http://www.nypost.com/seven/07172007/news/worldnews/fuhrer_furor_in_dems_w__ blitz_worldnews_geoff_earle_post_correspondent.htm
<http://www.nypost.com/> FUHRER FUROR IN DEM'S W. BLITZ By GEOFF EARLE Post Correspondent July 17, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - Rep. Keith Ellison, the nation's first Muslim congressman, provoked outrage yesterday by comparing President Bush to Hitler and hinting the administration orchestrated the 9/11 attacks for political gain. The controversy started when Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat who is serving his first term, parroted a comparison made by 9/11 conspiracy groups when he likened Sept. 11 to the burning of the German Reichstag during Hitler's rise to power. "It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that," he told an atheist human-rights group late last week at a meeting of atheists at a Minnesota library, referring to the German parliament. "After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the communists for it, and it put the leader of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted," Ellison said. He told the gathering that he wouldn't accuse the administration of causing Sept. 11 - but sounded like it was for practical reasons only. "You know, that's how they put you in the nut-ball box - dismiss you," he said to applause, according to a local newspaper report. The German Reichstag burned in 1933, after Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany. The Nazis have long been blamed for starting the fire in order to manufacture a cause for Hitler to seize dictatorial powers. Hitler blamed the communists for the fire, then seized new authority and methodically eliminated his political opponents. One of the main claims of the 9/11 conspiracy theorists is that the Bush administration secretly carried out the Sept. 11 attacks to then justify measures like the Patriotic Act. Rep. Vito Fosella (R-S.I.) fumed: "To at least think for a second that [Sept. 11] was hatched in the basement of the White House instead of some cave in Afghanistan makes me think we have a long way ahead in the war against terrorism." Ellison also accused Vice President Cheney of being "the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship." Ellison told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he invoked the Reichstag fire to show that "in the aftermath of a tragedy, space is opened up for governments to take action that they could not have achieved before that." He brought up U.S. government actions to increase surveillance and the commutation of Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence - but failed to bring up any actions or policies in league with Hitler's reign of terror. <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] . <http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=11648958/grpspId=1705447214/msgI d=37666/stime=1184674723/nc1=3848607/nc2=4725796/nc3=4699084> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
