Interest In America In Mladic's Trial Is Much Less Than It Should Be

Mladic & DuPont-- at least one fascist will face trial

Most Americans don't know who Ratko Mladic is, where Srebrenica, Serbia, Bosnia or even the Hague are, or why a war crimes tribunal is important-- and important to us here in the U.S.A. Mladic was the chief of staff of the Serb Bosnian army in the early '90's. In 1995 he was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the Srebrenica massacre, Europe's biggest mass murder case since the Nazi defeat. He'd been "hiding," basically in plain sight, for 16 years. The only reason he was "found" was because the EU refused to consider admitting Serbia until they turned him over. He is still a hero to right-wingers in Serbia who are bitter and fuming he was turned in.

I woke up at 1:30 AM Friday to watch the first proceedings live from the Hague on TV. I've always been a firm believer that when criminals from among the ruling elite get away with their crimes-- as happens 99.9% of the time-- the tragedy is epic and bound to be compounded over time. They rarely slink off to lick their wounds and count their lucky stars. And no country is worse in that department than our own. [Glenn Greenwald writes about this tendency of America's elites to see themselves above the law over at Salon this morning.]

Thursday we saw how most Americans rue the fact that Wall Street's top executives are getting off scot-free for the criminal activities that brought on the economic devastation for millions of families. We're not looking backwards... we're moving on. It's an American mantra, carefully inculcated by the ruling elites and the mass media they own. Many people were angry that recent American politicians guilty of outrageous crimes, from Kissinger to Bush and Cheney, were never brought up on any kinds of charges. But that's as traditional in America as mom and rhubarb pie. Let's turn to my current favorite book, The Nazi Hydra in America by Glen Yeadon for a brief look at how America let all the big name Nazi traitors-- even the ones who tried to overthrow FDR in a coup-- get away without even facing a trial, let alone a firing squad. Most of these families have continued pushing an extreme right-wing fascist agenda, even today. Many of the same families who financed the rise of Hitler and Mussolini-- some of who were called out by Senator Harry Truman as outright traitors for trading with Germany and sabotaging U.S. war efforts-- have provided the money for the teabagger astroturf movement and have backed fascist governors, particularly in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan, each of which was a hotbed of pro-Nazi activity in the 1930s. Today we have the Koch's funding their own homegrown fascist movements here in America. As Yeadon reminds us, "As of yet, no one has exposed, in a comprehensive manner, the connections between the 1930's fascists and today's American right wing. Many of the events of the decade have been quietly swept under the rug, such as the plot against Roosevelt. The press downplayed the assassination attempt at the time and even today, most people are still unaware of it... The Nazis found willing accompanists in the media, the halls of Congress, as well as corporate boardrooms."

There are numerous parallels between the fascist groups of the 1930s and the far right groups of today, they are as striking as they are disturbing, and should stand as a vanguard, warning of the hidden agenda of right wing elements in this country. Among the many common elements between yesterday's fascists and today's far right groups are the intense hatred of minorities and unions, isolationism, destructive division, nationalism and religion.

Only the little seditionist and traitors have been rounded up by the FBI. The real Nazi Fifth Column in America remains immune. And yet there is evidence that those in both countries who place profits above patriotism-- and fascism is based entirely on profits although all of its propaganda speaks of patriotism-- have conspired to make America part of the Nazi Big Business system. Thurman Arnold, assistant district attorney of the United States, his assistant, Norman Littell, and several congressional investigations, have produced incontrovertible evidence that some of our biggest monopolies entered into secret agreements with the Nazi cartels and divided the world among them. Most notorious of all was Alcoa, the Mellon-Davis-Duke monopoly which is largely responsible for America not having sufficient aluminum with which to build airplanes before and after Pearl Harbor, while Germany had an unlimited supply. Of the Aluminum Corporation sabotage, and that of other leading companies, the press said very little, but several books have now been written out of the official record.

It is this unbridled corporatism that is the very heart of fascism. ... Here we have the heart of the problem of the next century: corporate power. Corporations have acquired too much power. They have become so powerful they can openly flaunt our labor laws, our environmental laws and even sell materials for weapons of mass destruction without fear. The problem has become so widespread, and corporations have become so powerful, that society now serves the corporations rather than corporations serving society.

In short, as we progress into the new century, the right wing issues at the forefront of today's political scene are nothing more than recycled pro-fascist issues of the 30s. It is an agenda of corporate rule. The GATS treaty currently being negotiated and the now-dead Multi-Lateral Investment Agreement, are nothing more than attempts to go global with fascist corporatism.

...There is no better place to begin studying the fascism of the 1930s than to start with the one element that was common to all of these fascist groups, and at the heart of their ideology. Fortunately, such an element exists simply it was the visceral hatred of Roosevelt and liberalism by the native fascist. ... There is no better event to begin with than the attempted coup d'état against Roosevelt financed by Irénée du Pont along with the Morgans and a few other wealthy industrialists of the time. Others involved with the plot were Robert Clark, heir to the Singer Sewing machine corporation, Grayson Murphy, Director of Goodyear, and the Pew family of Sun Oil. During the war, all three of these corporations were involved in aiding of the Nazi empire. Singer's plant located on the east side of the Elba was used to manufacture machine guns. Today, Singer has given up the sewing machine business and is now engaged in defense contracting.

Central to the plot were two groups: the American Legion and the Liberty League. The American Legion was formed and financed by the Morgans and Murphy in 1919 to be used primary to break strikes. Several high-ranking officials from the American Legion were associated with the plot: William Doyle, a former state commander of the American Legion and Gerald MacGuire, a former commander of the Connecticut American Legion.

Irénée, the power behind the du Pont throne at the time, held a controlling interest in General Motors. He was an avid fascist and supporter of Hitler, tracking Hitler's career closely from the 1920s. On September 7, 1926, du Pont gave a speech before the American Chemical Society, in which he advocated the creation of a race of supermen. Injecting special drugs into them during childhood would create these supermen. Not every child would receive such injections; du Pont insisted that only those of pure blood would get the injections.

Throughout the 1930s, the du Ponts invested heavily in Hitler's Germany through their corporate empire. General Motors under the control of the du Pont family had invested thirty million dollars alone into I.G. Farben. Wendell Swint, du Pont's foreign relation's director knew that I.G. and Krupp had arranged to contribute one half of a percent of its payroll to the Nazi party. Swint testified before the 1934 Munitions Hearings that du Pont was fully aware that it was financing the Nazis through the Opal division of General Motors. Even more telling is the amount of financial backing the du Ponts provided pro-Hitler groups in the United States. Starting in 1933, du Pont provided financing for the American Liberty Lobby, Clark's Crusaders (who claimed 1,200,000 members) and the Liberty League.

The press, largely owned by the plotters and other pro-fascist elements, covered the whole thing up (including the NY Times). The Democrats didn't move in for the kill for a variety of reasons, one of which is that FDR had the same kind of "Blue Dog" problem we do today. Yeadon points out that "At least two prominent Democrats who had been presidential candidates had been involved: John Davis, who now was a lawyer for the Morgans, and Al Smith, now a crony of the du Ponts." They made it easier for the plotters and the Republicans, who were actively collaborating with Hitler, to walk away unscathed. Collaborating? You bet. "With its pro-business agenda, and the fascist views of the leaders of corporate America, the Republican Party soon became laden with fascists... [A]s early as 1934, the Republican Party was collaborating with Nazis and pro-fascist groups at a high level... Just as the backers of Hitler's were rich industrialists, so were the backers of fascism in the United States. Corporate America willingly entered into cartel agreements, which, in effect, granted them a monopoly. A second aspect of fascism that appealed to big business was its extreme anti-unionism. Professor Gaetano Salvemini of Harvard was quoted in the undergraduate daily, that a new fascism threatened America, the fascism of corporate business enterprise in this country. He also believed that 100% of American big business was in sympathy with fascism. At the very least support, for fascism was widespread among industrialists in this country, as the following quote from the New York Times from the Ambassador to Germany, William Dodd shows:

"A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy. I have had plenty of opportunity in my post in Berlin to witness how close some of our American ruling families are to the Nazi regime. On (the ship) a fellow passenger, who is a prominent executive of one of the largest corporations, told me point blank that he would be ready to take definite action to bring fascism into America if President Roosevelt continued his progressive policies.

Certain American industrialist had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy. They extended aid to help fascism occupy the seat of power, and they are helping to keep it there.

Propagandists for the fascist groups try to dismiss the fascist scare. We should be aware of the symptoms. When industrialists ignore laws designed for social and economic progress they will seek recourse to a fascist state when the institutions of our government compel them to comply with the provisions."

The collaboration between the Republican Party and the Nazis was an ongoing effort throughout the 1930s. However, it would not reach epidemic proportions until the 1940 election. With the European continent already embroiled in war, and President Roosevelt espousing pro-British views, the Nazis were desperate to keep the United States out of the war. In a bizarre plot full of intrigue involving Texas oilman William Rhodes Davis, labor leader John L. Lewis, and Mexico, Nazis provided extensive funding to the Republican Party for the 1940 election... [A] major proportion ranging from 15% to over 33% of the Republican campaign funds in 1940 came directly from the Nazis. Considering the fact the major industrialists were active supporters of the Nazis and large donors to the Republican Party, well over 50% of the Republican campaign funding in 1940 came either directly from Nazis in Berlin or those within the United States. ... With the Battle of the Bulge raging in Europe the Republican candidate, Dewey lashed out against Roosevelt, that his call for unconditional surrender was prolonging the war and costing American lives.

...Wall Street and corporate America built Hitler's war machine. Once war was ominous and the Roosevelt administration started to build up American defense corporate America went on strike. Many of the deals arranged between corporate America and the Nazis, border on the line of treason.

...During WWI, the auto industry came close to committing treason. Throughout 1917, the auto companies refused to cut production by 25% in the second half of the year, thereby denying the defense industry much needed production space and a substantial amount of iron and coal that would have been better used for defense production. In the 1941, General Motors announced it would produce no new models until 1943. General Motors promptly broke that pledge and produced new models in 1942.

On March 26, 1942, Senator Truman accused Standard Oil of treason. Standard had delivered the new tetraethyl lead gas additive to both Germany and Japan. Standard was the major supplier of oil to both the Nazis and Japan. In his appearance before the Senate committee, Farish, the president of Standard, was asked if Standard had delivered the oil to Japan that made the attack on Pearl Harbor possible. He answered that Standard Oil was an international company. Standard’s buffed its image with an advertising campaign that promoted the virtues of Standard products, and was helped along by the willingness of the major papers.

Unless you never watch any TV at all, you haven't missed the flood of ads from Big Energy buffing their public images with lies about how great they are. They run all day and all night. We'll save the specifics for another post of how Germany under Hitler bought dozens of Republican congressmen and senators. Just let me leave you with one more little vignette about crime and punishment. No one was ever punished for any of this, although General Electric, which cooperated with the Nazis in holding back U.S. airplane manufacturing and other war production, did face a trial. They were even found guilty in January of 1947.

Under indictment were GE Vice President Zay Jeffries, President W.G. Robbins of the Carboloy Co., and Walter M. Stearns, former GE trade manager and Gustav Krupp. Krupp was not present as he was  being held in Germany for war crimes. Ironically during the trial Jeffries accused union leaders as having "un-American objectives" and denounced high wages.

Throughout the trial General Electric's lawyers fought bitterly against the introduction of captured Nazi documents. In one such document Walter Stearns was quoted as telling the Germans that while GE intended to fix prices, "this must never be expressed in the contract itself or in any correspondence which might come into the files of GE." Other documents quoted Jefferies threatening the president of a competitor: "We’ll either buy you out or break you." The jury found that General Electric, its subsidiaries, and company officials were guilty on five counts of criminal conspiracy. Ironically, no further charges-- such as sedition or hindering the war effort were leveled against the conspirators. Despite pleads from the Department of Justice for heavy sentences; Judge John C. Knox handed down only minor fines. Stearns and Jeffries were fined $2,500 each and Robbins $1,000. GE and Carboloy were fined $20,000 each and International General Electric only $10,000.