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Reps. Cantor, Wamp blast Ellison for 9/11 comments |
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By Jackie Kucinich
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Posted: 07/18/07 07:39 PM [ET] |
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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