Ron Paul talks about the "Truthers"

Recently some forum posters have asserted that secretly Ron Paul supports their 9/11 theories. Here's Ron Paul's own words (supplied by Horatiusatthegates) so that you can decide for yourself:

****Paul expresses his wish that 9/11 Truthers stop talking, at Presidential Debate
Carl Cameron: "...Many of your supporters are call themselves 9/11 Truthers...Sir, would you ask them to cease their [9/11 inside job] rhetoric on your behalf?

Paul: "Well, it doesn't do me any good, so if they care about me they should [cease it]."

[Comment: Ron Paul has just said that IF YOU CARE ABOUT HIM you should cease promoting 9/11 theories in his name. Did everyone read that? Are we clear now how we should start acting in 2009 if we want this movement to succeed?]

****Dr. Paul disavows 9/11 Truthers and expresses disapproval of Alex Jones, in Interview John Gibson Show on Fox News Radio September 14, 2007
John Gibson: "You have associated yourself in some ways with these people that they call 9/11 Truthers, who think that the U.S. government was in on the 9/11 attacks. Do you also believe that's true?"

Paul: "No. And I wouldn't say I associate with them; they associate with me. But there's no way a candidate can control every thought process of everybody who supports him..."

Gibson: "But you go on Alex Jones' show...Will you say right here and now that you completely disavow the 9/11 truth movement and the whole idea that the U.S. government was on in the 9/11 attack?"

Paul: "Yes I do..."

Gibson: "I really think you're making a big mistake going on [the Alex Jones Show] and associating yourself with those views and making all these people that listen to Alex Jones believe that you agree with them."

Paul:"...I think you make a giant mistake to try to accuse me that I'm defending everything Alex Jones says. I think that's very unfair...Just like Alex Jones will do; he'll try to put words in my mouth. You try to put words in my mouth too, just like Alex Jones does."

****Dr. Paul explains that just because he allows Alex Jones to interview him it doesn't mean he agrees with him, in Interview with Julie Banderas on Fox News August 5, 2007
Julie Banderas: "Do you believe that the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center was an inside job?"

Paul: "Well, the answer is no if they mean by 'inside job' that our government made it happen. No, I don't believe that."

Banderas: "Ok, but you did say on Alex Jones' radio that you believed that U.S. was in great danger of a staged terror attack or a Gulf of Tonkin-style provocation. So, do you think the Bush administration would do something like this to get us into a war, say, with Iran?"

Paul: "No, I don't. But, I talk about that because, you know, the Gulf of Tonkin was an episode that was used to get us into war. If an accident happens over there, and it's blamed - let's say Osama Bin Laden stages something and he blames it on Iran. This will be an excuse to for us to expand the war in Iran. So, I think this is very very dangerous because a lot of people, even, you know, in the Republican Party are quite willing to use a nuclear first strike on Iran. So, I think this is a very very dangerous situation that we're in. So, no I don't think President Bush is planning this. But, I think 9/11 was certainly used as a reason to go into Iraq. And, Iraq did not have weapons. They had nothing to do with 9/11. So they use events. They don't stage events, but they use it to do the things they had already planned. And, the Iraqi war has been planned for a long time."

Banderas: "...So back to the Alex Jones thing...Regarding the conspiracy theory behind 9/11, I know that you do not believe that there was a conspiracy theory however you know this guy [Alex Jones] sort of supports that idea. Then, why would you associate yourself with this kind of guy considering your reputation as a presidential hopeful?"

Paul:"Well, just think about what it would be like if I could only go on the t.v. stations, the major t.v. networks, when I knew they agreed with me on all [issues]. All the major networks agreed with the war. [If I had to agree with them] that mean't I could never be on any major t.v. network. Of course I don't support everything [Alex Jones] says, but people I associate with, I don't endorse their views - they come and associate with me to endorse me views or I'm just expressing my views. But there'd be no way I could be on television, if I had, if that was the litmus test that I had to agree with everything they stood for and what they promoted. It just wouldn't work."

****Interview with Mike Gallagher July 19, 2007
Mike Gallagher: "Is it fair to say that you believe that there was some kind of either government conpiracy or coverup involving September 11th, 2001?"

Ron Paul: "No, not really. I never bring that up. Some people try to twist what I say and turn it into that. And I think some of my supporters lean in that direction, but that's not my position. I do think government's basically inept. I mean we were spending $40 billion a year collecting intelligence, and a lot of information was out there. We had one FBI agent, I think sent dozens and dozens of memos to his superiors saying that there are people trying to fly airplanes but not land them. And, nobody would pay any attention, so I don't think that's a conspiracy; I think that's a lot of bureaucracy that doesn't work very well. And then when we have government investigations, whether it's 9/11 or assassinations, I think the main goal is to protect the government and to protect their ineptness. And that is a lot different than saying 'Oh they conspired to do this because they can use this as an excuse to spread the war in the Middle East whether they had anything to do with 9/11 or not.' I don't see it that way, but I believe some who did want to spread the war would use it as an opportunity. But, it wasn't something that was deliberately done."

****Dr. Paul makes it absolutely clear that he does not think the government orchestrated 9/11 attacks, in Interview with Shawn Wasson LiveLeak.com July 24,2007
Shawn Wasson: "Why do you entertain all the nonsense and all the questions from this 9/11 conspiracy crowd?"

Paul: "Well, I think your question is very biased, because I don't."

Wasson: "Do you believe that there was some kind of coverup in the September 11th investigation?"

Paul: "I think that's a perfectly logical answer ..[the coverup being that] they sort of protect themselves to show where they might have goofed up. So, I think this is very natural; that's the natural instinct of all goverments. So, that is a far cry from what you've insinuated by saying that I endorse the idea that the government had something to do with 9/11."

Wasson: "I'm saying that there is an overall perception among these people. They at least think you have some kind of inkling that 9/11 was covered up somehow -- that there was some kind of inside job as they say. Let me ask you flat out. Do you think, or do you have any evidence at all, to suggest that 9/11 was anything other than the official storyline?"

Paul: "No, I have no reason to think that. But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't find out where we fell short. So, once again, I think it's your same innuendos that you're using."

Wasson: "Your position then would be that as far as you're concerned, the official story from 9/11 - and this is not about the government covering up their mistakes. This is about the suggestions from these people...that 9/11 was orchestrated by the government, you do not support that theory?"

Paul: "Absolutely not!"

****Dr. Paul explains how 9/11 Truthers get confused into thinking he saying something that he's not, in Interview with Adam Curry on Daily Source Code October 24, 2007
Adam Curry: "9/11 Conspiracy theories. Do you buy any of it Dr. Ron?"

Paul: "Not, not really. Not the kind that say well it was all conspired by our government and they did it for this purpose of us ushering in this War on Terrorism. No I don't believe any of that. But, I believe, because it's very very clear evidence, that the neoconservatives in a way sort of welcomed the event because they even wrote about a Pearl Harbor type event that they might be able to use to promote their cause and they certainly have. But, I think where some of this stuff gets overlapped and confused [by 9/11 Truthers who annoyingly latch on to me] is that I don't think the 9/11 commision investigation was worth a whole lot because I think it was mainly designed to cover up mistakes and ineptness of government, not so much to cover up or hide a conspiracy or a plan to do this whole thing by the government. But I think the evidence was there that if we'd have had, you know, some really sharp people watching - what they- the information they accumulated they would have known that there was something very big coming on, and yet they - we haven't really arrested or fired or blamed anybody for the total ineptness of allowing 9/11 to attack us, so I think those are two different issues."

Curry: "So you're saying [it's] possible but definitely not enough information on the table?"

Paul: "Well no, I don't think there's any information to say that the government planned the event. What I'm saying is that they had information buried in the accumulation of all these files but they didn't pay enough attention to. For instance, there was one FBI agent that on dozens and dozens of times reported to his superiors that someone was training to fly airplanes but not land them and he was totally ignored...I think that was ineptness rather than a conspiracy to allow it to happen."

****Paul calls 9/11 Truth theories "preposterous" and "bizarre," in Interview with Glenn Beck, December 18, 2007
Glenn Beck: "I have watched the interviews with you. You don't leave any room for any doubt on a 9/11 conspiracy, but I'd just like to make it clear and ask you - and I don't believe these need explanation unless I've read your answers wrong elsewhere - but, may I just run through these 9/11 conspiracies?: No plane hit the Pentagon on September 11th; instead, it was a missile fired by elements from inside the American state apparatus. Yes or no?"

Paul: "No. It's preposterous."

Beck: "The planes that hit the World Trade Center towers were remotely controlled."

Paul: "[Shaking his head no and shugging his shoulders] I mean this is just bizarre. I've not even heard these challenges before."

Beck: "O.K. I understand that. I don't mean to - sir, these are the people that - some of these people speak in your name and they actually say that you will be on this program tonight and you will answer the way you are answering now because you can't let on. They believe that you are part..of another kind of conspiracy to expose the conspiracy of 9/11 and the World Trade Center. Can you - I mean you you'd - I don't know how you address people who are so deeply into conspiracy but can you?

Paul: "I, I don't know what I would be - supposed to be doing. Uh, no. I mean I don't think there's any evidence.."

Beck: "Is there any evidence or is there any doubt in your mind that the United States government was not involved in the September 11th attacks - that we did not bring down World Trade Center number seven?"

Paul: "...I absolutely believe that is true - they did not. But, the connection may be -and where some people get carried away - is if you dig through those $40 billion dollars worth of intelligence gathering apparatus that we had before 9/11, you know we dig up information and there was some ineptness, and sometimes when you find ineptness in government it's easy to make this giant leap over into conspiracy and [that] they do it on purpose, But, you know, we had an FBI agent like on seventy different occasions reported that these individuals were flying airplanes and not learning how to land them and then he was totally ignored. I consider this ineptness on government, not a conspiracy that 'Oh yeah! We know about it. We can't wait until the towers come down!' No, I don't believe that at all. I think it - I don't think I should even have to answer questions like that [laugh]."

Beck: "Yes sir. I do not believe that this is your point of view, and I don't believe that this is the point of view of most of your supporters - the vast, vast majority [of your supporters]."

****Paul explains that him saying he does not accept everything in the 9/11 investigation is simply him saying that the investigation didn't reveal where the ineptness was. Glenn Beck Show 06/19/2008 .
Interviewer: "So, many of your supporters I meet are also part of the 9/11 Truth movement. You've appeared in the movie Endgame that talks about the Bilderbergers, etcetera. Why do you think there is such an attraction from that part of the political discourse to your movement?"

Ron Paul: "Well, I'm not sure. And, one of the reasons is that, though I don't endorse those concerns, I probably have, you know, [wincing] encouraged it ironically, because I haven't accepted the 9/11 investigation."

Interviewer: "You haven't?"

Paul: "No, because I think they hid things from us, and they didn't want to blame anybody. Nobody was discovered to be inept, and we spent 40 billion dollars on security. And, and, the information was there. What about the CIA agent that reported thirty-five or forty times that these individuals were flying airplanes, learning how to fly airplanes but not land them. And we didn't do anything about it. But, nobody was punished. So, there was a lot of ineptness there. And, nobody talks about the incentives for people to commit suicide terrorism, and it's very very clear that suicide terrorists are not motivated because people are rich or because they're free. They're motivated mainly, and almost wholeheartedly, because they're occupied by foreign nations. And, if we don't understand that, we are going to be forever threatened by terrorists."

Interviewer: "Well I, once again I disagree with you, but are you saying there's something about the 9/11 attack that we should know but don't? I thought we know. Nineteen guys, airplanes slam into the buildings. What don't we know?"

"Paul: "Well, what we don't know is who was inept. We had that information, buried in all those records that some of these people were stirring around. We didn't do anything to prevent it. I mean we had all this money spent to protect us. On that day, on 9/11, Seoul Korea was better protected than Washington, D.C. and New York City. So, there's something wrong. We're looking outward, not inward. We close down bases in America, and we build them in Saudi Arabia, which was the number one motivating factor of Osama Bin Laden. He says 'You have a miltary base by foreigners on our holy land!' So, we have to understand that. If not, there's no way we can solve this problem."

****Dr. Paul say finding the ineptness that allowed 9/11 to happen needs more looking into but that a new government investigation won't help. The Rogers Report, June 22, 2007
Lee Rogers: "How do you feel about a new independent investigation, and do you think that there is some question that the government may have been involved in those attacks."

Ron Paul: ""I have never seen any evidence to show that our government deliberately partipated and contributed to that. I think their ineptness contributed to it, because I think the information was all available. You know, there was one FBI [agent] that sent in like seventy reports, and saying 'You know, this seems strange. There's some Arab muslims here taking flying lessons, but they don't want to land the plane." And, nobody would respond to him. So, I think this total ineptness is where the problem really is. They had all the information they needed, but the bureaucracy acted like a typical bureaucracy. Then investigations, government investigations are designed for a coverup, so nobody gets blamed for messing up! So, I see that. So, I don't think we've gotten to the bottom of it, but I don't trust investigations generally speaking. I mean, whether it's looking into Ruby Ridge or Waco, or assassinations. I mean there, seems like they raise more questions than they answer. So, a new investigation if you don't have any of the right people won't do any good either. It's a government investigation. That won't automatically get to the bottom of it. But, I would say we have still a lot of questions. And, just like I think we should be asking a lot more questions on how so many people were misled into believing the conditions warranted going to in Iraq, so the same way about 9/11, I think it warrants more checking into.

****Dr. Paul ridicules 9/11 Truth theories in Interview with Michael Medved on the Michaeld Medved Show. August 28, 2007
Michael Medved: "Do you have any doubt, Congressman Ron Paul, that the horrors of 9/11 were perpetrated by 19 Arab young men working as agents of international terror in the form of Al-Qaida?"

Paul: "No. I don't know of anybody that really questions that in a serious manner...To say that it was something somebody other than the Al-Qaida - and I don't hear too many people saying that - but I'm sure there are people saying things like that and that there's some type of conspiracy - but I think it's pretty hard to refute airplanes plowing into a building. [chuckle]"