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-----Original Message-----
From: Mark 

If we look back, the aftermath of other wars has not always gone well in the beginning.  It is easy to say that in difficult times that things are not working.  What is more difficult and more courageous is to stay committed to the goals.

 

June 01, 2004, 2:33 p.m.
A Familiar Place
It got ugly in postwar Germany, too.

With all the nay saying about our presence in Iraq, it's worth noting that none of these difficulties are particularly new. No postwar occupation has been without serious challenges, including the occupation of Germany after World War II. The New York Times ran a series of news stories in late 1945 reporting, in part, the following:

"Germans Reveal Hate of Americans," October 31, 1945

The German attitude toward the American occupation forces has swung from apathy and surface friendliness to active dislike. According to a military government official, this is finding expression in the organization of numerous local anti-American organizations throughout the zone and in a rapid increase in the number of attacks on American soldiers. There were more such attacks in the first week of October than in the preceding five months of the occupation, this source declared.

This official views the situation as so serious that he and others are protesting the withdrawal of 1,600 experienced military-government officers form the German governments on township, county and regional levels between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15. "We have been talking since the summer about the trouble that we expect this winter," the source said. "That trouble has now begun and we meet it with a plan to withdraw officers from communities where trouble is already being encountered.

"Loss of Victory in Germany Through U.S. Policy Feared," November 18, 1945

Grave concern was expressed today by informed officials that the United States might soon lose the fruits of victory in Germany through the failure to prepare adequately for carrying out its long-term commitments under the Potsdam Declaration. Government failures were attributed in part to public apathy. The predictions of a coming crisis are predicated upon three points:

1) The failure to start training a civilian corps of administrators to take over when the Army's Military Government pulls out of Germany by June 1.

2) The failure of the Government to set up an expert advisory group, such as that which existed in the Foreign Economic Administration's Enemy Branch to back up the American administrators of Germany with informed advice and provide a focal point in Washington for policy-making on the German question.

3) The failure of the Allies to decide together, or the United States for itself, the crucial economic question raised by the Potsdam Declaration; namely what level of German economic activity is desired over the long term?

"Germans Declare Americans Hated," December 3, 1945

An exhaustive compilation of opinions of Germans in all walks of life on their reaction to the United States occupation of their country was released this afternoon from the confidential status under which it was submitted to officials of the United States Forces in the European Theatre recently.

Bitter resentment and deep disappointment was voiced over the Americans' first six months of occupation, though there was some praise for the improvements in transportation, health conditions, book publishing and entertainment.

"German Election Set In Towns of U.S. Zone," December 19, 1945

United States Seventh Army headquarters announced today that plans had been completed for initial German elections in January at Gemuende. A statement said that a vast majority of Germans remained passive in attitude toward politics and displayed no disposition to take over civic responsibilities.

I think we can agree that the postwar occupation of Germany, and the rest of Europe, worked out quite well, despite numerous difficulties and the best efforts of the New York Times to highlight them  as it does today in postwar Iraq.

Charles Smolover <csmolover@mangosinc.com> wrote:

Think Tank: Iraq War Distracted U.S.
Mon Oct 11, 2:10 PM ET
By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer

TEL AVIV, Israel - The war in Iraq did not damage international terror
groups, but instead distracted the United States from confronting other
hotbeds of Islamic militancy and actually "created momentum" for many
terrorists, a top Israeli security think tank said in a report released
Monday.

President Bush has called the war in Iraq an integral part of the war on
terrorism, saying that deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein hoped to develop
unconventional weapons and could have given them to Islamic militants across
the world.

But the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University said that
instead of striking a blow against Islamic extremists, the Iraq war "has
created momentum for many terrorist elements, but chiefly al-Qaida and its
affiliates."

Jaffee Center director Shai Feldman said the vast amount of money and effort
the United States has poured into Iraq has deflected attention and assets
from other centers of terrorism, such as Afghanistan.

The concentration of U.S. intelligence assets in Iraq "has to be at the
expense of being able to follow strategic dangers in other parts of the
world," he said.

Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli army general, said the U.S.-led effort was
strategically misdirected. If the goal in the war against terrorism is "not
just to kill the mosquitos but to dry the swamp," he said, "now it's quite
clear" that Iraq "is not the swamp."

Instead, he said, the Iraq campaign is having the opposite effect, drawing
Islamic extremists from other parts of the world to join the battle.

"On a strategic level as well as an operational level," Brom concluded, "the
war in Iraq is hurting the war on international terrorism."

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