In remarks curiously unreported in the U.S. media, America’s first Muslim congressman recently compared the 911 attacks to the 1933 destruction by fire of the Reichstag, the German parliament, likely burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler’s later seizure of emergency powers. A British news paper reported the remarks about 911 as follows:
‘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’. …After his speech was reported, Mr Ellison said he accepted that Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11.
Shortly following the newspaper article, Islam Online ran an article entitled “Lawmaker Hints at Bush’s Role in 9/11” that characterized the newspaper’s report as a charge that President Bush might have played a role in plotting the attacks:
A US Congressman has charged that President George W. Bush might have played a role in the 9/11 attacks to get extraordinary powers like the ones granted to Nazi Adolf Hitler in the wake of the massive burning of the German parliament in 1933, reported the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, July 14.
Islam Online is owned and operated by Youssef Qaradawi, the Qatari sheikh who is the most important leader of the Muslim Brotherhood global network and this article reopens the charge made by some members of this network after 911 that Osama Bin Laden was not necessarily responsible and that other parties may have plotted the attacks. The British paper’s note that Mr. Ellison clarified his remarks was not reported by Islam Online.