnation of the remarks, but did not offer condemnation of her own: "When the president of one country says that another country should be wiped off the face of the map in violation of all of the norms of the United Nations... it has to be taken seriously.... There has been widespread condemnation of this statement and it only demonstrates why we're working so hard to keep Iran from getting technologies that would lead to a nuclear weapon."
The State Department's spokesman, Sean McCormack, anemically noted that Ahmadinejad's statement "reconfirms what we have been saying... and I think it underscores our concern as well as the international community's concern about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons."
President Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan, told reporters matter-of-factly that, "Many leaders in the international community have spoken out about the comments that were made."
But Bush was not among them. Not a single word of disapproval passed the president's lips.
The lesson of the last century and more is clear: Acts of hatred often follow words of hatred, and the best way to head off hideous deeds is to respond swiftly and with certainty. Instead of explaining away Iran's behavior, or scoring minor tactical points, it is time to let the antisemites know that Americans will not tolerate their calls for violence or especially grievous insults to history.
Let me explain my outrage. I grew up under a dictatorship, in Mozambique. Grown-ups could not speak out against the repression and injustice that surrounded us. But since leaving, I have demonstrated and marched against tyranny and hate.
I began my formal work against antisemitism in 1977, when I joined the Congressional Wives for Soviet Jewry, a group I would later co-chair. It was an honor to meet and stand with Refuseniks like Ida Nudel, Judith Rattner, Vladimir Slepak, Natan Sharansky and so many others. I visited Russia many times, and met with people who had been systematically and sometimes brutally repressed. I learned from them that when we say "never again," we have to mean it.
Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of Great Britain, has compared antisemitism to a virus, surviving through millennia by mutating: religious anti-Judaism into racial antisemitism, and now antisemitism morphing into anti-Zionism. Whatever the rationalization its adherents hide behind, though, antisemitism has always had at its heart the same things: bigotry and hate and fear.
The only way to prevent the virus from surviving and spreading is to attack, killing it with the strongest possible condemnations before it has a chance to mutate and spread. In October, Bush missed a chance to do that. Now he has a second chance to speak out. I hope he will take it.
It is time for Iran to be confronted by a unified, outraged and outspoken Bush administration, an administration that feels and dispenses the cleansing heat that such virulent words deserve.
Teresa Heinz Kerry is the wife of Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
Hey Terrayza, you stupid ignorant drunken slut!
Hitler, the Nazis, Stalin and the KGB...ALL
of them...God hatin, souless, Socialist Leftist
pigs...like *you*. It's the National Socialist
Democrat "workers" Party..that became the "Bazis"
and built the death camps...Creatures like your daddy.
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Still can't figure why Dingbat had to give a speech at the TraitorcRat Convention other than to show off how to bore people in 7 languages??
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Why is this stupid b*tch opening her mouth again? Isn't she the idiot that said the hurricane victims in Fl should not get food, etc, let them run naked, or words to that effect.
I've gone down 14 posts and haven't seen a STFU post.
I'm not too proud.
STFU!
While not discounting her barbed thoughts on the matter. . .for some reason; I doubt this was actually written by THK. . .
Does not have her voice. . .
. . .save for the hypocrisy; and the stupidity it implies and as you righfully mention.
If GWB says anything about Iran, the Blame America First party will blame him for "warmongering".
Terezza wants the Bush admin to speak out,but how does she expect her fellow democrats in the msm to react if the Bush admin follows her advice?Does she expect her hubby to support GW?This does not compute.
God, I love it when this woman speaks.
“The inability to distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary. Psychosis is a term used to describe a severe mental illness. Psychotics are characterized by a variety of symptoms that most people consider abnormal. These include experiencing delusions, such as the notion that one is being persecuted or conspired against. Psychotics may see things which don't actually exist and hear Voices (i.e. God) when no one is around. They often exhibit compulsive, irrational, ritualized behavior, esp. when such behavior serves no purpose or is even harmful or disruptive to those around them. They show no concern for others but may exhibit total self-centered behavior. Includes sociopathy, schizophrenia.”
DSM-IV
“…and that’s MISTER Dickhead to you, airman!”
"ultra right wingers" smear in the first paragraph. Nice try to paint "America's right wing" with the Nazi label.
The "anti war" movement is an "anti American war" movement. They support the Palestinian war against Israel (in every statement I've ever seen or heard). What's more, when there was the big rally in 2003 in DC and SF, there were those who publicly supported the Palestinians use of suicide bombers as "using the only weapons they have, (cry, sob sob) their bodies".
What a cold heartless bitch. Glad she is not first lady of this or any nation.
She's a real piece of work.Could you imagine her as a "First Lady"?Verrry scary.
"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."
Hey, they are just harmless words...Lady!
Miz Heinz-Kerry, the Queen Jezebel Hillary wannabe!
This would be funny if it wasn't tragic. Teresa, I condemn you.
Kerry and the Ayatollahs (Kerry's letter to Iran, blaming the US) (REPOST/REMINDER)
I was under the impression that Teresa Heinz Kerry has dropped the Kerry and is now using only the name Teresa Heinz.
Is she suggesting that we go in and take out Iran's President?
If so, she needs to talk to her hubby so that they're on the same page of the playbook. Or maybe Jean Francois has made like a weathervane again.
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