Oct 28 2007
Democrat derides Dutch dhimmis
I know this headline might seem as likely as my writing James Dobson endorses celebrating Halloween, but when someone breaks ranks with the Lemoncrat™ line on the War on Terror, he deserves a plaudit, even though I disagree with most of his domestic policy positions.
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 Tom Lantos, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, told them that “Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay.”
Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who was born in Hungary, was responding to arguments that the United States should shut down the prison on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, the lawmakers said.
No pussyfooting here, just a straight shot at the chops. But this wasn’t all Rep Lantos said:
Before the Guantanamo exchange, the lawmakers had discussed a debate in the Netherlands about whether the country should maintain its 1,600 troops serving in NATO’s Afghanistan operations. “You have to help us, because if it was not for us you would now be a province of Nazi Germany,” Lantos said, according to the Dutch lawmakers.
“The comments killed the debate,” said Harry van Bommel, a member of the Socialist Party. “It was insulting and counterproductive.”
Classic example of shooting the messenger when the message strikes too close to home. (Not to mention the assumption of the victim posture, claiming that Lantos had violated the rules of a nonexistent “debate” rather than addressing the substance of what Lantos said). What evidently got under the Dutch politicos skin, though, was Lantos’ preemptive penetration of their defense plans against Muslim jihadists (i.e. appeasement) in what is certain to represent a futile effort to escape rioting by Islamic youth in the Netherlands, ignoring the verdict of history as to the efficacy of appeasement against threats of violence.
However, Lantos did gain support from one of the visiting Dutch politicians:
“Let’s not forget we are in a state of war — not only the United States but also my country — with Islamic terrorists,” said the far right Freedom Party leader, Geert Wilders. “I think we could only learn from Guantanamo.”
Thus all is not lost, as at least some Dutch politicians get it. And hopefully these folks will escape the fate of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Lantos is no stranger to impolitic comments addressed to Europeans leaders.
In May, [Lantos] lashed out at the former leaders of France and Germany. His comments, which included calling former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder a “political prostitute,” provoked a rebuke from German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The White House would do well to follow Lantos’ example and grow a pair in speaking out on the War on Islamic terror.
The best commentary I’ve read on Lantos’ intercourse with the Dutch leaders, though, was provided by a reader at Don Surber who posted this comment.
Hopefully Rep. Lantos’ potent…intromissions will yield some…results.
2 Responses to “Democrat derides Dutch dhimmis”
I never had sex with that Congressman, Mr. Lantos.
If anyone wants to compare Auschwitz with Guantanamo, I offer the following similarity and difference:
Similarity - Both involve vicious bigots who would kill someone for being Jewish.
Difference - In Auschwitz said bigots ran the place. They were the guards and their supervisors. In Guantanamo, said bigots are (as least some of) the detainees.