At the state funeral of one of his cabinet ministers, Mr Mugabe said: “I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources.
“If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for.”
Hours later members of the Zimbabwe National Army, including Mr Mugabe’s elite force, the Presidential Guard, began a pre-dawn rampage in revenge for the opposition general strike last week.
The attacks left more than 250 people injured, scores of them seriously… [Daily Telegraph, 3/26/03]
Is Mugabe just saying “Let them call me Hitler–I must do what’s right, regardless of what they think”? No; he’s saying: “Like Hitler, I have no moral compunctions in my choice of tactics.”