Athiests Applaud Ellison's Views On Cheney, Libby, 9/11

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Atheists applaud Ellison's views on Cheney, Libby, 9/11
"You'll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists," he told the group.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1291147.html

By Mike Kaszuba, Star Tribune
Last update: July 08, 2007 – 8:40 PM

Freshman Congressman Keith Ellison was among friends Sunday -- in this case, a gathering of atheists -- so his support for a fistful of hot-button opinions, including the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney, brought enthusiastic nods of approval and standing ovations.

As he was introduced to the eclectic gathering, which included one man wearing a black T-shirt that read "Investigate 9/11," Ellison was told that after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Muslims had joined atheists at the bottom of popular opinion polls.

"You'll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists all you want," Ellison, the first Muslim to serve in Congress, said in a speech to more than 100 atheists at the Southdale Library in Edina. As Minnesota's first black member of the U.S. House ends his first six months in office, Ellison did not disappoint a crowd that seemed energized the more pointed he made his opinions.

On impeaching Cheney, which the Minneapolis DFLer supports: "[It is] beneath his dignity in order for him to answer any questions from the citizens of the United States. That is the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship."

On calling the war in Iraq an "occupation": "It's not controversial to call it an occupation -- it is an occupation."

On commuting the prison sentence of Cheney aide Lewis Libby: "If Libby gets pardoned, then he should not have the cover of the Fifth Amendment. He's going to have to come clean and tell the truth. Now, he could get Gonzales-itis [referring to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales], you know, with 71 lapses of memory within a two-hour period."

On comparing Sept. 11 to the burning of the Reichstag building in Nazi Germany: "It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that. After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it and it put the leader of that country [Hitler] in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted. The fact is that I'm not saying [Sept. 11] was a [U.S.] plan, or anything like that because, you know, that's how they put you in the nut-ball box -- dismiss you."

On President Bush's "faith-based" initiative: "This is basically the Department of Religious Outreach ... it's essentially a public-relations outreach arm for the Bush administration to reach out to the far right of the evangelical Christian movement. That's really all it is."

Ellison's noontime speech before Atheists for Human Rights, a Minneapolis-based group, drew the largest gathering in recent memory for the organization, said Marie Castle, the group's spokeswoman. "We're trying to upgrade the image of atheists," Castle said of the 350-member group. "They don't think we have a moral compass."

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Bush like Hitler, says first Muslim in Congress

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...4/wbush114.xml

By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 1:14am BST 15/07/2007

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.

He is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. But he angered his own anti-war supporters by voting for a budget bill that aims to end the war over the next 18 months. His followers want an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

After his speech was reported, Mr Ellison said he accepted that Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11. But his demagogic comments threaten to plunge him in controversy.

Mark Drake, of the Republican party in Minnesota, said: "To compare the democratically elected leader of the United States of America to Hitler is an absolute moral outrage which trivialises the horrors of Nazi Germany."

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Ellison says he was wrong to compare Bush 9/11 response to Nazis

http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=6803715

Associated Press - July 17, 2007 9:24 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's first Muslim congressman says he erred in comparing the Bush administration's response to September Eleventh to an event that led to Adolf Hitler's consolidation of power in Nazi Germany.

Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison says he wishes he hadn't compared 9-11 to the 1933 burning of the German parliament building, an incident Hitler used to suspend constitutional liberties.

Ellison had made the comparison before a group of atheists in Minnesota on July Eighth. He now says it was inappropriate.

But remains harshly critical of the Bush administration. He says the Bush administration exploited the fears that grew from 9-11 to pass legislation and start wars it couldn't have gotten away with except for September Eleventh.

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Reps. Cantor, Wamp blast Ellison for 9/11 comments

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/...007-07-18.html

By Jackie Kucinich
July 18, 2007

Reps. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) yesterday lambasted a freshman Democrat in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for his remarks likening the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to the 1933 burning of the Reichstag in Berlin.

Cantor and Wamp asked Pelosi to reprimand Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who made remarks Monday that insinuated the Bush administration had used Sept. 11 to begin the war in Iraq while addressing a group of atheists, according to The Minneapolis Star Tribune.

“It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that,” Ellison reportedly said. “After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the communists for it and it put the leader of that country [Adolf Hitler] in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”

Ellison added, “The fact is that I’m not saying [Sept. 11] was a [U.S.] plan, or anything like that because, you know, that’s how they put you in the nut-ball box — dismiss you.”

It is widely believed that the Reichstag fire was used by Hitler and the Nazis to seize special powers, with which they in turn oppressed Germany’s political left.

“Even if Ellison asserts that he was not implying that 9/11 was orchestrated by the administration, the comparison he draws between Hitler and the president of United States is disgraceful,” the letter read. “These comments inflame hatred at a time when we should be promoting our unity and reconciliation.”

Ellison’s office did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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Ellison remarks condemned

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/103092.html

Published: 07/18/2007

Comments by a Democratic congressman comparing post-Sept. 11 Bush administration policies to Nazi manipulations in the early 1930s drew condemnation.

"It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that," Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said July 8, addressing a group of Minnesota atheists. "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."

Adolf Hitler, then the German chancellor who was unable to obtain a Nazi majority through democratic means, used the Feb. 23, 1933 burning of the Reichstag as a pretext to impose police powers. It is still unclear who was responsible for the fire.

Defending his comments to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Ellison said, "In the aftermath of a tragedy, space is opened up for governments to take action that they could not have achieved before that." He cited the Iraq war and parts of the Patriot Act, which granted the government greater arrest and surveillance powers after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The Anti-Defamation League called Ellison's comments "outrageous and offensive." "Whatever his views may be on the administration’s response to 9/11 and the conduct of the war on terrorism, likening it to Hitler’s rise to power and Nazism is odious and demeans the victims of 9/11 and the brave American men and women engaged in the war on terror. Furthermore, it demonstrates a profound lack of understanding about the horrors that Hitler and his Nazi regime perpetrated," an ADL statement said.

Reps. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) called on Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to reprimand Ellison. "These comments inflame hatred and division at a time when we should be promoting our unity and reconciliation," the letter said.

Ellison, the first Muslim ever to serve in Congress, earned the endorsement of top Jewish figures in Minnesota after he repudiated a brief mid-1990s association with the Nation of Islam, a militant black anti-Semitic group.