Van der Lubbe was the patsy in the Reichstag fire. Seventyyears later you have
some "ex-CIA" types still utilizing him in this way. As well they might,
considering what's at stake.

According to historians I've read, Van der Lubbe was *an* arsonist at the
Reichstag, but not the lone arsonist and definitely not the arsonist responsible
for the conflagration. More on why he was on the scene that night, below.
But for argument's sake allow for a moment that he was the *lone* arsonist. Even
if he *were,* it is misleading to make that assertion in such a way as to
suggest little or no Nazi involvement in the events of February 27, 1933.
Everything else indicates the Nazis were the only beneficiaries of the fire, as
iconic in its day as 9/11 in ours.

First take the possibility he was the lone arsonist. He was below par mentally
and therefore a person easily duped. It is interesting -- especially in light of
the large body of circumstantial evidence pointing to Nazi complicity -- that
those who claim or suggest that Van der Lubbe was the lone arsonist seldom if
ever show any interest into whether he might have been manipulated.
In any event, the "lone arsonist" theory does not conform to the facts.

Consider this from William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich
(Touchstone Edition, 1990, p. 192-):
" The coincidence that the Nazis had found a demented Communist arsonist who was
out to do exactly what they themselves had determined to do seems incredible but
is nevertheless supported by the evidence. The idea for the fire almost
certainly originated at the top with Goebbels and Goering. Hans Gisevius, an
official in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior at the time, testified at
Nuremberg that 'it was Goebbels who first thought of setting the Reichstag on
fre,' and Rudolph Diels, the Gestapo chief, added in an affidavit that 'Goering
knew exactly how the fire was to be started' and had ordered him 'to prepare,
prior to the fire, a list of people who were to be arrested immediately after
it.' General Franz Halder, Chief of the German General Staff during the early
part of World War II, recalled at Nurembrg how on one occasion Goering had
boasted of his deed. 'At a luncheon on the birthday of the Fuehrer in 1942 the
conversation turned to the topic of the Reichstag building and its artistic
value. I heard with my own ears when Goering interrupted the conversation and
shouted: "The only one who really knows about the Reichstag is I, because I set
it on fire!" With that he slapped his thigh with the flat of his hand.' "
Shirer writes (p. 193): "Van der Lubbe, it seems clear, was a dupe of the Nazis.
He was encouraged to try to set the Reichstag on fire. But the main job was to
be done -- without his knowledge of course -- by the storm troopers. Indeed it
was established at the subsequent trial at Leipzig that the Dutch half-wit did
not possess the means to set so vast a building on fire so quickly. Two and a
half minutes after he entered, the great central hall was fiercely burning. He
had only his shirt for tinder. The main fires, according to the testimony of
experts at the trial, had been set with considerable quantities of chemicals and
gasoline."

Consider that Vice-chancellor von Papen recalled that when he arrived at the
blazing parliament buildings Goering was already on the scene shouting: "This is
a communist crime..."
Shirer writes: "...beyond reasonable doubt it was the Nazis who planned the
arson and carried it out for their own political ends." Indeed, the more you
study the Reichstag fire, its origins and uses, the more you see what a stunning
parallel to it 9/11 is -- on the face of it, as well as in some of the
intricacies.

BarrieZ in Toronto