The horrific cost of racial prejudice

A reminder...

Years ago, I wrote book reviews for The State, Columbia, S.C. These were of new books thought to be of interest to eclectic readers of the newspaper. It isn’t necessary, however, for a book to be fresh off the publisher’s presses to warrant a review.

If a stimulating book hasn’t been read earlier a review is still justified in spite of its having been published more than 15 years ago. I finished such a book this week.

In 2000, David Lehr, M.D., published “Austria Before and After the Anschluss,” sub-titled, “Personal Experiences, Observations, and Comments.”  (Dorrance Publishing Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222, 361 pp.)

In this memoir, Dr. Lehr, the Professor Emeritus at New York Medical College, whose research work has been published worldwide, succeeded in reminding us of the horrific cost of racial prejudice.

Dr. Lehr was born in Austria and had completed his studies as a doctor when the Germans took over Austria in March 1938. Rather than being the first victim of Hitler’s Germany, as some Austrians claim, Austria welcomed the Nazis, according to Dr. Lehr. In many instances, Austrian Nazis outdid their German counterparts in hostile actions against Jews and other minorities. Antisemitism was the order of the day. 

(Germany began some material compensation of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution around 1951, while it took Austria more than another 40 years to follow suit.)

In Vienna, Dr. Lehr writes, Jewish-owned automobiles were confiscated, homes and businesses looted and taken over, bank accounts seized, students kicked out of school, and men, women. and children were assaulted in the streets, all simply because they were Jews. 

Jews who wanted to emigrate while it was still possible were unable to take any money with them and had to sign over all their possessions before they could obtain an exit visa. Without a friend or relative in a foreign country willing to help people were stranded without recourse. Eventually, most of these same people were rounded up, sent to concentration camps, and ultimately killed.

(Holocaust victims are estimated to number 11 million, six million of which were victims simply because they were Jews.)

In his 90th year, Dr. Lehr wrote of his struggle throughout the 1930’s with his medical studies, some eventful incidents in his practice, and the personal tragedy of his family, which miraculously managed to be united years later in the United States. When the Anschluss occurred on March 13, 1938, life for Jews took the most unimaginable and dreadful turn. The horror which awaited them (and the other Jews of Europe) was unknown, unprecedented and terrible in its outcome. 

There were isolated positive encounters with “the very best and noble in Austria’s truly patrician stock,” but these were few and far between before and after the Anschluss. Dr. Lehr makes the point that remembering a positive act by a caring person stands out forever in a maelstrom of horror. 

Dr. Lehr felt a responsibility “to lay bare the tragic truth of the Austrian Holocaust.” He felt it was owed to the fallen Jews of Austria and to history. I believe he has done a good job of it. 

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We must carry on

I do not remember any period in my 84 plus years when so many innocent people in America and elsewhere who were simply out and about enjoying themselves were deliberately killed. We are living in an age of terrorism for which there seems no ready solution compatible with decency, civil liberties and, in the United States especially, constitutional freedoms. 

The enemy seems almost invisible. The killers are themselves being killed during their rampages. After the fact investigations reveal the perpetrators  with at least psychological ties or sympathies with ISIS. 

To us in the West, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is a terrorist group trying to re-create a political state (the Caliphate) to exert control over the Islamic world. They want to turn the pages back to the seventh century time of Muhammad and ignore fourteen centuries of growth and progress.  

Wether the leaders of this movement and the perpetrators of the recent carnage done in the name of ISIS are actually connected is practically impossible to establish. The link to ISIS can be psychological only, and what sets the perpetrator off on his killing rampage is unknown. This doesn’t stop ISIS from honoring the perpetrators as “soldiers of the caliphate.”

ISIS basks in the terror and inspires wanton acts of violence and carnage. ISIS recently reminded the world that vehicles could be a weapon. Result,  the tractor trailer truck being driven through crowds of people in Nice, France, killing at least 84 people. 

We will learn more about the driver of this truck in the days ahead. That is always the way.

Where the next terrorist act will occur is unknown. Vigilance is required. Nevertheless, we must go about our lives in the hope and promise of better days to come. 

Property inspection and good readings

Sometime it is a delight to look our the window and see your front yard being inspected. This Heron recently walked around our front lawn and then decided to inspect our neighbor's yard. So off he went walking tall on the gravel stone walkway up to our neighbor's front porch.

I completed two good books this month: The Billion Dollar Spy, a true story of Cold War espionage and betrayal by Pulitzer Prize winner David E.Hoffman. He recounts in exciting detail how a Soviet engineer volunteered to spy for the CIA in the heart of Moscow. His tales of clandestine meetings put you on the street evading KGB surveillance and your heart pumps during fifteen minute meetings in darkened nights. (Doubleday Publishers, available on Amazon.com.)

The second book is a memoir from former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell, (with Bill Harlow) who was George W. Bush's briefing officer for much of Bush's presidency. The Great War of Our Time, The CIA's fight against terrorists from Al QA'IDA to ISIS, takes the reader inside the White House and the offices of the CIA from 9/11 to the present. (Publisher: Twelve - A Hacherte Book Group, also available on Amazon.com.

Take either or both of these books to the beach on the mountains on your vacation and you will have serious narratives; especially read Morell's memoir if you are at all concerned about terrorism. 

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Drones, mothers and deaths

A couple of paragraphs I read recently made me think about the world around me.  And then there was some sad news more personal and closer to home.

"The drone and surveillance program, like much of counterterrorism today, are driven principally by two phenomena: on the one hand, previously unthinkable terrorist threats, and on the other, equally unanticipated technological developments. These twin factors have motivated and enabled security agencies to undertake measures that were once impossible--and to do so in secret, without the awareness, much less approval of the people on whose behalf they act."  (David Cole, Must Counterterrorism Cancel Democracy, The New York Review of Books, January 5, 2015. Pg 26.)

Thirteen years after 9/11, much thinking is looking back. At 9/11, I, and most Americans, did not care what the security agencies did with or without our approval. We only wanted to strike back. We did not ask to be consulted then; why now complain?
 
"When my mom picked me up at the airport from my LaGuardia flight, she was wearing a designer coat she got on eBay. It was too tight, and it made her look like she was hunchback. She hadn't been washing her hair, and she had a pronounced bald spot . It was Thanksgiving, in 2009." (Amie Barrodale, My Mother's Apartment, Harper's, December, 2014.Pg. 38.)

My mom never picked me up at any airport nor bought clothes on eBay. As she got older she was fastidious about her hair and had it done almost weekly. Amie has written ten short stories, all revolving around her mother. 

Closer to home, my brother-in-law, Edward Cooper, died January 8 in Florida early in the morning. A few hours later his sister, Bertha Cooper Westbury McMillan, died in Georgetown, S.C., where she was born and lived all of her life. 

At my marriage to Mary Cooper in 1954, Edward walked his sister down the aisle and gave her in marriage; Bertha and Mary were always close as sisters ought to be. I visited Bertha and her husband Harold, in December 2014.

The view from the Top of America ... Look, enjoy and be amazed

One World Trade Center is rising like a Phoenix and is being prepared to open. The link below opens the gateway to a staggering and magnificent 360-degree image taken 1,776ft up on the top the nation's tallest skyscraper, as well as other photos of the site.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2574788/The-view-America-Staggering-360-degree-image-taken-1-776ft-nations-tallest-skyscraper-released-One-World-Trade-Center-prepares-finally-open.html

Hope you enjoy! 

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After the Boston Marathon Bombing

A few personal thoughts as the Boston Marathon bombing enters the wrap-up phase.
One of the ministers at the inter-faith service said she did not have an answer for why a loving God allowed such tragedy. I don't either and I doubt that anyone does. We will, however, go on from here as we always do. Those dead will be grieved for, those injured will be cared for and soon our attention will be focused on something else. It is the way of life. Life is for the living ad we ought to treasure every moment. We can expect that loving God to be with us along the way. And so we pray.

Zero Dark Thirty

The film Zero Dark Thirty is opening country-wide this week,amid some controversy about alleged CIA torture and one woman's obsession about finding Osama bin Laden. Although considered a good film and possible favorite at the Oscar's, the film misses the point that finding OBL was a ten-year search by thousands of CIA case officers, analysts, and other key personnel. The torture scenes are Hollywood make believe. Enhanced interrogation ended in 2003 and no one was ever treated by CIA as depicted in the film. The character Maya is a composite of thousands through whom the story is told. She is a good choice because many women in the Counterterrorism Center "deserve a disproportionately large share of the credit for tracking" OBL. It is worth seeing, I am told, and intend to see it for myself. In the meantime it is worthwhile to pay attention to the views of some of the men who were there, e.g. Jose Rodriguez, a 31-year CIA veteran, who headed the Counterterrorism Center and National Clandestine Service. He wrote a comprehensive review of the movie published in The Washington Post on January 3. See the movie with an open mind. 
(Other blog entries here.)
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Sovereign Citizen Movement

Sovereign citizens "believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or 'sovereign' from the United States."They believe they don't have to pay taxes, can ignore the courts and thumb their noses at practically every organ of government federal, state and local. The FBI has released a summary of this movement in the United States and I found it interesting to say the least. They have even gone so far as to create their own license plates, some of which are shown in an FBI photo.
(From my blog.)

Goodbye Charlie, Thanks for your work

Charlie Wilson, a 12-term congressman from Texas, has died at the age of 76. While he was in Congress he was a one-man dollar resource assault team against the Soviets in Afghanistan. There is a book and later a movie, Charlie Wilson's War, which tell the story of how an obscure playboy congressman (Tom Hanks played Wilson) from Texas single-handedly got the Congress to funnel millions of dollars to the mujahideen and Afghan "freedom fighters" to fight and ultimately defeat the Soviets during the 1980s. Some say now that weapons funded by Wilson and the CIA are being used against us in Afghanistan, but that is Monday-morning quarterbacking. The fact is that Wilson's efforts led to the defeat of the Soviets and forced them to give up in Afghanistan. It had the unintended consequence of awaking dreams and visions of Islam, but that not ought to be held against Charlie.

If you haven't see the excellent movie it is available on DVD at most of the usual outlets and is occasionally seen on movie channels. With Wilson's death you might look for it to be re-run several times over the next week or two.

The book, written by George Crile, is similarly available at most of the usual outlets. It is a fascinating read. I actually saw the movie first and then bought and read the book. The story is that compelling.

Charlie Wilson is the only outsider ever recognized by the CIA as "honored colleague." He was truly one of the good guys.

What happened to "love thy neighbor?"

I found it interesting that regular church goers in America are more likely to approve of state torture than those who go less regularly. This data came out in a Pew Research Center (see The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate) survey released April 30. White evangelical Protestants are most likely to tolerate torture. People who attend church at least once a week are also more inclined to support torture. White non-Hispanic Catholics and white mainline Protestants agreed torture is often or sometime justified. Are these good people focused on the harsh messages of the old testament and missing the message of the new testament about loving thy neighbor and doing unto others as you would be done unto?

Some say that information gathered under torture is not reliable: people under torture will tell you whatever you want to hear. Another thought about all this is the application of torture only works if the victim is convinced he or she will be killed unless they talk. When you have "guidelines" known to the world, friend and foe alike, that prohibit killing, then the victim need only be trained to hold out. That the victim may not be able to stand up indefinitely to torture is probably most true. The Gestapo proved this during World War II. Their prisoners were told that if captured they should try to hold out for at least 24 hours to give others the chance to get away. This is probably true to this day. But Bill Maher, HBO's resident political satirist, joked recently that one of the terrorists at Guantanamo had been water boarded so much he was showing up wearing a bathing suit, carrying a beach towel and a Danielle Steele novel under his arm.

Two views on the Navy brig in Hanahan

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Letters to the Editor, The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC

Brig leadership

Post and Courier reporter Tony Bartelme has done a valuable service to the newspaper's readers with his story on the Hanahan brig. The professionalism of the brig's leaders and staff comes across loud and clear. I believe this story ought to dissolve a lot of apprehension about housing "war on terror" prisoners in the Hanahan brig.

When the brig opened, I was the public affairs director at the S.C. Department of Corrections. The brig leadership and staff at that time came to Columbia to learn some of the ways a modern, well-run prison system operated.

I remember SCDC personnel stressing with brig personnel that "prisoners are sent to prison as punishment for their crimes, not for punishment." Again the attitude of the brig's current leadership, as reported by Mr. Bartleme, makes it clear they still understand this, even if other officials in the Department of Defense do not.

FRANCIS X. ARCHIBALD
Franke Drive
Mount Pleasant

No to terrorists

I am grateful to The Post and Courier for letting me know that terror suspect Al-Marri was relaxed and smiled during his recent court appearance. I think our nation needs to remember 9/11 every day and watch the videos of the sacrifices that were made on that day and the days after.

It has reached the point that terror suspects have more rights than anyone else. Now President Barack Obama wants to remove them from Guantanamo and put them somewhere else. Our state could possibly be the one picked to receive them.

I say if President Obama wants to put them on American soil, let it be in his home state. We do not want them in South Carolina.

PEGGY NICHOLS
Quail Hollow Court
North Charleston

No on "Truth Commissions"

The Washington Post this morning (February 17) carried a story about Congressional proposals to establish "truth commissions" to investigate the Bush administration's alleged abuses of power, especially prosecution of the war on terrorism. The authors, David Rivkin, Jr. and Lee Casey write "A growing chorus of critics is demanding the creation" of such a commission.
It is not quite clear who makes up this chorus. What is clear is that the two proposals floating in Congress are a dangerous precedent for the United States to buy into. The commission(s) would be outside the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. We have had special commissions in the past, most notably the Warren Commission (who killed JFK?) and the commission on 9/11 failures (who screwed up?). The Warren Commission probably had it right: Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but that doesn't mean I believe all the testimony taken in that investigation any more than I believe all the testimony heard in the more recent 9/11 inquiry.
Such a commission would most likely be an almost open-ended witch hunt for something to pin on the Bush administration, to publicly crucify some officials in that administration, and indict one or two. I hold no brief for former President Bush, his administration or most of the people who ran it. But if we start each new administration with an investigation of the previous one then we encourage timidity, goal tending and likely turn imaginative, aggressive leaders into a "workers on routine" out of fear of what will follow when they leave office. This is not in the best interest of the country.
An administration does what it thinks best and it does what it has to do. History will record whether it was good or bad and history is not written months after the end of an administration or the start of a new one.
The Bush administration is gone. Let them go. Correct perceived abuses of power and move on. Congress ought to get on with providing leadership and cooperation with the new administration and helping to get the country moving again in the right direction. Fault finding and recriminations are a waste of resources.

Quotes from recent readings

“The word ‘bankrupt’ originally came from Italy, deriving from banca rotta, or broken bench. When a medieval money lender could not pay his debts, his bench was broken in two, sometimes over his head.” (The Economist, Jan. 3, 2009, pg 45.)

“Money and religion tend to drive human behavior more than any other factors – with the possible exception of love – which is why the Middle East, with its oil and its central role in the story of the people who trace their origins to the God of Abraham, remains a perennial question.” (Jon Meacham, editor, Newsweek, Jan. 12, 2009, pg. 6.)

“For those who have lived through religious terror, it is never, never escaped. It did not end with my displacement from Kashmir 18 years ago. It did not end with my migration to the (United) States two and a half years ago. Terror, once experienced, transcends all real and unreal boundaries.” (Aarti Tikoo Singh, My Turn, Newsweek, Jan. 12, 2009, pg 20.)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

This week I saw "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," based on a book written by the Irish novelist John Boyne - he drafted the outline of the book in less than three days. The story revolves around an 8-year old boy who moves from early World War II Berlin with his father, mother and sister to a place in the country. This is a new assignment for his father, a senior officer in the SS, who has been made commandant of a killing concentration camp. The family does not know about this and lives a short distance from the camp in a secluded, beautiful house where the father also keeps his office. The boy is a typical 8-year old and takes to exploring. He encounters the barbed wire fence he believes is to keep the animals out of the farm he has been told is on the other side. He meets and befriends a 8-year old Jewish boy who is a prisoner. The story is about their friendship, betrayal and renewed friendship. The story of innocent youth is well dramatized and the end comes so quickly and with such devastation that when the picture ended no one in the local audience moved. The credits rolled for several minutes showing us the minutiae of even who the electrician was before anyone got up and left. It made such a strong impact. I recommend it highly.
(PS: I apologize if you receive this twice. I sent an earlier e-mail to family and friends but did not intend to load up your inbox.)

"Shut up, your dirty Baathist"

My nominee for Judge of the Week is Iraq's chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al Khalifa who this week told a defendant he had just sentenced to death to "Shut up, you dirty Baathist," referring to Saddam's Sunni-dominated Baath Party.

The judge's order was directed to a former Baath party official Abdul-Ghani Abdul-Ghafur, who shouted "Down with Persian-U.S. occupation" and "Welcome to death for the sake of Arabism and Islam" as the judge read his sentence of death, according to the Associated Press.

In America, we are accustomed to mainly tolerant judges who hold their tongues under difficult circumstances. It is refreshing - for at least a vicarious moment - to see one speak his mind.

By-pass Japan - save time!

If you are planning to visit Japan after November 20 be prepared for a long wait at the airport or seaport. The country will begin finger-printing and photographing all visitors from that date. This is somehow supposed to increase security in that country. Sounds to me like a real pain in the a**, especially if you have a visa you obtained from one of their embassies or consulates outside the country.

Into the shelters - not me

Perhaps you are old enough to remember newsreel pictures of Londoners (men, women and children) seeking shelter from German bombs by sleeping in subway stations (the tube in London-speak) night after night, huddled on thin mattresses, fully clothed, side by side, from one end of the platforms to the other, breathing each other’s air. Probably two to three hundred people in each station. Alternatively, you may have seen such scenes in movies.

All this comes to mind as I read (The Post and Courier, Sept. 28, 2007, pg 1AA) the story and view a picture of a 10 acre underground quarry being readied in Huntsville, Alabama, to shelter 20,000 people from the threat of nuclear terrorism by al-Qaida or some other terrorist group. Even if I move to Alabama (highly unlikely) I am not crawling into some hole with 20,000 other people, probably mostly strangers, not one-percent of whom are on my Christmas card list and sharing this cave with them and the colony of bats currently in residence. I only intend to be with 20,000 people in above ground, open venues such as Fenway Park or Lambeau Field. I stopped going to the North Charleston Performing Arts Center some time back because the place - in my opinion - is a fire trap. The 24 rows in the auditorium are too long (they progressively widen from 30 to 66 seats) and lack intervening front to rear aisles to facilitate orderly, expeditious entering or exiting.

Officials in Huntsville are using $70,000 they got from Homeland Security to kick-start this project; despite the fact that Congress cut off funding for shelters after the fall of the Soviet Union and the federal government hasn’t published its latest list of approved shelter in 15 years. What has gotten into these people, those who dreamt up this asinine project and those who funded it? Congress ought to put a stop to this right now before a couple of million dollars is requested and awarded to carry this project forward. Are you listening Representatives Henry Brown and James Clyburn, and Senators James DeMint and Lindsay Graham?