And 9/11 was a pretext for dictatorship, like the Reichstag Fire.
Meanwhile, this is an American Congressman who has accepted money from an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorist funding case — an organization whose spokesman has said he’d like to see the U.S. become an Islamic state sometime in the future, and whose co-founder has said that he’d like to see the Qur’an become the only law of the land here. Yet even as Ellison makes dark insinuations about George W. Bush wanting to destroy the American system of government, no one asks where he himself stands on the question of whether he would like to see the U.S. Constitution he has sworn to defend give way to Sharia.
By Toby Harnden in the Telegraph (thanks to Jen):
America’s first Muslim congressman has provoked outrage by apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinting that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks.
Addressing a gathering of atheists in his home state of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, a Democrat, compared the 9/11 atrocities to the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1933. This was probably burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler’s later seizure of emergency powers.
“It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that,” Mr Ellison said. “After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”
To applause from his audience of 300 members of Atheists for Human Rights, Mr Ellison said he would not accuse the Bush administration of planning 9/11 because “you know, that’s how they put you in the nut-ball box – dismiss you”.
Vice-President Dick Cheney’s stance of refusing to answer some questions from Congress was “the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship”, he added.
Mr Ellison also raised eyebrows by telling his audience: “You’ll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists all you want.”
A convert to Islam who was previously linked to the extremist Nation of Islam, Mr Ellison, 42, has cultivated a moderate image since being elected last November, concentrating on issues such as health and education.