Pentagon attacker was 9-11 conspiranoid

Bill Weinberg

The man who shot two police officers at the Pentagon March 4 was apparently a devoted follower of the 9-11 “Truth” movement. Police say John Patrick Bedell, 36, acted alone, but his apparent online postings indicate that he was a dedicated conspiracy theorist. His now-deleted Wikipedia user page said he wished to establish “the truth of events such as the 9-11 demolitions and institutions such as the coup regime of 1963 that maintains itself in power through the global drug trade, financial corruption, and murder, among other crimes.”

Another Internet posting by “JPatrickBedell” said that he was “determined to see that justice is served” in the death of Marine Col. James Sabow, who was found dead at the former El Toro Air Station in California in 1991. The death was ruled a suicide, but the posting said the case was “a step toward establishing the truth of events such as the September 11 demolitions.” Internet conspiracy sites have long claimed Sabow was killed to cover up some treasonous plot.

At 6:40 PM on March 4, Bedell walked calmly up to two police officers guarding the Pentagon and opened fire, injuring both of them. They returned fire and Bedell was fatally shot in the head. The officers, from the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA), have been discharged from the hospital. (London Times, CSM, SF Chronicle, March 5)

How long before the conspiranoia crowd starts claiming that Bedell was a “false flag” operative set up by the government to discredit the Truthies? Oh, they already are. One post on Prison Planet Forum cites an AP story to the effect that “Bedell also proposed in 2004 that the Pentagon fund his own research on smart weapons. The 28-page proposal outlined his idea for DNA nanotechnology research that might ‘provide significant new capabilities for the Department of Defense and the individual warfighter.'” The poster adds: “That document is the first tangible link to surface connecting Bedell and the Pentagon.”

So now any lone crackpot who “proposes” that the government fund his “research” is “linked” to the government? Sure—anything goes in the wacky world of cosnpiranoia. (The poster doesn’t mention that the AP headline was “Pentagon shooter had a history of mental illness”!) However, Bedell’s paradoxical flirtation with the Pentagon and embrace of anti-government conspiranoia do indicate that, like the recent Austin IRS attacker, he was likely motivated by radical right leanings.

See our last posts on the conspiranoids and the real 9-11 case.

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  1. Anomalies emerge… of course
    The conspiranoids at Citizens for Legitimate Government note reports on DC’s NBC TV Feb. 2 and WTOP Radio Feb. 24 that Washington’s Metro police conducted drills under a program called Blue TIDE (Terrorism Identification and Deterrence Effort) that simulated shootings at subway stations and other attacks on mass transit. This recalls claims of terrorism drills that more or less coincided with the 2005 London attacks and even 9-11. But the DC drills appear to have been well over by the time of the Pentagon attack, and none of the accounts mention the Pentagon as a target in the drills. Moreover, the wise will ask how often such drills are held without being immediately followed by a real attack—and therefore drawing no notice from the conspiracy crowd.

  2. Conspiranoids include professionals from several fields
    Mr. Weinberg,

    The verbiage you use to describe 9/11 Truth members is offensive and grossly misguided. You should be aware of the blatant contradiction to your description as compared to the actual people who align themselves with the 9/11 Truth movement.

    Would you consider all of the people belonging to the following groups ‘conspiranoids’?
    http://patriotsquestion911.com/
    http://stj911.org/members/index.html
    http://pilotsfor911truth.org/core.html
    http://www.ae911truth.org/signpetition.php
    A list of many more.

    It would seem that ‘the wacky world of cosnpiranoia’ has a fairly large population. A great many of the members of the 9/11 Truth movement are professionals from several various fields including scholars, professors, and active and retired military.

    What would you admit to if you were water boarded more than 100 times? This is from your website: http://ww4report.com/node/7221 –
    “President Barack Obama, making his first trip to CIA headquarters April 20, acknowledged that agency officials had expressed what he called “understandable anxiety and concern” about his decision to release confidential memos detailing brutal interrogation techniques used by agency operatives. Obama said it was time to admit “mistakes” and “move forward.” Among other things, the memos revealed that two captured al-Qaeda operatives—Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—were subjected to water boarding a total of 266 times.”

    From: timesonline.co.uk
    “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of 9/11, was water boarded 183 times in one month, and “confessed” to murdering the journalist Daniel Pearl, which he did not. There could hardly be more compelling evidence that such techniques are neither swift, nor efficient, nor reliable. ”

    So the ‘confessed mastermind’ of 9/11 had to be coerced into admitting it. I find that strange since it is reported that he also believes that if he is martyred, he has a one way ticket to paradise. That would lead one to believe that if he were the mastermind, he’d be bragging about it, not trying to hide it.

    I would like to challenge you, Mr. Wienberg, to actually research the topic of 9/11 truth…read the articles, watch the movies, listen to the lectures…then, write a new article based on what you discover. This ad hominem, sophmoric attack peice is disgraceful at best, dishonest at worst.

    1. what about the UFOs?
      9/11 truthers are like arguing with young earthers and global warming denialists. You’ve already decided that your comic book fantasy world is true and you refer to a circular list (stinking pile) of references. You willfully disregard actual established scientific physical laws or reference some phony who claims to have the credentials to disregard science. It’s not there, kids. Grow up.

      Why don’t you all concentrate on the “let it happen on purpose” strand of trutherism. While I haven’t seen a smoking gun, it at least manages to maintain some connection to the real world.

      Or at least work in some UFOs because that would be cool.

      (to the site moderator: file this under “disgust speech” which is probably a subset of “hate speech” and may not pass the filter)

  3. Conspiranoids can’t read, write or think
    Let’s see. You mis-spell my name. You use quotation marks incorrectly. You don’t know what “ad hominem” means. You accuse me of dishonesty when your entire enterprise is an exercise in intellectual dishonesty. You ignore Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s unseemly boasting that he was “responsible for the 9-11 operation from A to Z.” You act as if the only possible alternative to the conspiranoid wackiness is the case the government has assembled. You assume that I haven’t “researched” the Truth movement’s claims, when in fact I have spent all too much time chasing down that intellectual dead end, and have debunked the conspiracy theories at length.

    All too typical. I don’t care how many of you there are, or how may professional fields you work in. You Truthies are overwhelmingly incapable of reading, writing or thinking, and I have yet to meet even one of you who can argue honestly.

    Next.

    1. Conspiranoids are running out of patience
      Mr. Weinberg,

      I apologize for mispelling your name, but in my defense I did spell it correctly the first time around. I’m sure you’ve never had any slip of the hand while typing away…”when in face”..?

      Ad hominem = appealing to one’s prejudices, emotions, or special interests rather than to one’s intellect or reason.

      Your ad hominem attack is your use of the clever word conjunction “conspiranoid” which obviously is an attempt to paint 9/11 Truth members as paranoid.

      I read your article at http://ww4report.com/node/2413 – It’s apparent that you have researched the 9/11 Truth movement but only in order to attempt debunk it.

      I’ll leave you with this americanfreepress.net article about what former Italian President Francesco Cossiga thinks about the matter.

      1. Do I interpret that as a threat?
        Thanks for catching the typo, although it was hardly equivalent of your total disregard for basic punctuation. Ad hominem does not just mean “appealing to prejudices”; it is a particular logical fallacy, one which I do not engage in. I dish out well-earned put-downs, but I also explain the flaws in the conspiranoid “logic.” You, however, do engage in it; I’m a debunker, therefore what I have to say about 9-11 is to be dismissed. Nothing more need be said. As for your post from American Free Press, is it my fault if Francesco Cossiga is another idiot? He doesn’t even make any arguments or present any evidence; he just makes a flat statement that “all the [intelligence services] know it.” Gee, that’s convincing! You guys are too funny. One one hand, the entire political establishment is controlled by some monolithic Conspiracy; on the other, you claim vindication when some political bigwig accepts your claptrap.

        Thinking yet? Nope.

    3. 911
      Mr. Weinberg,

      You need to debate Alex Jones then or perhaps former Governor Jesse Ventura on 911. I believe they will debate you “honestly” on 911. Your moral superiority is laughable. Many of the victims families sure as hell don’t agree with you.

      Big Em

      1. Alex Jones chickened out
        He invited me on to his radio show to debate him, then withdrew the invitation at the last minute. Anyway, I’m no longer sure that right-wing charlatans should be legitimized with “debate.”

        Not that it matters to a rational analysis of the question, but the big majority of 9-11 survivor families appear to agree with me.

  4. Look for Richard Gage’s
    Look for Richard Gage’s “Blueprint for Truth” on Google Video. Gage is an architect from California with over 1,000 of his peers putting their reputations on the line with a very simple, non-theoretical premise: a new investigation of the September 11th attacks is needed. Much new information has been uncovered over the last eight years, particularly the finding of unreacted nano-thermite detected in a peer-reviewed study of collected dust samples from Ground Zero.

    “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

    1. “All truth passes through three stages.”
      That’s what the creationists and climate change deniers say too. Just because you are being ridiculed doesn’t mean you are right. Galileo was ridiculed and persecuted by an anti-rationalist establishment. Today’s creationists, Truthies, etc., represent the backlash against rationalism. Some ridicule is well-earned.

    2. “unreacted nano-thermite”
      Could we get some more scientific sounding babble involved please? How about pyroclastic flow? Haven’t heard that one in a while.

      > unreacted nano-thermite

      … by which they mean red paint.

      There is an inherent undercurrent of racism in the truther movement. It couldn’t possibly have been a bunch of brown guys with box cutters. It had to be big bad US (read: white) super spies with their day-after-tomorrow technology and air tight conspiracy of thousands.

      What’s really needed is a good super villain. Bin Laden doesn’t count (he’s not white). Is Lex Luthor available? A couple of pics with him on a hunting trip with Cheney and there’s another few videos in it. Suckers.