Editor's note: there is an update to this story

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld recently barked that critics of Bush's war on Iraq are trying to appease "a new type of fascism". This takes a lot of gall, considering that a clear majority of Americans oppose the Iraq war and a majority disapprove of the Bush administration's illegal, warrantless domestic spying.

At risk of running afoul of Godwin's law, I can't help but notice that Rumsfeld is employing a standard propaganda technique favored by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister: always accuse your opponents of doing that which you are doing yourself. Ask yourself who expresses the more fascist attitudes- those who control every branch of the federal government with lockstep ideology and launch unprovoked attacks against countries which had not attacked us and who illegally monitor domestic telephone calls without warrants in violation of the Constitution, or those who demand that their liberty not be tread upon, that we don't start wars of choice, and that the government abide by our laws?

Ironically, Rumsfeld referenced attempts to "appease" Hitler in this same speech to the American Legion national convention.

It's clear who's appeasing fascism. It's the man who accuses his critics-- a majority of Americans-- of wishing to appease fascism. It's the man who questions the patriotism of anyone who disagrees with the administration party line. It's the man who makes excuses for an unjustified war and an illegal circumvention of Constitutional protections of individual liberty. Those who started the war and ignored the Constitution are the fascists, not those who criticize them, as is their right.

---Nick

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