The connection of George W. Bush with a quote by Hermann Goering on stampeding the general population into an unjustified war has earned some strident criticism for Democratic Washington Congressman Jim McDermott.
Actually, as military minds, Bush and Goering have some similarities and differences. Both had substance-abuse problems–Goering’s was heroin, Bush’s alcohol and cocaine (according to press reports). Both have/had a tendency to put all their faith in grandiose, but poorly-thought-out military plans. Both were fighter pilots are inherent risk takers.
Unlike Bush, Goering actually saw combat and was truly heroic–shooting down 22 Allied airplanes as commander of the famous Richthofen Air Squadron in the First World War. George W. Bush served in a near-mothballed Air National Guard wing, and reportedly failed to show up for duty after transfer from Texas to Alabama.
Aside from allowing the British to evacuate their troops from Dunkirk (he convinced Hitler that air power could win the battle without the need for a standard infantry operation), Goering’s biggest military disaster was the shifting of Luftwaffe attacks from British fighter squadrons (which were near collapse) and factories to civilian population centers, such as London.
Goering is reported to have stated to Germans uneasy about waging war on civilians that: “If one British bomb falls on a German city [in retaliation] you can call me ‘Meyer’.”
Goering’s “Operation Eagle” strategy was a magnificent failure. It not only shifted British public opinion in favor of the war, but it gave the British time to regroup, preventing Hitler from launching his invasion of Britain…operation Sea Lion. (Later in the war, many Germans secretly called him “Meyer”, a name synonymous with German Jews.)
George W. Bush may indeed be following in Goering’s footsteps in his mishandling of the entire Iraq affair. And by antagonizing civilians while carrying out assisinations perceived by many in Iraq as being villainous, he may be creating a potent future enemy for the U.S.
The author studied Austrian Neoclassical economics under Dr. George Reisman. However, he developed the view that a debt-money system made a truly free economic system impossible and led to excessive class stratifications that leads to instability. This is contrary to the currently prevailing Monetarist viewpoint of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and company.
