Rep. Ellison: Bush is Like Hitler, 9/11 Like the Reichstag Fire

Posted by Adam Howard at 11:00 AM on July 16, 2007.

America's first and only Muslim congressman, Keith Ellison (D-MN), had some very harsh words for President Bush and repeated some controversial theories on 9/11 this weekend, both of which people are sure to be talking about a lot this week. The London Telegraph reports:

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".
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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."

Tagged as: bush, 9/11, atheists, ellison

Adam Howard is the editor of PEEK.