@ajdohmen as it seems with all well written posts here on Steemit, yours has driven me to search for answers.
A common saying about history is that, "History is written by the winners."
Down through the ages, people spoiling for war have pointed across a distance, whether it was across an ocean or over a mountain range, and said, "Those people over there are ALL bad."
Yes, Hitler was bad, Saddam Hussein was bad.
But we never seem to remember the people that created the conditions which allowed bad people to come to power.
Germans as a whole were punished for the actions of their government after World War I. It was the economic suffering of a people that drove them to accept Adolph Hitler as their savior.
Who imposed those economic conditions upon the German people?
Saddam Hussein was a handy proxy for the United States to supply chemical weapons and intelligence to, so they could be used against Iran. The nation whose democratically elected leader had been overthrown in a coup d'etat organized and funded by the CIA.
I would like to believe that most sane people, left to their own devices, would choose to live a peaceful life with their spouses and children. They do not hope and pray for war so that they can go to far away places and experience things that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
They don't wish for their children to be sent away, only to come back broken or in boxes.
It is only the politicians, the generals and admirals who sleep comfortably in their soft beds while the ordinary people suffer and die.
The dictators are merely convenient scapegoats after the fact.
The German people were worn down through numerous elections and referendums. They finally just gave up and let it happen. That is the whole point of putting the same things to a vote again and again. The de-nazification programs after the war was brutal in itself. I am don't know how many people know this, but in Germany it is now illegal to even mount a defense if you are accused to questioning even the tiniest aspect of the holocaust. Ernst Zundel's lawyer was sent to jail for defending him, and continuing to defend him as she was hauled out of the courtroom during his trial. As far as I am concerned, all the Nazi superman myths out there are because Germans were never allowed to publicly talk about what they really experienced. It is so complicated. I suggest to digging up some David Cole (Stein) vids, because he had a lot to say before the JDL put a hit on him and he changed identities. It really gives a person something to think about.
I've seen mention of prosecution of holocaust deniers in Germany.
I'm not denying it, I'm saying that the people who were responsible for bringing about the situation have never been exposed or held accountable.
The world wants to think that it was all Hitler's fault and the responsibility died with him and the others sentenced at Nuremberg.
I'd be interested to know how many innocent civilians have to die in order for an act to be considered a war crime.
Does the approximately 25,000 dead from the Dresden firebombings qualify?
How about the 100,000 killed in the firebombing of Tokyo in March of 1945?
War itself is a crime against humanity.
Revisionists and Deniers are not exactly the same, but that is for another time. In Germany it is not permitted to speak of this at all, which is a problem. One theory that could apply to your question is that if someone else's crime can be made to seem so horrific that your own crimes can be justified by it, then pump up the allegations to the maximum. You have to make the opposition look like monsters in order to cover the monstrosities that you have committed (or are planning to commit). It still goes on today. Look at the campaign against Saddam Hussien, and now Bashir al-Assad. People only consider something a war crime when it is the other side that it supposedly committing it. If their side is responsible, it isn't seen as a crime. Sad, but true. As far as I am concerned, no one has to be killed for a war crime to have been committed. Just dropping bombs on facilities or installations in another country is a war crime.
Agreed