Rumsfeld invokes the Nazis and thereby Ends the Iraq Debate -- according to Godwin's Law

Barak points out to me in an email that in an editorial today in the Washington Post -- What We've Gained In 3 Years in Iraq -- Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld concludes, "Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis."

Barak thinks this is a clear instance of Godwin's Law, to wit, according to the Wikepedia entry, Godwin's Law:

Godwin's Law (also Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an adage in Internet culture originated by Mike Godwin on Usenet in 1990 that states:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.

There is a tradition in many Usenet newsgroups that once such a comparison is made, the thread in which the comment was posted is over and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever debate was in progress.

So by dint of his invoking GRNA, Rumsfeld has acted -- like it or not -- to conclude the debate over Iraq.