Posted by
Charles the Hammer on Monday, March 26, 2007 5:41:51 AM
Although you can argue about its extent and significance, the connections between the Third Reich and pan-Arab Muslim militancy are historical fact. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem cavorted with Himmler and Hitler, reviewing SS troops, organizing Bosnian Waffen SS units in the Balkans, consulting on ideas for the Final Solution. The Germans had a romantic affinity for things oriental, particularly through Schopenhauer and Haushofer. They also had a natural alliance in the Arab world because of the extent of British/French colonial holdings. The Ottomans provided Hitler with an effective historical precedent near the close of WWI, by their annihilation of ethnic Armenians. The tepid reaction of the West to genocide caused Hitler to observe, "After all, who remembers the Armenians?" It became his example. Take a close look at photos of Sayyid Qutb, the leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950's. He really emulated Hitler, right down to the cropped mustache. It is also true that Yasser Arafat regarded the Mufti (Amin al Husseini) as his hero and mentor, even referring to him as "uncle", despite some doubts as to any blood relation. The fascistic nature of Wahabbism and Ba'athism are also reminiscent of Nazi style. Further, the continued popularity of Arabic editions of Mein Kampf throughout the Muslim world, including state sponsored distributions in several locations and by the Palestinian Authority in particular, attest to Muslim identification with Nazi ideology. Lastly, I don't think we can ignore Ahmadinejad's sponsorship of the Holocaust denial conference and his repeated declarations about the genocide being a myth. He openly advocates the eradication of Israel.
Here are some further historical references:
Gamal Abdel Nasser, former President of Egypt, brought in so many high ranking former Waffen SS officers to organize the Egyptian security apparatus, that it was a widely publicized scandal of 1962. Among the most notorious of these SS men was the German Gen. Reinhard Gelen. It is no coincidence that the mother of extreme Islamist groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, sprouted in Egypt.
In Syria, Adolf Eichmann’s chief henchman, Alois Bruner, resided in opulent sanctuary for decades.
The Shah of Iran was so taken by the racial purity aspect of Nazism that, in 1935, he renamed the the ancient land of Persia as "Iran", or translated from the Farsi, "land of the Aryans". In its current role as host nation for Holocaust denial, Iran invites and harbors neo-Nazi proponents from all over the world: Albert (Ahmed) Huber, Jurgen Graf, Fredrick Toben, Wolfgang Frolich, Serge Thion, Roger Garaudy, and David Myatt. Let's not forget the "Holocaust Cartoon Contest" held in Teheran as a response to the Danish "cartoon jihad".
The extensive connections between Nazi ideology and Muslim aggression as Ba'athism, Arab National Socialism, or Iranian theocratic fascism are essential to an understanding of realpolitik in the region. Those who say it is irrelevant may wish it so, but ignoring history is delusional. The world said "Never Again" and watched passively in Uganda, Bosnia, Rwanda, and now Darfur. In three of those killing fields, Muslim zealotry factored-in. Mr. Ahmadinejad calmly declared "Israel should be wiped off the map." His regime seeks nuclear weapons. They defy negotiation and international cooperation at every turn. They have now seized British troops for a show trial in Teheran. All of this has a distinctly 1930's feel to it: "Peace in our time."