Echoes of WWII

A scan of today's news brings up a few interesting parallels between events today and and those of sixty-odd years ago.

First, the play "In Times of War" by David Alan Moore is playing in Chicago. Most Americans now are going to come out of this portrayal of the military tribunal trial of would-be Nazi saboteurs with thoughts of Guantánamo Bay and recent Congressional legislation on the handling of terrorism 'detainees'. However, the story itself, of a reluctant Nazi commando and his pricipled Jewish defense attorney, stands fine on its own. Most Americans have never heard of this story or even suspected that German agents had been landed on American soil.

Elsewhere, Adam Gadahn has the dubious honor of being the first U.S. citizen to be formally charged with treason since the immediate post-WWII era. With the recent passing of Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who was convicted of treason (and later pardoned) for her role as Tokyo Rose, the issue of the use of treason law to punish propagandists is once again before us all.

WWII parallels don't magically make today's news clearer, but we should know that many have been down these paths before. It is worthwhile to examine the maps that they drew for us.