9/11 - We will not Forget!

(By Ray and David)

The Speech Made by President Bush On the Evening of September 11, 2001.

Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes or in their offices: secretaries, business men and women, military and federal workers, moms and dads, friends and neighbors.

Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.

The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger.

These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation.

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature, and we responded with the best of America, with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could. (...)

America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world and we stand together to win the war against terrorism.

Tonight I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me."

This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time.

None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.

Thank you. Good night and God bless America.

As the horrific attack on a school in Beslan, Russia, once again demonstrated, the war on terror is far from over. There are still Islamo-faschist fanatics out there willing to kill even the most innocent among us to advance their perverted world view.

As we approach and mark the third anniversary of 9/11, Davids Medienkritik would like to pay tribute to those who have fallen victim to terror and to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice fighting to protect and preserve our freedom in the war on terror:

Largely Forgotten by the German Media: 6 Germans Murdered in the September 11 Attacks:

Left: Heinrich Kimmig (43); Center: Klaus Bothe (31); Right: Wolfgang Menzel (60); All 3 men died aboard UA flight 175.

Left: Christian Adams (37) UA Flight 93; Right: Klaus Sprockamp (42) World Trade Center; Right: Ingeborg Joseph (60) World Trade Center (no photo available).

Incomprehensible to the German Media: A True Hero Sacrifices Everything to Serve

Pat Tillman: One of many brave soldiers who have fallen fighting terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. He sacrificed his career in the NFL and millions of dollars in pay to defend his nation.

9/11 - WE WILL NEVER FORGET! The victims of terror, those fighting terror and their families are in our thoughts and in our hearts.

Comments

[Pamela]

Thank you.

[Pato]

Ray and David-
A great tribute that you've put together. A big thanks to both of you for taking the time to work on something so meaningful to so many.
The US and the West will prevail greatly and decisively in this conflict brought forth by history's greatest cowards and barbarians. It is now the jiahidst freaks who have hit the hornet's nest. A bearded "mujahadeen" coward hiding under a bee-proof mesh burkha, and behind his woman and children as they do, is not beyond our reach.
The jihad freaks are on time borrowed from themselves.
Tonight's beer is dedicated to the brave soul above who, once the 2000 heat became too much to bear, flew south to his death.
"This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time".
"Thank you. Good night and God bless this Blog".

[Mike H.]

I second Pato's statement.

Mike H.
Spokane, Wa.

[Andrea Harris]

Thank you.

[statler]

Pato,

I suppose you are right: The West will prevail eventually. But the interesting question is which parts of Old Europe decide to be a part of the West, and which parts of Old Europe will rather collude with the barbarians. Can we be sure that german politics stands firmly on the side of civilisation and opposes barbarism by any means? Or could it really be that they think they can buy a peace by appeasing the nihilists? On a day like this, I can only feel shame for the fuzzy morals of the ruling parties in my country and the baboons who support them.

With the best regards,
statler

[Ted]

we will never forget, we will never forgive, we will never excuse.

[Eric]

God bless our great country, and the continuiation of western civilization that has led to the democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and rights of assembly that we all now enjoy. Let us never forget that these are the things that are enshrined in the American Bill of Rights, and the things that the Islamic terrorists seek to destroy.

[Sandy P]

http://attacked911.tripod.com/

Takes awhile to download.

[Markus Bauer]

Thank you. I feel ashame for my fellow citizens when they are this anti-american as they are sometimes on German media.
They forget everything America did for us.
I am sorry.

All the best from Germany.

Markus

[N.Hale and Gabi]

David, Ray, and all of the regular posters here at David's Medienkritik, we would like to thank all of you for the great postings. We also would like to thank you all for giving some of your precious time supporting David's. This blog has helped us feel less like freaks in Germany due to our view on politics in the European Union. Of course our focus is on the German government and the media outlets in Germany.

As a note regarding the German victims of 9/11, I have students who have completely forgotten the six German nationals who died on this day due to the murderous attack perpetrated by Islamic terrorists, some who had lived and gone to school in Germany. My students for the most part have been blinded by hate for the G. W. Bush government in the United States of America.

While the attacks of 9/11 brought the citizens of the United States together in sorrow and anger, similar to the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941. However there have been forces within the United States to divide the population. Liberal (far left) Democrats have attacked the current government. They have launched an all out campaign to malign G. W. Bush and Co., all for the sake of party politics. In addition to the liberal left of the U.S., the liberal left of Europe has also launched a campaign against G. W. Bush. With this anti-George Bush and reinforced anti-Americanism there is a feeling of hate and despisement like never before. I feel the underlying hate with some of my students, it is seething and I fear the final stage of this present condition. The division between the U.S. and Europe is widening, just as the terrorists have planned. Once this division is complete, then Europe will be ripe for harvest by the evil forces that drive the terrorists.

Without blogs such as David's, then the liberal lefties pass through this era unchallenged. This is where David's Medienkritik excells, challenging the liberal left, muckraking journalists of Germany.

[Trish]

Thank you both and God Bless

[Gabi]

"Ein Krieg, dessen Protagonisten sich nicht scheuen, Terror-Ängste noch zu schüren, um ihre falschen Antworten zu rechtfertigen. Da wirken deutsche Sozialdemokraten, die sich mit Otto Schily an der Spitze in die Zentralisierung von Geheimdienst-Apparaten flüchten, geradezu harmlos. Und doch tragen sie auf ihre Weise zur fatalen Spirale bei: Erst der Terror, dann der falsch geführte Krieg gegen den Terror, dann der Terror gegen den Krieg gegen den Terror - vielleicht ist auf diesem Weg irgendwann Al Qaeda zu schlagen, den Frieden gewinnt man so nicht."

Schreibt Stephan Hebel in der Frankfurter Rundschau unter dem Titel: Vom würdigen Leben

Ich halte diese Ansicht für fatal falsch. Es ist eine Anreihung leerer Worte, die oberflächlich nett klingen, aber eigentlich keine konkrete Aussage haben. Falscher Krieg, das haben wir schon 1000fach gehört, aber Antworten haben wir von diesen Phrasendreschern noch nicht gehört. Den Frieden gewinnt man so nicht? Dieser Satz ist einfach nur hohl. Ein typisch inhaltsleerer Kommentar eines Menschen, der sich für klug hält und nicht merkt, daß er mit zu dem Sprücheklopfern in den deutschen Medien gehört. Keine Substanz. Wie die Kerry-Unterstützer bemerkt haben, reicht es nicht, GEGEN Bush zu sein, um eine Wahl zu gewinnen. In Deutschland kann man sich immer noch befriedigt zurücklehnen, wenn man sich an der allgemeinen Nörgelei gegen die Bush-Politik beteiligt. Nach Antworten fragen diese Journalisten nicht und ihre Leser schon gar nicht. Zu mehr als Nörgeln sind ihre Gehirne nicht fähig. dieser Artikel wurde schon 1000fach geschrieben. Von anderen. Man versetzt nur die Worte.

Wo sind also die Antworten, die angeblich richtigen? Wo ist denn eine sachliche Auseinandersetzungen mit möglichen Antworten auf Terror? Bush-Hetze ist alles, was ich bisher in Deutschland entdeckt habe. Dabei fühlt man sich so geborgen im allgemeinen Nörgel-Kreis dt. Journalisten.

Das große Wort Rechtsstaat! Immer wieder wird es herbeizitiert. War Deutschland vor mehr als Jahren kein Rechtsstaat? Da wurden Homosexuelle verfolgt und bestraft. Abtreibung wurde bestraft. Es gab das Schuldprinzip im Scheidungsrecht, ach so vieles. Was wurde aus diesem damals so gestalteten Rechtsstaat? Die Gesetze wurden geändert! Menschenwerk kann man nämlich ändern. Trotz so vielfacher Änderungen ist der Rechtsstaat nicht zusammengebrochen. Heute sitzen wir hier und denken, so muß es bleiben, so ist es gut, alles andere muß verteufelt werden.

Wenn unser Recht keine Gerechtigkeit mehr produziert, wenn Terroristen sich hinter unseren Gesetzen verstecken können, wenn der Nachbar seinen nächsten Urlaub im Terror-Trainingscamp verbringen kann, dann muß dieser unser Rechtsstaat diskutiert werden.

Es geht doch um Gerechtigkeit auf dieser Welt, nicht ums Recht. Das Recht ist nur die Methode. Was Gerechtigkeit ist, unterliegt dem Wandel. Ist es gerecht, wenn über 300 Kinder und Erwachsene sterben, weil Menschen sich anmaßen für ihre Machtgeilheit töten zu wollen? Wollen wir das in Kauf nehmen? Wenn unserer Rechtsstaat unzählige unschuldige Opfer produziert und die Terroristen ein leben in Freiheit führen und den nächsten Anschlag planen, können wir uns dann wirklich genüßlich zurücklehnen und sich über unseren Rechtsstaat freuen. Wohl nur, solange andere sterben. Wenn es dein Kind ist, wirst du deine Meinung ändern. Aber das ist feige, erst dann aufzustehen, wenn man selbst betroffen ist.

Ich werde nie die Menschen vergessen, die vom WTC gesprungen sind. Die Arme ausgebreitet, immer schneller, bis zum Brei am Boden.

Wieviele Tote brauchen wir noch, um zu erkennen, daß wir diesen Terror nur gemeinsam lösen. Bisher werfen wir die USA und Israel, jetzt wohl auch Rußland den Terroristen zum Fraß vor.

Dr. Herzinger hat im übrigen vorgestern in Essen dargelegt, wie falsch und kurzsichtig es sei, den Terror in Beslan auf die Politik Putins zurückzuführen. Er wußte gar nicht, daß ein Autor für die ZEIT als einer der Ersten ganu das in der 37er-Ausgabe von sich gegeben hat (Herd der Gewalt). Wenn Journalisten nicht informiert sind, wie einsam sie mit ihren richtigen Meinungen sind, daß die eigene Zeitung genau das Gegenteil verbreitet, wenn Herzinger nicht weiß, daß er eine absolute Mindermeinung hat, dann bin ich doch sehr irritiert.

[Downer]

Ich habe (zumindest sieht es so aus) einen Auszug des Vortrags von Herzinger gefunden. Wen es interessiert:

Die entfesselte Gewalt
Lehren nach dem 11. September
Von Richard Herzinger

"Ihr liebt das Leben, wir lieben den Tod" - diesen schauerlichen Satz verbreiteten die Massenmörder nach ihrem Terroranschlag in Madrid im Frühjahr dieses Jahres. Er bringt das Ausmaß der Herausforderungen auf den Punkt, mit der nicht nur die westliche, sondern die gesamte zivilisierte Welt seit dem 11. September 2001 konfrontiert ist.

http://www.dradio.de/dlr/sendungen/feuilleton/301376/

[Pamela]

Markus, N.Hale, Gabi, et. al.
It is now Sept. 11 here. Five families in our neighborhood mourn those lost in the Pentagon.

Do not be shamed by those who don't get it. Do not fear the schism between our countries.

There is a moral clarity given to us by horror. Yes, even horror serves The Good.

We will be okay. Our countries will be ok. Today I mourn. But I also give thanks. I am thankful for David and Ray. For Gabi, N. Hale, Niko, Sandy P., Joe N, hans, et. al.

Time to hug the kids and each other.

[George M]

I don't think I ever saw the photo above, were the photographer captured a man plunging to his death from tower one, while the second United flight has exploded inside of tower two.........Very Powerful!

It was also a good touch to show the faces of six Germans who died on 9/11. Were there not more than six Germans who died that day? Didn't one of the big German (or Swiss) trading companies have offices inside the World Trade Center. Cantor Fitzgerald has the dubious distinction of having the most employees lost on 9/11: approximately 265. I belive more German Nationals were lost in Wall Street trading firms that rented office space inside the World Trade Center.

[TM Lutas]

Thank you for this article and for the sentiment. True friends can be found in every country and while we mourn our loss, we should appreciate those who stand with us around the world.

[Joe N.]

Thank you Pamela.

Folks: what they did was try to take away our lives, and take from the rest of us our joy and dignity.

Deny them their prize. Be happy, do well for others, live free and well.

If this gives a jihadist anguish, so be it. Even if they never have to answer to justice, they'll have to consign their actions to their own guilt until they admit to themselves that they are murdered.

To America on that day, the roundabout platitudes and rationalizations of people around the world (those who were disinclined to see our humanity anyway) - simply doesn't matter. They're self-indulgence doesn't matter. Their lectures don't matter. The fight they have is with their own views of the world not fitting events.

Live joyfully.

[John]

Well done.

And thanks for putting up the six Germans. Someone has to remember them, apparently their own country can't. (except for Markus)

[Trish]

Just watching Niel Cavuto interview the brother of a man who died in the twin towers on 9-11.

Niel asked if he was concerned that Americans were beginning to forget what happened on that day. The brother's response was: I'm not gonna let (th)em.

Everytime one of the mom's or dad's or grandma's or granddad's say my son my grandson, my daughter my granddaughter and they state the name it makes my heart stop and I can't breath.

I'm glad there are people out there who are not "gonna" let us forget.

[Trish]

David Ray,

remember your blog on the 'FIRST ARAB ISLAMIC CONGRESS' IN BERLIN. Well I called the Verfassungsschutz in Karlsruhe and the local Verfassungsschutz in Berlin, the US and Israeli embassies as well as the Ministry of the Interior and asked them if this was legal.

I also passed the information onto the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Well - I must not have been the only one because : The Simon Wiesenthal Center has called on the German government to cancel the Jihadist assembly to be held in Berlin on October 1-3, 2004, to investigate its organizers and ban entry to foreign participants who endanger public order.

In a letter to Interior Minister Otto Schily, the Center's Director for International Liaison, Dr. Shimon Samuels, said: "The Berlin 'First Arab Islamic Congress in Europe' is not an innocent exercise, but a political platform for radical Jihad and a market for potential European youth recruits to the ranks of terrorism.

http://www.wiesenthal.com/social/press/pr_item.cfm?ItemID=9858

I just pray that this meeting is deemed illegal in Germany.

Thanks for the heads-up on this one.

Note from David: Thank you for going the extra mile and protesting against this conference!

[Michael Hiteshew]

It's good to remember what values these fanatics represent. It's good to remember what we're fighting against. It's better to remember what we're fighting for: our freedom to think, to live, to worship, to dress, to read, to talk, to play, to vote, to have a say, to not live under the dictates of a 7th century book and the maniacal, murdering fanatics who interpret it.

Thank you Ray. Thank you David. Thank you Niko.

[Sandy P]

George, our "Media" decided we didn't need to see that, people jumped alone, by 2s and in groups. Over 200, IIRC, at least.

Those 2 french documentarians who were w/the firefighters and went to the WTC captured the sound of bodies hitting.

It was a "whump."

Click on my link.

[Pato]

@statler and @george and @all-
Statler, thank youf or your thoughts and comment- "On a day like this, I can only feel shame for the fuzzy morals of the ruling parties in my country and the baboons who support them.On a day like this, I can only feel shame for the fuzzy morals of the ruling parties in my country and the baboons who support them."
You have made a great morning for me here in the US, you have given me a huge sense of relief that there are more minds like yours within germany. thank you.
@markus- thank you for taking the time to post your kind words. It is words such as YOURS that will not be forgotten by this Yank.
@george- check out the link below- it is an absolutely great story on the search for a name behind an "un-known" jumper-
http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2003/030903_mfe_falling_1.html
And as for the picture of the dead fire fighter being carried by a civilian and fellow fire fighters- he was the NYC Fire Dept CHaplain maned Father Judge. He was killed as he was adminstering last rights to a dead jumper on the pavement, he removed his helmet to adminsitor the rights when he was hit by falling debris from above and killed. His comrads and the civilian took him 6 blks down the street and laid him on the alter of a local church. Note the Port Authority Policeman, a NYC policeman, a civilian, an FBI agent and a NYC firefighter all assisting in carrying him to the Church...

[S1IG]

Ray und David - Danke!

[Doug]

This is a wonderful Blog. we must never forget. But allready things are getting twisted around. Just watched on ZDF an interview with a woman who lost her son on 911. She said she resents "innocents being killed in her sons name".
This is the kind of coverage I´ve been seeing these last days. Wim Wenders new film which cover poverty, racism and "traumatized Vietnam vet" who spies on Arabs and the murder of a "Homeless Arab" man. And a Christian missionary who was living in Palstine who questions her faith when she sees the "true America". This is supposedly is a film from a German who lives in the States and claims to love America. How many streotypes and distortions can one film maintain. They said it´s sure to be a hit in Europe. Tonight comes a french film on the tube which will surely be anti-US. This is what 9/11 is being perverted into. I´m terrified that people are not just forgetting.
They are rewriting.
I asked everyone at work yesterday if they knew what tomorrow is. No one did.
I won´t forget though. I never will!

[Pamela]

Trish! You rule! Excellent work, woman. Or as we say her - Eggs-selent!

[Pato]

@doug and all- This is a fairly long post, and perhaps off-topic a bit. However, on an anniversary such as 9-11, I would like the german media to focus NOT on US deaths in Iraq, WTC victims, or any of the typical anti-american rubbish they feed the german masses in an attempt to steer the eyes of their own citizens away from the disgraceful condition and postion in which germany now belongs. I would like to see them focus instead on THEIR huge GERMAN role in making saddam the monster freak that he was. And THEN the german media can explain to it's citizens what it was that GERMANY did to bring about saddam's downfall. I've mentioned this before- but imagine within one generation a young german child asks his mother and father- "mommy and daddy, after the german hitler was stopped, and another ruthless dictator emerged just 60 yrs later, what did the germans do to help stop this mad man after having experienced a madman ourselves?" What the hell will the parents say to the child? Um, sorry son, but we built him up while doing NOTHING to bring him down. Another generation of german minds poisoned in this, the 21st century.
And, what the hell kind of name is "wim wenders"??? I am surprised that the focus of such a "film" will find an audience within germany. If the current 24% of germans who want the wall back had their dreams fulfilled, would they then be able to see this "movie"? It is safe to say they would be able to view it with subsidies from the state on a state run broadcast channel every hour, on the hour for months.
Why is there no focus within the german media on issues of german partnership, weapons dealing, nuke proliferation and complicity with Saddam (making him bunkers and gas), Libya (sharing nuke info), Pakistan's dr khan (assisting him in distribution, and south african nuke dealings?
Does the german media not know that this has spelled THE END of ANY german/US alliance, friendship or partnership?
I personally would feel relief to read about these topics and the results they have brought to this world.

BERLIN -- The German architect of one of Saddam Hussein's main bunkers in Baghdad said on Friday the Iraqi leader can survive anything short of a direct hit with a nuclear bomb if he stays within its four-feet-thick walls... "It could withstand the shock wave of a nuclear bomb the size of the Hiroshima one detonating 250 meters away," said Karl Esser, a security consultant who designed the bunker underneath Saddam's main presidential palace in Baghdad... U.S.-led troops will also find it hard to fight their way in through its three-ton Swiss-made doors, Esser told Reuters in an interview...
It was built in 1982 and 1983 by German firm Boswau & Knauer, which merged into what is now the Walter Bau-AG building group.

In 1987, Iraq partially acquired the German company H+H Metalform GmbH. It subsequently grew to play an important role in supplying Iraq's ballistic missile and gas centrifuge programs with equipment, components, and on-site expertise. H+H specialized in the production of vertical flow-forming machines, which make thin-walled, pressure-resistant, precision tubes useful for military purposes. Such lightweight, pressure-resistant tubes have been used in ballistic missile and gas centrifuge programs
http://www.exportcontrols.org/centpart1.html

Article by Dr Khalil Ibrahim Al Isa, a nuclear science researcher, in Paris: Fresh information on the Iraqi chemical program; Iraqi money and German brains cooperated in building chemical weapons
Historically, the Germans have been the uncontested masters in the discovery, production, and development of lethal poison gases used in warfare, such as mustard gas that is identified by the chemical compound symbol of C1Ch2-Ch2-S-Ch2-Ch2CI. This gas was discovered by German scientists and was first used in 1917.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/cw/az120103.html

For well over a decade, hundreds--possibly even thousands--of German businessmen, scientists, and middlemen had played the key role in Iraq's $50-billion program to produce weapons of mass destruction.

...Despite Germany's verbal commitment to the West, and its ostensible participation in the American-led effort to control high technology, it regularly and flagrantly violated those controls, and constantly pushed to weaken them...
...The code name of this operation was the "Diyala Project," and along with chemical weapons, an array of biological weapons such as anthrax, cholera, and typhoid agents was manufactured in substantial quantities in laboratories 2728/COMMENTARY APRIL 1991 built by TRT...
...As for the bureaucracy, anyone tempted to take some initiative to punish illegal exporters would quickly discover that there was no political reward to be gained, and considerable risk...
...Water Engineering Trading (WET) of Hamburg...
...Indeed, the new Economics Minister, Jiirgen M611emann, is a founder of the German-Arab Friendship Association and a personal friend of Qaddafi and Arafat...
...MBB equipped the laboratories for testing Iraqi missiles...
...more than 100 German companies were involved in the Taji project alone...
...In this situation which threatens Israel's existence, we stand by Israel's side without any reservation...
...Then there is the matter of the Iraqi nuclear program...
...The report in Stern speculates that the Iraqis were trying desperately to prevent Israel from learning about the project, which was located just six miles from the Osirak nuclear plant that Israeli bombers destroyed in 1981...
...German assistance to the Iraqi nuclear program continued even after the invasion and annexation of Kuwait in August 1991...
...Even though the BND (the German CIA) has denied extensive press reports that Al Khadi was working for them, it is hard to imagine that the German Foreign Minister and the German President would directly and personally intervene on behalf of someone who was not rendering services to the German government...
...But "Babylon" was only the most dramatic project among dozens in full swing at Taji...
...Notwithstanding all the eventual publicity, the German Economics Minister announced in August 1990 that there was probably not enough evidence to indict MBB...
...In the early 90's, after some ten years of German involvement, and after a torrent of international and domestic criticism, the German government undertook an investigation of Samarra...
...The Germans acted as if the Americans were simply trying to stop Germany from engaging in international commerce, and scoffed at suggestions that German firms were in violation of international agreements and standards to which Germany had subscribed.* s if Germany's astonishingly weak penalties and vague laws were not bad enough in themselves, neither the judiciary nor the bureaucracy, in the form of the professional civil service and the politicians, was inclined to enforce them...
...A plea of clemency had also arrived from German President Richard von Weiziicker...
...See my article, "The Curious Case of Chemical Weapons," COMMENTARY, July 1989.30/COMMENTARY APRIL 1991 of mass destruction...
...whose most recent book is Perilous State- craft, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C...
...Already by early 1989 the American government had approached the Germans roughly 150 times to warn about the transfer of dangerous technology to countries like Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Libya...
...It was at Taji that Saddam Hussein initiated "Project Babylon," a visionary supergun program that, if completed, would have given the Iraqis a long-range cannon capable of launching chemical or nuclear artillery shells one meter in diameter into Israeli, Jordanian, and possibly even Egyptian cities...
...Iraq's other main chemical-weapons projectat Salman Pak, just 30 kilometers south of Baghdad on the banks of the Tigris-was also headed by a German firm, Thyssen Rheinstahl Technology (TRT...
...To this day MBB denies any knowledge that its civilian helicopters were going to be transformed into attack helicopters, even though it owns 11 percent of CASA, the Spanish company that did the work...
...Last July Peter Leifer, the manager of the Water Engineering Trading (WET) of Hamburg, was arrested on charges of trading with Iraq in poison-gas technology...
...rity measures, the barbed-wire fences, and the armed guards that were in place almost as soon as the foundations were laid...
...As German engineers would later tell reporters, it was clear from the outset that this was no normal project, given the extraordinary secuMICHAEL LEDEEN...
...and Preussag AG...
...The general contractor for Sa'ad-16 was, as usual, a German company, in this case Gildemeister Projecta Limited...
...The best estimates of the American government suggest that roughly 70 percent of Iraq's nuclear, chemical, and biological capacity was provided by Germans...
...In any event, even the most vigorous bureaucrat would have been able to exercise discretion only over declared exports...
...and there is evidence suggesting that a full three weeks after the Gulf War began in January, German companies were still actively engaged in shipping nuclear technology to Iraq via Pakistan...
...And the fact of the matter is that Iraq was just one aspect of a far larger pattern...
...Like Mephistopheles in Goethe's great fable, he was able to make a Faustian pact with Germany...
...About all this the German government knew in detail...
...HH Metallform supplied the machine tools necessary to manufacture very high-speed ultracentrifuges, which in turn can enrich Uranium-235 sufficiently to transform it into weapons-grade material...
...Prussic acid is used to destroy filters in gas masks...
...German involvement with Iraq's chemical-weapons programs started in 1977, and three years later construction began on a "pesticide plant" at Samarra...
...The Germans helped both with raw materials and with sophisticated hardware: a company appropriately named Nukem sold uranium, and several others helped out with the technology...
...As recently as January 1990, the BND informed the Foreign Ministry that an official "risk guarantee" for a million dollars had been issued, covering the various valves, intake jets, pumps, pressure tanks, and testing equipment necessary for the program to improve the range of Scud missiles...
...And Gildemeister Projecta's most important subcontractor was MesserschmidtBoelkow-Blohn (MBB) of Munich, the internationally-known manufacturer of fighter planes, anti-tank missiles, and full-scale ballistic missiles...
...Richarz said unequivocally that it had, and provided the additional information that, thanks to German technology, Iraq was now manufacturing the poison gas tabun and highly concentrated prussic acid as well...
...This seductive rationalization sealed the Faustian pact, covering the selling of the German soul with an idealistic vision of a higher good...
...Saddam Hussein was able to buy a lot of German souls by giving them a cut of his $50 billion...
...In 1985, under public pressure, MBB officially withdrew from the Condor project, but key personnel were simply transferred over to a new (Swiss) company named Consen, where they continued work on Condor II, a longer-range missile that could reach Israel from Iraq with a 500-kilogram warhead...
...And to this may be added a second question: why, for so long, has there been no public outcry from the German people...
...THERE is no doubt that the German government knew about these activ- ities...
...The key technologies for Samarra came from four German companies: Karl Kolb and its subsidiary, Pilot Plant...
...Evidently, MBB managers had some mis- givings about this project because they kept it secret from members of their own board...
...In the wake of the Rabta scan- dal, dozens of German companies were identified as primary suppliers of technology, spare parts, software, and know-how to Rabta and other projects in Libya, yet to date only Imhausen has been prosecuted, and he was sentenced to a mere five years in prison-the maximum penalty for illegal arms deals-and was permitted to keep the more than $40 million in profits he made from the deal...
...MBB was also involved both in the manufacture of "hot" anti-tank missiles and in the Iraq anti-aircraft system known as "Roland...
...The Scuds that fell on Israel are the perfect symbols of that moral corruption: weapons of destruction from the Soviet empire, perfected by the Germans...
...According to a recent report in the German weekly Stern, as many as 1,000 tons of such chemicals were produced...
...However, Germans who broke our laws and misled the authorities participated in Saddam Hussein's poison-gas production...
...in the words of one German engineer, the "pesticide" was to be used on "two-legged insects...
...Until the Israelis destroyed the Osirak reactor in 1981, France was the primary supplier of nuclear technology to Iraq...
...Nearly half of the warnings concerned Iraq, yet with rare exceptions, these demarches from American diplomats-some of them made directly to Foreign Minister Genscher-were ignored...
...In order to get the contract, TRT had to sign an unusually stringent "Israel clause," certifying that Thyssen had no relations with Israel, did not manufacture anything there, had no representa- tion in Israel, did not permit the use of its name in Israel, and provided neither advice nor know- how to Israeli companies...
...For as a matter of official policy the German government does not conduct preshipment inspections or end-user checks, nor does it conduct post-shipment inspections to make sure that the exports have actually gone where they were supposed to, and are being used in the manner promised by the exporter...
...The Germans gave their entrepreneurial energies, their scientific know-how and technology, and their superb engineering and manufacturing skills to the Iraqi devil, knowing full well what they were doing and what the consequences would be...
...American information about Samarra-William Webster, the Director of Central Intelligence, testified publicly in March 1989 that the plant produced "the blister agent mustard and the nerve agents tabun and sarin," and that "several types of weapons, including bombs and artillery shells and rockets, have been filled with these agents"had been shared with the German government for many years, in the hope that it would do something to block the technology pipeline to Iraq...
...Genscher's speech was a monument to hypocrisy...
...Most notorious has been the huge Sa'ad-16 Project, which for years the Iraqis pretended was a research facility asso- ciated with the university at Mosul...
...The obvious answer to both questions is greed...
...The Germans had also been informed by Israel, and, we may safely presume, by the likes of Al Khadi, as well...
...For once, Saddam Hus-IRAQ'S GERMAN CONNECTION/29 sein showed mercy: Al Khadi's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and shortly thereafter he was released and returned to Germany...
...But Martin Bangemann, the Economics Minister at the time, dismissed all this as "professional jealousy" on the part of the Americans...
...A Swiss expert, Professor Werner Richarz, was hired to determine if Samarra had indeed been "specially built" for chemical-weapons manufacture...
...In addition to chemical-weapons technology, Germany also took the lead in helping Iraq de- velop bigger and better missiles...
...All of society must ostracize them...
...For well over a decade, hundreds-possibly even thousands-of German businessmen, scientists, and middlemen had played the key role in Iraq's $50-billion program to produce weapons of mass destruction...
...For thirty years Germany has not authorized arms exports to Iraq...
...Throughout the past two decades, Germany has been the greatest source of illegal diversions of sensitive technology not just to the Arab Middle East but to the Soviet Union and its allies and satellites...
...he would have had no way to detect, let alone block, the illegal or falsified exports that have comprised the bulk of the shipments to Iraq...
...Now speaking to his own parliament, he was quick to assert Germany's concern: In view of the terrible threat to Israel, historical and moral responsibility especially attach us Germans to the Jewish people...
...If top officials in the German government knew generally what was going on, they also knew the specifics of at least some cases, even before there were any criminal investigations...
...A giant steel mill was built by the Kloeckner company starting in 1984, under contract to the NASSR Establishment for Mechanical Industries...
...ON JANUARY 31, 1991 Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher of Germany addressed the Bundestag on the matter of the Gulf War...
...But even this was not enough to produce action against the four large companiesor the many others involved on a smaller scale...
...The leader in this relentless drive was-once again-Hans-Dietrich Genscher...
...Last summer, Al Khadi was arrested in Germany, facing charges of involvement in the shipping of German technology to the vast Iraqi poison-gas complex in Samarra and elsewhere...
...by serving as a "bridge" between the two blocs, Germany could "transcend" the division of the world and, not least, of Germany itself...
...Leifer was on the BND staff in Iraq for four years, beginning in 1986...
...The Condor was a short-range missile developed in Argentina and destined for sale to Egypt and Iraq...
...The prospects among the German political class are poor, yet an amazing transformation of German public opinion did take place when Scud missiles began hitting Tel Aviv and Haifa...
...THE remaining question has to do with motive: why have so many German businessmen, scientists, middlemen, and political leaders engaged so persistently in behavior which has earned them the opprobrium of the civilized world...
...NASSR is not a normal commercial establishment but a department of Iraq's Ministry of War, and the "steel mill" was a factory for manufacturing cannons...
...The key figure in the design and construction of the Rabta facility was a German businessman by the name of Jurgen Hippenstiel-Imhausen...
...the trade- union representative on the board only learned of MBB's involvement when he read about it in the newspapers...
...A population that had originally demonstrated in the hundreds of thousands against the Gulf War, and condemned the United States (!) for the outbreak of hostilities, suddenly rallied to the side of the Jewish state and endorsed the justness of the Allied cause...
...Incredibly, after the Libya scandal, German export standards were actually watered down...
...Without the expert assistance of the Germans, he was told, the Scuds would have been unable to reach Israeli soil from Iraq...
...Recent German press reports even speak of gas chambers "for large animals" specially built for the Samarra project by German firms...
...German companies were also crucial to the construction of the huge manufacturing facility at Taji, Iraq, the largest weapons complex in the Middle East...
...Thus, Genscher's own ministry was formally advised of the German Scud improvement program about a year before he went to Tel Aviv to apologize for it and act as if he had not known...
...Rare indeed was the government official who would risk saying "no" to a German exporter, especially to such a powerful one as MBB...
...Is there any hope of a change...
...He had publicly apologized to the Israeli people, and promised to take stern action upon his return to Germany...
...The New York Times reported extensively about German poison-gas plants in Iraq in 1984-the year Samarra became operational-as did the German press following the first use of chemical weapons by Iraq against Iran that same year...
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/Summaries/V91I4P29-1.htm

[Pamela]

Pato. Wow. This thread is bookmarked.

Autor: Chris.
Datum: 11.09. 17:24

Jetzt ist er also wieder da, jedes Jahr das gleiche, Gedenken an den Terrorismus des 11. September. Damals sind 3000 Menschen umgekommen. Jeden Tag sterben dagegen über 3000 Kinder an Unterernährung, an Krieg und weil keine Medikamente vorhanden sind (kosten ja Geld). Dagegen gedenkt niemand. Der alltägliche Wahnsinn und keiner bemerkt es.

Chris.

I got this post from a german newspaper and it expresses the general opinion. I quoted the piece from Statler und Waldorf. May be it will make a difference.

What I’m feeling on 9-11-4:

http://www.gunstuff.com/america-attacked.html

[Kathianne]

Thank you, I appreciate these words.

[Gabi]

An Menschen wie Chris,
der ALLTÄGLICHE Wahnsinn: Tote durch Rauchen, durch Verkehrsunfälle, durch Hunger, durch Aids, durch fehlende Medikamente usw. usw. usw. Ja, das ist Alltag, das ist gemeinsames Versagen, gemeinsames Bemühen, es zu ändern, abzumildern, das ist Ziel der Welt. Für jeden von uns. Die perfekte Welt ohne Hunger, Ungerechtigkeit usw. wird es nie geben, weil der Mensch nicht perfekt ist, aber wir alle bemühen uns, die bestmögliche Welt für möglichst viele zu erreichen. Das ist ein anständiges Ziel, das eben voller Fehler und Fehlschläge ist. Aber die Welt gibt trotzdem nicht auf.

Du leistet deinen Beitrag und ich.

Was ist dein Beitrag? Was ist mit Ihnen los, daß Sie nicht den Unterschied erkennen zwischen dem Tod eines Kindes durch Hunger und dem Tod eines Kindes durch die Hand eines Menschen, der ihm in den Rücken schießt, als es vor ihm fliehen will?

Was ist nur mit Ihnen passiert, daß Sie so verroht sind?

Tote durch Terror sind NICHT Tote durch ALLTÄGLICHEN Wahnsinn. Das ist der Unterschied, der Ihnen entgeht.

Terror ist NICHT ALLTAG, noch nicht. Bisher haben wir uns wie Schafe verhalten, Leute wie du, Chris, helfen dem Terror. Sie fürchten den Kampf gegen den Terror mehr als den Terror. Das ist Schwäche, Angst, Feigheit. Die Terroristen werden Leute wie dich benutzen, mißbrauchen, aber nicht schonen.

Das Schlimme an der Situation ist, daß du deine eigene Schwäche nicht erkennst, sondern dich als heroisch empfindest, einer, der die Fehler der Welt anklagt. Aber das ist nicht heroisch. Das ist anmaßend und arrogant, weil die Welt immer fehlerhaft sein wird, weil der Mensch immer fehlerhaft sein wird, weil es bei all diesen Menschen auf der Welt imemr widerstreitende Interessen geben wird. Worin besteht also dein Welt zur besseren Welt? Nur andere anzuklagen, ist eine anmaßende Haltung.

Manchmal setzt sich der Starke durch, manchmal die schwache Masse gegen einen Starken. So funktioniert die Welt. Das ist das Wunderbare, das wir daran unseren Teil leisten können, es möglichst gerecht und fair für möglichst viele zu machen. Im Kleinen können wir wirken, du und ich, und im Großen andere.

Wir brauchen Mut, Aufrichtigkeit und scharfen Verstand. Angsthasen muß es auch geben. Aber die Welt kann auch Angsthasen verkraften, wenn sie nicht mit dem Feind arbeiten, sondern sich ruhig verhalten. Ich bin ein Angsthase.

Die Welt kann nicht voller Helden sein.

Aber Menschen, die Angsthasen sind und sich den Mantel des Guten umhüllen und anklagend auf die Fehler in der Welt zeigen, anmaßend auf die Fehlschläge anderer zeigen, sind in der heutigen Zeit der massenhaften Verbreitung von Meinungen eine Gefahr.

Sie verlängern den Terror, behindern beim Kampf dagegen.

Du verbirgst dich hinter der Masken des angeblich Guten, der die Leiden der Welt kennt. Dabei bist du nur einer, der keine Verantwortung für die Leiden in der Welt übernimmt und nur andere anklagt.

Nicht der, der die Fehlschläge in der Welt im Bestreben nach einer besseren anklagt, ist zu loben, sondern der, der die Fehlschläge erkennt und es selbst besser macht und andere mit sich reißt.

Tod durch Terroristen ist nicht wie Tod durch Hunger. Diese Terroristen kann man stoppen, wenn sich möglichst viele zusammenschließen und sie aufhalten.

Aber das Bestreben, den Hunger in der Welt zu stoppen, ist damit nicht zu vergleichen. Das ist Bestreben der Menschen - für immer.

@Gabi:

Ich sehe keinen Unterschied zwischen dem alltäglichen Terror und dem hässlichen Krieg der gegen die westliche Welt geführt wird. Terror, das bedeutet Schrecken. Aber welchen Schrecken bekommen wir denn öfter vor Augen ? Ist es der eine Schrecken, der unsere heiligen Werte und unseren Wohlstand bedroht oder ist der alltägliche Terror, der ja Gott sei Dank weit von uns entfernt rumgeistert. Vor letzterem wird das Auge verschlossen. Das Warum und Wieso spielt keine Rolle, solange es uns nicht schaden wird. Es wird dann ein wenig Entwicklungshilfe geleisten, und was vorzeigen zu können, was unser Gewissen beruhigt und doch nur ekelhaft falsch ist.
Krieg wird geführt, um eigene Werte zu erhalten und durchzusetzen. Alles andere ist Scheinheiligkeit. Und die Spielregeln des Krieges sind beliebig. So schrecken uns die grausamen Taten, welche zuletzt in Beslan geschahen. Was ist aber denn nun mit den Millionen armen Kindern, die keine Zukunft haben ? Steckt da kein Verbrechen hinter, wenn 5-jährige Kinder für uns Turnschuhe oder sonstiges produzieren ? Ich nenne es ein Schrecken auf Lebenszeit. ABER genau gegen diesen Terror kann man nicht so viel unternehmen, jedoch gegen den anderen Terror, der uns die Faust entgegenstreckt, da werden dann sofort alle Köpfe zusammengesteckt.
Ist das nicht ein wenig falsch und verlogen ?

[Gabi]

Anonymer,
die Frage habe ich schon beantwortet: NEIN.

Das ganze Leben eines jeden von uns ist ein Krieg, Kampf, eigene Werte zu erhalten und durchzusetzen. Das ist die menschliche Natur.

Was soll daran falsch und verlogen sein? Sollen wir uns töten, nur weil wir egoistisch sind? Haben wir unser Leben verwirkt, nur weil wir egoistisch sind? Ich denke nicht. Das ist es, was das Leben ausmacht. Gewinnen, verlieren. Und manchmal führen großartige Menschen ein Land an und bringen ganz viel Gutes für möglichst viele. Für alle - wie soll das gehen bei so vielen Menschen mit unterschiedlichen Interessen?

Dann ist Leben eben unendlicher Schrecken nach Ihrer Definition. Ich sehe da nur natürliche Auseinandersetzungen. Wir sind eben keine Roboter, die man programmieren kann. Dieser kampf schreckt mich nicht, mich schreckt der Terror einzelner Idioten, meist sind es Männer. Vereinzelt Frauen. Die können gestoppt werden, aber wir können doch nicht die Ablauf der Welt gleich für alle machen. Wie soll das denn gehen? Da würden wir beide uns schon streiten, wie es richtig ist.

[Joe N.]

Anonymer,
Mere equivalents? Nothing more? You haven't lived.

Maybe I haven´t lived as long as you, but you live with
closed eyes.

[Nick]

Great tribute! We shall never forget.

@George M
Just as touched to see the pictures of the six German victims. Tried to do some research whether or not the number is not actually higher. Best I could come up with is a BND (the German CIA) statement estimating the German death toll of 9/11 at "above 30". But hard to find names of those.
http://www.bnd.de/auftrag/11_september.htm