EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE
(Commentary by Mathias Döpfner)
Matthias Döpfner, Chief Executive of German publisher Axel Springer AG, has
written a blistering attack in the daily WELT against the cowardice of
Europe in the face of the Islamic threat. Hartmut Lau translated the
article.

A few days ago Henryk M. 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 agreements. Appeasement
stabilized communism in the Soviet Union and East Germany in that part of
Europe where inhuman, suppressive governments were glorified as the
ideologically correct alternative to all other possibilities.

Appeasement crippled Europe when genocide ran rampant in Kosovo and we
Europeans debated and debated until the Americans came in and did 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 300,000
victims of Saddam's torture and murder machinery and, motivated by the
self-righteousness of the peace-movement, to issue bad grades to George
Bush. A particularly grotesque form of appeasement is reacting to the
escalating violence by Islamic fundamentalists in Holland and elsewhere by
suggesting that we should really have a Muslim holiday in Germany.

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 and directed against our free, open Western societies.

It is a conflict that will most likely last longer than the great military
conflicts of the last century-a conflict conducted by an enemy that cannot
be tamed by tolerance and accommodation but only spurred on by such
gestures, which will be mistaken for signs of weakness.

Two recent American presidents had the courage needed for anti-appeasement:
Reagan and Bush. Reagan ended the Cold War and Bush, supported only by the
social democrat Blair acting on moral conviction, recognized the danger in
the Islamic fight 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 the
intolerant, as world champions in 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.
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 everything is at stake. While the alleged capitalistic
robber barons in American know their priorities, we timidly defend our
social welfare systems. Stay out of it! It could get expensive. We'd rather
discuss the 35-hour workweek or our dental health plan coverage. Or listen
to TV pastors preach about "reaching out to murderers." These days, Europe
reminds me of an elderly aunt who hides her last pieces of jewelry with
shaking hands when she notices a robber has broken into a neighbor's house.
Europe, thy name is cowardice.

These days, Europe
reminds me of an elderly aunt who hides her last pieces of jewelry with
shaking hands when she notices a robber has broken into a neighbor's house.
Europe, thy name is cowardice.

There is a sort of crusade underway, an especially
perfidious crusade consisting of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims,
focused on civilians and directed against our free, open Western societies.

This has been going on long before 9/11. Also, notice I didn't mention Iraq as a muslim uprising, I actually don't agree with our rationale for going into Iraq, but I am for fighting against Muslim extremism because I see it as a threat to my existence.