1945 News Article About Harry Truman and Germany that Feels like George Bush and Iraq-Fiction!

Administration In Crisis Over Burgeoning Quagmire August 12, 1945

WASHINGTON,DC (Reuters) President Truman, just a few months into his

young presidency, is coming under increasing fire from some

Congressional Republicans for what appears to be a deteriorating

security situation in occupied Germany, with some calling for his

removal from office.

Over three months after a formal declaration of an end to

hostilities, the occupation is bogged down. Fanatical elements of the

former Nazi regime who, in their zeal to liberate their nation from

the foreign occupiers, call themselves members of the Werwolf

(werewolves) continue to commit almost-daily acts of sabotage

against Germany's already-ravaged infrastructure, and attack American

troops. They have been laying road mines, poisoning food and water

supplies, and setting various traps, often lethal, for the occupying

forces.

It's not difficult to find antagonism and anti-Americanism among the

population--many complain of the deprivation and lack of security.

There are thousands of homeless refugees, and humanitarian efforts

seem confused and inadequate.

In the wake of the budding disaster, some have called for more

international participation in peacekeeping.

A Red Cross official said that, "...the German people will be more

comfortable if their conquerors weren't now their overlords. It makes

it difficult to argue that this wasn't an imperialistic war when the

occupying troops in the western sector are exclusively American,

British and French."

The administration, of course, claims that, given the chaos of the

recent war, such a situation is to be expected, and that things will

improve with time. As to the suggestion to internationalize the

occupying forces, the administration had no official comment, but an

unofficial one was a repetition of the quote from General McAuliffe,

when asked to surrender in last winter'sBattleof the Bulge--"Nuts."

In an attempt to minimize the situation, a White House spokesman

pointed out that the casualties were extremely light, and militarily

inconsequential, particularly when compared to the loss rates prior to

VE Day. Also, the attacks seem to be dying down with each passing

month. But this statement was leaped upon by some as heartless,

trivializing the deaths and injuries of young American men.

Many critics back inWashingtonseem now to be prescient, with their

previous warnings of just such an outcome a little over a year ago.

One congressman said that "...it's time to ask whether the German

people are better off now than they were a few months ago. Yes, a

brutal dictator has been deposed, but at least the electricity and

water supply were mostly working, and the trains running on time.

After years of killing them and destroying their infrastructure with

American bombs, it seems to me that the German people have suffered

enough without the chaos that our occupation, with its inadequate

policing, is bringing."

It's not clear how much support the Werwolf has among the populace,

who may be afraid to speak their true minds, given the fearfully

overwhelming "Allied" presence in the country. But it is possible

that, like the guerilla forces themselves, the people have been

inspired by Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels' pre-victory

broadcasts, and those of Radio Werwolf.

"God has given up the protection of the people . . . Satan has taken

command." Goebbels broadcast last spring. "We Werewolves consider it

our supreme duty to kill, to kill and to kill, employing every cunning

and wile in the darkness of the night, crawling, groping through towns

and villages, like wolves, noiselessly, mysteriously."

While no new broadcasts of Goebbels' voice have been heard since

early May, no one can be certain as to whether he is alive or dead,

and continuing to help orchestrate the attacks and boost morale among

the forces for German liberation. As long as his fate, and more

importantly, that of the former leader Adolf Hitler himself, remains

unresolved, the prospects for pacifying the brutally conquered country

may be dim.

Although Grand-Admiral Donitz made a radio announcement of Hitler's

brave death in battle to the beleaguered German people on the evening

of May 1, some doubt the veracity of that statement, and there has

been no evidence to support it, or any body identified as the former

Fuehrer's. Rumors of his whereabouts continue to abound, including

reported sightings as far away asSouth America, and many still believe

that he is hiding with the "Edelweiss" organization, with thousands of

Wehrmacht troops, in a mountain stronghold near the Swiss border.

Many have criticized flawed intelligence for our failure to find him,

causing some, in the runup to next year's congressional elections, to

call for an investigation.

A staffer of one prominent Senator said, "For months, starting last

fall, we were told by this administration that Hitler would make a

last stand in a 'National Redoubt' inBavaria. General Bradley diverted

troops to the south and let the Russians takeBerlinon the basis of

this knowledge. But now we find out that there was no such place, and

that Hitler was inBerlinall along. And now we're told that we can't

even be sure of where he is, or whether he's alive or dead."

For many, marching in the streets with signs of "No Blood For Soviet

Socialism," and "It's All About The Coal," this merely confirmed that

the administration had other agendas than its stated one, and that the

war was unjustified and unjustifiable.

General Bradley's staff has protested that this is an unfair

criticism--that the strategic decision made by General Eisenhower was

driven by many factors, of which Hitler's whereabouts was a minor one,

but this hasn't silenced the critics, some of whom have bravely called

for President Truman's impeachment, despite the fact that most of

these decisions were made even before he became president in April.

But some have taken the criticism further, and say that failure to

get Hitler means a failed war itself.

"Sure, it's nice to have released all those people from the

concentration camps, but we were told we were going to war against

Hitler, even though he'd done nothing to us," argued one concerned

anti-war Senator. "Now they say that we have 'Victory inEurope,' but

it seems to me that if they can't produce the man we supposedly went

to war against, it's a pretty hollow victory. Without this man that

they told us was such a great threat to America, how can even they