RUSH: I wish we could have carried on with that applause. It was when the anchors started talking over it, but he was getting… He wasn’t crying. The eyes got red, and he got teary-eyed and it was a great finale to this speech. He also — I don’t have time to squeeze this bite in before the break but I want you to hear this because I almost consider this a second mention, not just the reference to talk radio in Iraq and whether or not the Iraqis have called me for advice, but he told a story about how tough it was in postwar Germany two years afterwards that we have really trumpeted here on this program and on my website, and he reminded everybody that we thought we couldn’t keep the peace and we’re going to lose Germany, and I want you to hear the bite because it’s fabulous. Frankly, I think these are the kinds of communications that need to come from the top, need to come from the president. He needs to use the bully pulpit here to say what it is and how it is. So we’ll let you hear this when we come back.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
RUSH: Here’s the sound bite that I wanted you to hear. This is President Bush comparing the Iraq occupation to Germany and points out there were doubters then. This is big stuff to us, here because we have been trumpeting this on this program and on this website. It is crucial. We told you about this. We went back and found all these stories from the New York Times in 1945 and LIFE magazine from 1946, and if you read those issues of the newspaper in the magazine, it’s identical to what’s being said about our “ultimate failure” in Iraq. We were going to “lose the peace.” American troops were thieves. They were stealing from the Germans and stealing from the French and selling things on the black market. We were just the worst scum roaming the earth. There’s no way we were going to keep the peace. The German citizens, they hated us. The French didn’t want us. Nobody liked us. It’s uncanny how similar it was, or is, and the president today in his own way referenced it.
BUSH: In 1947, two years after the Nazi surrender, there was still starvation in Germany. Reconstruction seemed to be faltering. The Marshall Plan had not yet begun. Soon Berlin would be blockaded on the orders of Josef Stalin. Some questioned whether a free and stable Germany could emerge from the rubble. Fortunately America and her allies were optimistic. They stood firm. We helped the German people overcome these challenges and resist the designs of the Soviet Union. We overcame many obstacles. Because we knew that the only hope for a secure America was a peaceful and democratic Europe, and because we persevered, because we had faith in our values, because we were strong in the face of adversity, Germany became the stable, successful, great nation that it is today.
RUSH: Now, this is a great start, but there needs to be more of this. This was all over cable news today, but I don’t think that… You never know if this is going to be covered extensively in the press. Well, you can guess that it won’t be covered extensively in the news media.
END TRANSCRIPT
Post-War Occupation Gloom ? After VE Day in WWII!
<a target=new href=”/home/eibessential2/life.guest.html”>(January 7, 1946 LIFE Magazine: Americans Are Losing the Victory in Europe)</a>
<*ICON*>Look at These Amazing Headlines from 60 Years Ago (All on One Page)…
<a target=new href=”//home/eibessential2/newsoccupationww2.guest.html”>(NY Times: We Can Lose the Peace)
<a target=new href=”//home/eibessential2/newsoccupationww2.guest.html”>(NY Times: Germans Reveal Hate of America)</a>
<a target=new href=”//home/eibessential2/newsoccupationww2.guest.html”>(NY Times: Reich Girls Want Return of Nazism)</a>
<a target=new href=”//home/eibessential2/newsoccupationww2.guest.html”>(NY Times: Loss of Victory in Germany Through U.S. Policy Feared)</a>
<a target=new href=”//home/eibessential2/newsoccupationww2.guest.html”>(NY Times: Germans Declared Far Behind on Bomb)</a>
<a target=new href=”//home/eibessential2/newsoccupationww2.guest.html”>(NY Times: Americans Leave Dislike in France)</a>
<a target=new href=”//home/eibessential2/newsoccupationww2.guest.html”>(NY Times: Americans’ Clashes with Germans Grow)</a>