Commentary What Happened To Moral Leadership? I began writing my latest book, Useful Enemies: John Demjanjuk and America's Open-Door Policy For Nazi War Criminals, with a ques- tion. Why did it take more than 60 years to find and try Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian-American auto worker from Cleveland, for aiding and abetting in the murder of 29,060 Jews as an SS guard at Sobibor, a death camp in eastern Poland? It was a question that puzzled Americans and Europeans alike. It is a well-known "secret" today that former Nazi war criminals and their collaborators have been and still are hiding in America. Based on my own research, I estimate their number to be between 3,000 and 5,000. How did they get here? A partial answer lies buried in three pieces of congressional legislation: the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 and the 1949 CIA "100 rule." The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 was so blatantly anti-Semitic that President Harry Truman approved it with great reluctance. The temporary emergency law opened a wide door for Eastern European Nazi collaborators, while slamming it on Jewish Holocaust victims. How many of the 160,000- 200,000 Eastern Europeans who slipped into the U.S. under the 1948 Act were war criminals will never be known. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 opened the door even wider for Nazi war criminals and collaborators. The law welcomed them to America as long as they had never been convicted of a war crime. Only a fraction of the estimated 6 million Nazis and 1 million collaborators were ever convicted of such crimes. The CIA 100 rule went even further. The congres- sional bill authorized the departments of Justice and State to grant permanent U.S. resi- dency for up to 100 aliens and their families each year, "without regard to their inadmissibility," as long as they were useful for national security or intelligence purposes. Congress did not specify an expiration date for the loophole. A 2012 FOIA request to the CIA for a list of those admitted to the U.S. under the 100 rule during 1950-60 was denied for "national security" concerns. My review of immigration law prompted another question. What did the U.S. Justice Department and its regulatory agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), do to find and deport Nazis and their collaborators hiding in America? The answer was quite sim- ple: Nothing until 1979, 34 years after the end of World War II. Even worse, the U.S. government resisted every effort to expose such per- sons. The reason for the resis- tance became apparent as I dug deeper. To investigate, try, convict and deport a Nazi war criminal for visa fraud would open a Pandora's box of war criminals hiding in America, shake the compla- cency of Americans and expose gov- ernment secrets and lies. The U.S. military-intelligence estab- lishment did not want the public to know that it secretly, and at times illegally, hired former Nazis and Nazi collaborators as informants, spies, sci- entists, propagandists, saboteurs and assassins. The Cold War is long over. America is now engaged in a new battle: the War on Terror. As it was in the old Cold War, the new enemy is everywhere and nowhere. And as Americans were dur- ing the Cold War, we, too, are anxious. Fear creates a perfect climate to convince people that extraordinary measures are required for their safety, such as water boarding, enhanced interrogation techniques, secret black op prisons, the indefinite imprison- ment of terrorist suspects without due process, the indiscriminate use of drones leading to civilian casualties and electronic snooping. Only some of these measures are currently legal. Whether any of them are unethical seems to be beside the point. But history can be a fine teacher. What I discovered in writing Useful Enemies is that unless we are vigilant and hold our leaders accountable, we will allow our right to privacy and our moral authority as a nation to erode even further. The choice is ours. E Richard Rashke is a lecturer and author of nonfiction books including The Killing of Karen Silkwood. He lives in Washingon, D.C. Dry Bones ig&TrN EUROPE HAS NO PROBLEM WITH IMPORTING GOODS MADE IN CHINESE PRISONS AND BANGLADESHI SWEATSHOPS, OR BUYING OIL FROM REPRESSIVE ISLAMIST REGIMES. Two-State Solution? The two-state solution has been, unfortunately, a facade over the past 60 years, given that the Palestinians have been demanding the destruction of Israel. They teach it to their kids, wear it on armbands and basically aren't interested in peace. When they start teaching their kids to have peace, there is a possibility of a two-state solution. - Farmington Hills Ultimately, a two-state solution is the right solution. Now, the urgent matter is to destroy Iran's nuclear capability. - West Bloomfield POLITICALCARTOONS COM BUT SEWS BUILDING HOMES IN THEIR ANCIENT JEWISH HOMELAND DRYBONES COM REALLY OFFENDS EUROPE'S SENSE OF MORALITY !! There will never be peace; there will never be a two-state solution because the Arabs don't want it. They could have had it since 1947, but they've refused it no matter what they're offered. It's ridiculous; forget it. - West Bloomfield Whatever we Jews want is not what the Arabs want. You need two to tango. The Palestinians do not want to dance — they have a plan, and their plan does not include a two-state solution. The dreams of a two-state solution are absolutely irrelevant. Of course, every Jew and every Israeli wants peace, but peace cannot be achieved. - Bloomfield Township Got something on your mind? Call Soapbox at (248) 351-5146. JN August 15 • 2013 41