Karl Heinz Roth analyses the voices of German left-wing intellectuals supporting the US-led Gulf War between 1990 and 1991 taking Marc Bloch’s approach on the history of mentalities as starting point. While opponents of the war were variously described as “appeasers”, supporters of a new Hitler or involuntary subscribers to values propagated by “national socialists” by these intellectuals he criticizes them for completely failing to see the realist background of world politics with the US waging a war against a country in a destabilized region in order to maintain its economic and military grip on resources and geostrategical influence. He criticizes the arguments of these intellectuals who equate Saddam with Hitler, allege that pacifism had led to Hitler’s (and Saddam’s) ascension to power and liken the appeasement politics of European states in 1938 to the position of the peace movement in the 1990s. Against this Roth ascertains the necessity of the peace movement, of an immediate ceasefire and of a complete withdrawal of weapons of mass destruction amongst others.