(Originally posted to Iraq at EraBlog on Mon, 24 Mar 2003 06:56:07 GMT)

A friend of Emma’s sent her a link to an article by Thom Hartmann at Com­mon­dreams.org.

The 70th an­niver­sary wasn’t noticed in the United States, and was barely reported in the corporate media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They com­mem­o­rat­ed the an­niver­sary by joining in demon­stra­tions for peace that mobilized citizens all across the world.

It started when the government, in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, received reports of an imminent terrorist attack. A foreign ideologue had launched feeble attacks on a few famous buildings, but the media largely ignored his relatively small efforts. The in­tel­li­gence services knew, however, that the odds were he would eventually succeed. (Historians are still arguing whether or not rogue elements in the in­tel­li­gence service helped the terrorist; the most recent research implies they did not.)

…

I’m not quite paranoid enough (yet) to buy the analogy, but the numerous parallels are eerie and dis­com­fort­ing.