Trinicenter.com - New Black Panthers: Bush Like a Modern Adolf Hitler

By Jeff Johnson, CNSNews.com
Congressional Bureau Chief, Oct. 23, 2002

The chairman of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense Tuesday compared President Bush to one of the most notorious dictators in world history, and blamed Bush both for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. and for encouraging the so-called "Beltway Sniper" currently terrorizing the Washington, D.C., area.

"Remember Adolf Hitler, and how he instigated and created foreign conflicts to divert the country's attention from Germany's domestic problems," Malik Zulu Shabazz, told more than a dozen supporters gathered for a press conference on "the climate and cycle of violence."

"George Bush, today, is like a modern Adolf Hitler. George Bush, today, just like Hitler, wants to rule the world," he continued. "George Bush today, just like Adolf Hitler then, is using a scheme and a plan to create foreign wars, foreign invasions, foreign enemies, foreign boogiemen, foreign conflicts so he can boost the patriotism of white America to go and jump on a foreign enemy."

A staff member for U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) was also on hand to deliver a statement in which McKinney thanked Shabazz and members of the New Black Panther Party "for their constant vigilance against human rights violations both here at home and abroad."

McKinney, who was seeking re-election this year but was ousted in the Democratic primary in Georgia's 4th Congressional District, enraged constituents earlier this year when she speculated that President Bush might have had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks before they happened.

Tuesday, Shabazz, an attorney who has offered to defend Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker in the 9/11 terrorist attacks - also accused Bush of having advance knowledge of the terrorists' plans.

"George Bush knew about September 11th and the CIA, knew about plots of persons to hijack airplanes. They knew about it, but he didn't do anything about it" he charged. "Why didn't Bush do anything about September 11th?"

CNSNews.com asked Shabazz to clarify whether he meant that Bush had general knowledge about the possibility of an attack, or specific knowledge of the locations and dates of the targets.

"I believe, at minimum, that they had knowledge that there were plans to hijack airliners and drive them into buildings, and that that time was in the general sphere of time of September 11th, if not that specific date," he said. "They knew that a doomsday was coming from al Qaeda."

Shabazz also said he believes President Bush had enough information to "take adequate measures" to prevent the attacks, but intentionally failed to do so.

"George Bush was willing to risk some kind of terrorist attack on America to get him out of the muck, out of the mire of the cloud of controversy surrounding his election results," he continued. "I believe he got more than he bargained for."

The Bush administration is also responsible, Shabazz claimed, for encouraging the so-called "Beltway Sniper."

"Before this assassin broke out here in the region I heard the national spokesman, Ari Fleischer, of George Bush, say 'The cheapest way to eliminate Saddam Hussein would be to assassinate him, that one bullet would save us a lot of money,'" Shabazz recalled.

"When you've got Bush talking about assassinating Saddam Hussein, when you've got members of Congress and the Senate [sic] just arrogant as hell, white folks talking about killing and assassinating others -- leaders of a sovereign nation," he explained, "what do you expect the sniper to do?'

"There is a connection between the big sniper, George W. Bush, and the little sniper," Shabazz concluded.

After quoting from the Declaration of Independence regarding "the right of the people to alter or abolish [their government]," Shabazz said the key to ending the cycle of violence does lie in "regime change," but not the change the Bush administration is pursuing.

"The safety and the happiness of us as a people and, indeed, anyone with a sane and rational mind cannot be attained under this present government and cannot be attained under President George Bush," he said to applause from the group.

"For your safety and happiness, for your pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the man that you will be reminded of that needs to be removed today is not in Baghdad 9,000 miles away," Shabazz concluded. "He resides right here at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- George W. Bush."