Quote from an overheard conversation with Dick Cheney

A while back, a Washington Times reporter overheard Dick Cheney talking with a Pentagon official at a Republican fund rasing event. It’s been making the rounds on the Interent for quite some time now.

Naturally the common people don’t want war, but the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.

So, for those of you not familiar with this quote, I wonder how many of you would say to yourselves, “I’m not at all surprised Cheney would say something like that when the cameras aren’t rolling.”

Here’s what is surprising. Cheney didn’t say it. I made that up. It’s a paraphrase of a conversation that Hermann Goering, a high ranking Nazi official tried at Nuremberg, had with Gustave Gilbert, an intelligence officer who later published a book of his conversations with prisoners. Here’s the full quote:

We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

“Why, of course, the people don’t want war,” Goering shrugged. “Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.”

“There is one difference,” I pointed out. “In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.”

“Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”

It would be impossible to try to pass that quote off as something George Bush said. Seriously, it’s far too articulate.

Every time I hear Bush or Cheney bring up 9/11 when defending their reason for invading Iraq, I remember that quote. So I thought I’d share it with ya’ll.