"Saint Louis" Redux

If you have not read enough already about the St. Louis, the famous "ship of the damned" by FDR, the thread has increased exponentially since you last visited it, as have the insults and acrimonious air of the discussion. Cuba's detractors cannot and will never get the better of me in an argument, but that doesn't stop them from trying.

Here a sample from a recent exchange at Klotz As In Blood:

Sean Says:
October 29th, 2007 at 9:13 am

The whole thrust of the Nurenberg trials was that “just following orders” is an insufficient justification for commiting immoral acts. If the excuse offered above that President Bru is innocent of evil because all he was doing was following orders — presumably from the United States — then I fear he comes out the worse, not exonerated.

When it comes to handling the woes of European Jews, my people (the Irish) behaved no better than anybody else in this episode. At one time or another we are all guilty of something, lads, and in this sordid affair we share the shame. Manuel A Tellechea seems unable to own up to it, which sadly reflects on his grasp of the lesson.

Manuel A. Tellechea Says:
October 29th, 2007 at 9:44 am

Sean:

The Archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland ordered all church bells to be rung in Ireland when the news of Hitler’s death was announced over German Radio. Hitler, after all, was a Catholic leader and enemy of perfidious Albion. The Archbishop later regretted it — not because Hitler was Hitler but because Hitler was a suicide.

P.S.: Sean, if Cuban President Laredo Bru was guilty of following Roosevelt’s orders, then whose orders was Roosevelt following? Hitler’s?

The Voyage of the "St. Louis" (1939): FDR's "Hour of Infamy" (Among Many)