from bellaciao.com (used wtih permission)

This Remembrance Day, I will show my respect for Canada’s war dead in a different way—I will not wear a poppy.

The poppy, John McRae’s In Flanders Fields and the commemoration of the two world wars are part of a ritual that has become a perverse anachronism. Simply put, the world that these wars engendered no longer exists, in spirit or in fact.

Remembrance Day, for the most part, commemorates victories in “good wars”—wars where we could clearly claim to be fighting on the side of right and justice. The men and women who died in these wars gave their lives so that we today could live free from tyranny. But do we seriously believe that our soldiers, airmen and sailors fought against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan only to bequeath to us a world terrorized by Israel, the U.S. and Great Britain?

What right do we have to indulge the conceit of our own virtue when we have become the enemy and are doing to Arabs and the Middle East what Hitler did to Jewish Europeans and Europe?

If you find this comparison a tad extreme let me show you how Bush prepared the U.S. public for the destruction of Iraq in his Jan. 28, 2003, State of the Union address:

“In this century, the ideology of power and domination has appeared again, and seeks to gain the ultimate weapons of terror. Once again, this nation and all our friends are all that stand between a world at peace, and a world of chaos and constant alarm. Once again, we are called to defend the safety of our people, and the hopes of all mankind. And we accept this responsibility. (Applause.)…

“Whatever action is required, whenever action is necessary, I will defend the freedom and security of the American people. (Applause.) Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them. …

“We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We do not know—we do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and all of history. May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.”

Now, here is an excerpt from Hitler’s Dec. 11, 1941, speech to the Reichstag that contains his reasons for invading the Soviet Union:

“The German people and its soldiers work and fight today not only for themselves and their own age, but also for many generations to come. A historical task of unique dimensions has been entrusted to us by the Creator which we are now obliged to carry out…. I have not sought war. To the contrary, I have done everything to avoid conflict. But I would forget my duty and my conscience if I were to do nothing in spite of the realization that a conflict had become unavoidable. Because I regarded Soviet Russia as a danger not only for the German Reich but for all of Europe, I decided, if possible, to give the order myself to attack a few days before the outbreak of this conflict.

A truly impressive amount of authentic material is now available which confirms that a Soviet Russian attack was intended. We are also sure about when this attack was to take place. In view of this danger, the extent of which we are perhaps only now truly aware, I can only thank the Lord God that He enlightened me in time and has given me the strength to do what must be done. Millions of German soldiers may thank Him for their lives, and all of Europe for its existence.”

Hitler and Bush are both messianic sociopaths who lied about an immanent threat to justify unleashing total war in the name of God. Canada went to war to defeat one of them, yet we are supposed to remember the other as the great saviour of the free world.

The false dichotomy between “evil” Nazis and “good” Allies allows for the abuse of Nazi imagery to justify Nazi-like aggression. Those who belong to the Israeli–U.S.– British axis use Hitler analogies to demonize Arab resistance fighters and Arab states, but this slander debases Remembrance Day and everything our veterans fought and died for.

Hitler led a great militaristic state driven by chauvinism, bigotry and expansionist zeal. No Arab state bears any resemblance to Nazi Germany. Israel and the U.S., though, are great militaristic states driven by chauvinism, bigotry and expansionist zeal.

Jews, the victims of Hitler’s state-sanctioned persecution, are waging a state-sanctioned persecution against Palestinian Arabs. The U.S., which used to extol individual liberties and denounce torture, is now a police state that justifies torture in the name of the “war on terrorism.” Who will stand up to Isramerica?”

The cruel truth is that World War II didn’t end in 1945. The contrived “peace” of the Cold War was merely a long hibernation that ended when the Soviet Union collapsed. Hitler’s master race fascism didn’t die either; it found new ground in Israel.

It’s time to dispense with Remembrance Day until such time as we can commemorate the past without choking on our own hypocrisy. In the meantime, the motto “lest we forget” should be changed to “let us remember”:

Let us remember what fascism is and to speak out for its victims.
Let us remember that “never again” does not just apply to Jews.
Let us remember that the past has no value if its lessons are ignored.
Let us remember that the ally of yesterday can become the tyrant of today.
Let us remember that if we do nothing when great crime is being committed we are complicit.