Quotes by Adam Michnik

“I consider that 9/11 was the day when war was started against my own work and against myself. Even though we are not sure of the links, Iraq was one of the countries that did not lower its flags in mourning on 9/11.”

“France can never accept that it is no longer a dominating power in the world of culture. This is true both of the French right and the French left. They keep thinking that Americans are primitive cowboys or farmers who do not understand anything.”

“Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Arabs can be elected to the parliament in a democratic election.”

“I cant remember any text of mine where I said that one should fight Hitler without violence; Im not an idiot.”

“Americans could never understand the difference between the right and the left in Germany, but they knew that Hitler should be defeated!”

“In my opinion, the religious visions of Bushs circle are anachronistic. I cant believe that John Ashcroft has personal conversations with God every day, who tells him what to do. But if God told him that he should destroy Saddam, then this was the right advice, because a world without Saddam Hussein is better than a world with Saddam Hussein.”

“I think its always dangerous to make political arguments in a religiously ideological way. And its very dangerous to treat as traitors to the American nation those who think differently.”

“If I were American I would never have voted for Reagan, but as a Pole, I liked the tough position of Reagan toward Brezhnev. Perhaps Reagan did not quite understand what he was doing, and maybe Bush doesnt understand either.”

“If youre powerful, you are much more likely to be blind and deaf to signals from outside.”

“Life has taught me that if someone is being whipped and someone is whipping this person, I am always on the side of those who are being whipped. Ive always criticized U.S. foreign policy for forgetting that the United States should defend those who need to be defended. I would object to U.S. policy if it supported Saddam Hussein, and I have always criticized the United States for supporting military regimes in Latin America.”

I think you can be an enemy of Saddam Hussein even if Donald Rumsfeld is also an enemy of Saddam Hussein.

The real struggle for us is for the citizen to cease to be the property of the state.