If You Didn’t Like Auschwitz, You Must Love Gitmo…Or Something Like That
Michelle Malkin praises Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA) for saying that to properly oppose the Kafkaequse limbo and flagrant violation of both US and international law at Guantanamo, you must have also opposed the Nazis:
Dutch lawmakers who visited the Guantanamo Bay military prison this week said they were offended by a testy exchange in Washington with a senior congressional Democrat.
The lawmakers said that Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told them that “Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay.”
I know Lantos is Holocaust survivor, but those remarks are just insane. “Europe” isn’t a meaningful entity as far as opposing Auschwitz goes , and those Dutch lawmakers were in all likelihood in no position to be “outraged by Auschwitz” (i.e. they weren’t alive). Does Lantos think that to oppose Guantanamo, one must be a Holocuast survivor, American GI or a former member of the resistance? Setting aside the ridiculousness of the remark, it doesn’t matter why “Europe” or, specifically, the Dutch are outraged at Guantanamo.
The context of this exchange was the Netherlands considering whether or not they should keep their 1,600 strong force in Afghanistan. Since we decided to invade Iraq, we’re hamstrung in Afghanistan, meaning we need multinational and NATO support. Part of having allies is not saying that their opposition to your policies is driven by them being soft on Auschwitz and not saying totally boneheaded things like “You have to help us, because if it was not for us you would now be a province of Nazi Germany.” Lantos’ remarks are also especially offensive considering that the Netherlands, according to Yad Vashem, has the second most “Righteous Among the Nations” — gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
