"What is this dark side?"

I just got off the phone with Mama Shakes, and I was bitching to her about the torture bill, and telling her if she knocks on my door one day and no one answers, that she should look for me at Gitmo if there’s no forwarding address left behind.

She told me that one of our local papers had an opinion piece today that echoed many of my complaints, so I went to check it out. Here it is, in its entirety—and, mind you, this is a small paper in very conservative Indiana:

Recently, I read an article by the Rev. Andrew Greeley, a Catholic priest, titled, "Is U.S. like Germany of the '30s?"

Greeley wrote, "Today, many Americans celebrate a 'strong' leader who, like Woodrow Wilson, never wavers, never apologizes, never admits a mistake, never changes his mind, a leader with a firm, 'Christian' faith in his own righteousness. These Americans are delighted that he ignores the rest of the world and punishes the World Trade Center terrorism in Iraq. Mr. Bush is our kind of guy."

Today, America is threatened by President Bush, who displays the same kind of dangerous self-righteousness as Adolph Hitler did in Nazi Germany. And, like the fearful, uninformed and ill-informed German people, many fearful, uninformed and ill-informed Americans choose to believe the fallacies and myths instilled in them by the Bush administration, i.e., Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11.

Propaganda spread by Nazi ideologues was that communist Russia was the center of what Hitler referred to as the "Judeo-Bolshevist conspiracy."

Sadly, many Americans today also believe Hitler was a communist and an atheist; he was neither a communist nor an atheist. In his book, "Mein Kampf," Hitler wrote, "Hence, today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator; by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."

In fact, communists were the first group Hitler sought to destroy. He believed it was Germany's destiny and duty to destroy the evil Judeo-Bolshevists and save Western civilization from communism and the nefarious threat of the Jews. Like the Bush administration, Hitler instructed his generals that this was to be an ideological war to the finish, and German soldiers were not expected to fight according to the established rules of war.

Hitler's war against the communist East was not only to gain territory and resources for Germany. More importantly, it was a great ideological crusade for control of minds.

This fact is documented in "Mein Kampf," when Hitler wrote, "Thus, inwardly armed with confidence in God and the unshakable stupidity of the voting citizenry, the politicians can begin the fight for the 'remaking' of the Reich as they call it."

Bush stated he would turn the clock back 50 years in America. It is clear he has accomplished his goal.

Like the Bush administration's criminal war in Iraq, this mode of operation provided Hitler's industrial corporate backers easy access for their "Internet," i.e., take control of the world and all its resources by rule of totalitarian force.

Further, Greeley asks: "Can this model be useful to understand how contemporary America is engaged in a criminally unjust war that has turned much of the world against it, a war in which torture and murder have become routine? Has the combination of the World Trade Center attack and a president who believes his instruction comes from God unleashed the dark side of American heritage? What is this dark side? I suggest it is the mix of Calvinist religious righteousness and 'my-country-right-or-wrong' patriotism that dominated our treatment of blacks and American Indians for most of this country's history. The 'manifest destiny' of America was to do whatever it wanted to do, because it was strong, virtuous and chosen by God."

Today, we should question in depth, were Hitler — and now Bush — true believers or merely politically dexterous theists in pursuit of their political agendas?

Thank you, Joyce Niksic.