It's fascinating that this should come out of Europe
Matthias Dapfner,  Chief Executive of the huge German
publisher Axel Springer AG, has  written a blistering
attack in DIE WELT, Germany's largest daily paper,
against the timid reaction of Europe in the face of the
Islamic threat.
 
This is a must read by all Americans.
History will certify its correctness.
 
EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE (Commentary by Mathias
Dapfner CEO, Axel  Springer , AG)
 
A few days ago Henry Broder wrote in Welt am Sonntag, "
 
Europe - your  family name is appeasement." It's a
phrase you can't get out of your  head because it's so
terribly true.
 
Appeasement cost millions of Jews and non-Jews their
lives as England  and France, allies at the time,
negotiated and hesitated too long before  they noticed
that Hitler had to be fought, not bound to toothless
agreements.
 
Appeasement legitimized and stabilized Communism in the
Soviet Union ,  then East Germany , then all the rest of
Eastern Europe where for  decades, inhuman suppressive,
murderous governments were glorified as  the
ideologically correct alternative to all other possibilities.
 
Appeasement crippled Europe when genocide ran rampant in
Kosovo, and  even though we had absolute proof of
ongoing mass-murder, we Europeans  debated and debated
and debated, and were still debating when finally  the
Americans had to come from halfway around the world,
into Europe yet again, and do our work for us.
 
Rather than protecting democracy in the Middle East ,
European appeasement, camouflaged behind the fuzzy word
"equidistance" now  countenances suicide bombings in
Israel by fundamentalist Palestinians.
 
Appeasement generates a mentality that allows Europe to
ignore nearly **  300,000 victims of Saddam's torture
and murder machinery and, motivated by the self-righteousness of the
peace-movement, has the gall  to issue bad grades to George Bush ...
Even as it is uncovered that the loudest critics of the American action
in Iraq made illicit billions,  no, TENS of billions, in the corrupt
U.N. Oil-for-Food program.
 
And now we are faced with a particularly grotesque form
of appeasement.  How is Germany reacting to the
escalating violence by Islamic fundamentalists in Holland
and elsewhere? By suggesting that we really  should have
a "Muslim Holiday" in Germany ?
 
I wish I were joking, but I am not. A substantial fraction of our
(German) Government, and if the polls are to be believed,
the German  people, actually believe that creating an Official
State "Muslim Holiday" will somehow spare us from
the wrath of the fanatical Islamists.
 
One cannot help but recall Britain 's Neville
Chamberlain waving the  laughable treaty signed by
Adolph Hitler , and declaring European "Peace  in our time".
 
What else has to happen before the European public and
its political  leadership get it? There is a sort of
crusade underway, an especially  perfidious crusade
consisting of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims,
focused on civilians, directed against our free, open
Western societies,  and intent upon Western
Civilization's utter destruction.
 
It is a conflict that will most likely last longer than
any of the great  military conflicts of the last century
- a conflict conducted by an  enemy that cannot be tamed
by "tolerance" and "accommodation" but is  actually
spurred on by such gestures, which have proven to be,
and will  always be taken by the Islamists for signs of weakness.
 
Only two recent American Presidents had the courage
needed for anti-appeasement: Reagan and Bush.
His American critics may quibble over the detai ls, but
we Europeans know  the truth. We saw it first hand:
Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War,  freeing half of the
German people from nearly 50 years of terror and
virtual slavery. And Bush, supported only by the Social
Democrat Blair,  acting on moral conviction, recognized
the danger in the Islamic War  against democracy. His
place in history will have to be evaluated after  a
number of years have passed.
 
In the meantime, Europe sits back with charismatic
self-confidence in  the multicultural corner, instead of
defending liberal society's values  and being an
attractive center of power on the same playing field as
the  true great powers, America and China.
On the contrary - we Europeans present ourselves, in
contrast to those  arrogant Americans", as the World
Champions of "tolerance", which even (  Germany 's
Interior Minister) Otto Schily justifiably criticizes.
Why? Because we're so moral? I fear it's more because
we're so materialistic so devoid of a moral compass.
 
For his policies, Bush risks the fall of the dollar,
huge amounts of  additional national debt, and a massive
and persistent burden on the  American economy - because
unlike almost all of Europe, Bush realizes  what is at
stake - literally everything.
 
While we criticize the "capitalistic robber barons" of
America because  they seem too sure of their priorities,
we timidly defend our Social  Welfare systems. Stay out
of it! It could get expensive! We'd rather  discuss
reducing our 35-hour workweek or our dental coverage, or
our 4  weeks of paid vacation... Or listen to TV pastors
preach about the need  to "reach out to terrorists.
To understand and forgive".
 
These days, Europe reminds me of an old woman who, with
shaking hands,  frantically hides her last pieces of
jewelry when she notices a robber  breaking into a neighbor's house.
 
Appeasement?
Europe, thy name is Cowardice.
 
God Bless America