Rumsfeld's Iraq-Germany analogy disputed

CNN reported "Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis," Rumsfeld wrote in an opinion piece published Sunday -- the third anniversary of the beginning of the U.S.-led war in Iraq -- in the Washington Post. The anniversary came as officials from Iraq and the United States differed on whether there is all-out civil war there.

Henry Kissinger, who served with U.S. forces in Germany at the end of World War II and who served as secretary of state under Republican Presidents Nixon and Ford, said the situations are not analogous. "In Germany, the opposition was completely crushed; there was no significant resistance movement," the German-born diplomat told CNN's "Late Edition."

They may not have been able to fight us while we were there, but we could have turned the government over to the remaining Nazis, rather than having a DeNazification process, and if we had, it would have been a mistake, as Rummy said.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as national security adviser under President Carter, a Democrat, was less charitable.

Dems usually are less charitable.

"That is really absolutely crazy to anyone who knows history," he said. "There was no alternative to our presence. The Germans were totally crushed. For Secretary Rumsfeld to be talking this way suggests either he doesn't know history or he's simply demagoguing."

Someone is demagoguing, but I think it is you and Henry, who want your 15 minutes of fame again, and know that CNN would not run what you said if you agreed with Rummy.