Webster Griffin Tarpley (born September 1946) is an American writer, political activist, and conspiracy theorist. A one-time follower of

Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy ...

, Tarpley is known for his role in the 9/11 truth movement, believing

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

was a

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrep ...

operation.

Education

Tarpley was born in Pittsfield,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, in 1946. After receiving a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in Languages from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1966, ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, he became a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Scholar at the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...

, Italy. Later, he earned a Ph.D. in

early modern history The early modern period is a historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There is no exact date ...

from the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

Career

In 1971, Tarpley was on the editorial board of ''The Campaigner'', a National Caucus of Labor Committees' journal, according to its masthead. In 1986, Tarpley attempted to run on

's U.S. Labor Party platform in the New York State Democratic Party primary for the U.S. Senate, but was ruled off the ballot in August that year because of a defect in his nominating petitions. At one time, Tarpley was a contributing editor to the ''

Executive Intelligence Review ''Executive Intelligence Review'' (''EIR'') is a weekly newsmagazine founded in 1974 by the American political activist Lyndon LaRouche. Based in Leesburg, Virginia, it maintains offices in a number of countries, according to its masthead, inc ...

'' (EIR), a LaRouche movement publication. In a January 1987 press conference attended only by a reporter from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', he claimed the LaRouche movement's credit card indictments were part of a plot against LaRouche who he described as "the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination" in the following year's election. Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

, Tarpley claimed, had used a surreptitious message in a speech to demand the silencing of LaRouche because of supposed information in LaRouche's possession on Soviet involvement in the assassination of

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until as ...

, the former Swedish prime minister. In 1992, Tarpley co-authored with Anton Chaitkin '' George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography'', published by LaRouche's EIR magazine. Since March 2006, Tarpley has hosted a weekly online talk show called ''World Crisis Radio'', broadcast by GCNLive.com.

Conspiracy theories

Tarpley maintains that the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

were engineered by a rogue network of the military-industrial complex and intelligence agencies as a false-flag operation. The common account about the events of 9/11 are in Tarpley's opinion in 2006 an "outrageous myth" and an "absurd fairy tale." The organisations involved in 9/11 apparently included Britain's

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

as well as "government officials loyal to the invisible government." On November 21, 2011, while traveling to Syria, Tarpley told Syria's Addounia TV that the Syrian Civil War was a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

–

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

ploy to destabilize Syria using mercenaries and death squads against the population and the Syrian government. On April 2, 2012,

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

aired ''9/11, False Flags, and Black Ops: An Evening of Debate'', in which Tarpley debated his critic

Jonathan Kay Jonathan Hillel Kay (born 1968) is a Canadian journalist. He was the editor-in-chief of ''The Walrus'' (2014–2017), and is a senior editor of ''Quillette''. He was previously comment pages editor, columnist, and blogger for the Toronto-based Ca ...

on conspiracy theories, specifically the truth behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

David Frum David Jeffrey Frum (; born 30 June 1960) is a Canadian-American political commentator and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is a senior editor at ''The Atlantic'' as well as an MSNBC contributor. In 2003, Frum authored the ...

, who served as moderator between the two men, described Tarpley's "presentation as involuted as it was long-winded." During the event, Tarpley said that the

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

was also a government conspiracy. On June 7, 2012, interviewed for the

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

(Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) regarding the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, also called 22 July () or 22/7 in Norway, were two domestic terrorism, domestic terrorist attacks by far-right politics, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik against the politics of Norway, government, the civil ...

, Tarpley said, "I believe that the evidence points to a private network, or even a NATO network, within the police that contributed the long time delay until they stormed the Island." Tarpley has said

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...

is probably a triple agent ultimately being an agent for the

with the aim of weakening President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and pushing him into intervening in Syria. On January 21, 2015, Tarpley was interviewed by Guns and Butter's Bonnie Faulkner about "geopolitical terrorism and the destabilization of governments and how others like Russia and Belarus are responding". Tarpley is a member of the "world anti-imperialist conference" Axis for Peace, of Scholars for 9/11 Truth and of a research ''Netzwerk'' of German 9/11 authors founded in September 2006. Tarpley has also given lectures what he terms the "Versailles thesis", which claims that the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

attempted to create a new "

world order In international relations, international order refers to patterned or structured relationships between actors on the international level. Definition David A. Lake, David Lake, Lisa Martin (political scientist), Lisa Martin and Thomas Risse d ...

" at the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

Melania Trump libel suit

In February 2017, he agreed to settle a libel suit brought by U.S. First Lady

Melania Trump Melania Knauss Trump (born Melanija Knavs, April26, 1970) is a Slovenian and American former model who is married to U.S. President Donald Trump. Since 2025, Melania Trump has served as the first lady of the United States, a role she previous ...

for publishing a "false and defamatory" report In August 2016 alleging that the First Lady had been a "high-end escort" prior to meeting President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. Terms of the settlement included providing a public apology in writing and paying a "substantial sum".

Selected publications

Articles
"Palmerston's London During the 1850s: A Tour of the Human, Multicultural Zoo."
''

'', vol. 21, no. 16 (Apr. 15, 1994)
Full issue.
Books *''Chi ha ucciso Aldo Moro?'' 'Who Killed Aldo Moro?''Study commissioned by the Italian Parliamentary Giuseppe Zamberletti (DC) and published in Rome, 1978. It sheds light on the affiliation between the

Red Brigades The Red Brigades ( , often abbreviated BR) were an Italian far-left Marxist–Leninist militant group. It was responsible for numerous violent incidents during Italy's Years of Lead, including the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978, ...

and the

neofascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology which includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, ultraconservatism, racial supremacy, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xen ...

P2 lodge and the role of the Italian intelligence services in the

Operation Gladio Operation Gladio was the codename for clandestine " stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU; founded in 1948), and subsequently by NATO (formed in 1949) and by the CIA (established in 1947), in ...

/Anglo-American secret services.
''George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography''
with Anton Chaitkin (1992); Reprinted (2004). .
''Against Oligarchy: Essays and Speeches, 1970-1996''
(1996). * ''Surviving the Cataclysm: Your Guide through the Worst Financial Crisis in Human History'' (1999); updated (2009). . * ''9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA – Myth of the 21st Century''. Foreword by

Thierry Meyssan Thierry Meyssan () is a French journalist, left-wing and political activist. He is the author of investigations into the extreme right-wing, particularly France's National Front militias, as well as into the Catholic church. Meyssan's boo ...

(2005). ; 5th ed.: (Nov. 2011). . **Française: ''La Terreur Fabriquée, Made in USA: 11 Septembre, le mythe du XXIe siècle'' (Sep. 2006). . **Italiano: ''La Fabbrica del Terrore'' (Sep. 2007). . **Español: ''11-S, El Falso Terrorismo'' (Jan. 2008). .
''Obama & The Postmodern Coup: Making of a Manchurian Candidate''
(Apr. 2008). . **German: ''Barack Obama: Wie ein US-Präsident gemacht wird'' (Aug. 2008). . **Japanese: ''Obama: Dangerous Geometry'' (Nov. 2008). . * ''Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized Biography'' (Aug. 2008). . **Japanese: (Mar. 2009). *''Just Too Weird: Bishop Romney and the Mormon Takeover of America: Polygamy, Theocracy, and Subversion'' (Oct. 2012). .

References

External links

*
”Biographies of Some People Who Have Appeared on The LaRouche Connection: Webster Tarpley“
2002. larouchepub.com.
Genesis Communications Network: World Crisis Radio
(Tarpley's radio show)
Webster Tarpley Radio
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Works by Webster Tarpley
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarpley, Webster 1946 births Living people Anti-corporate activists Catholic University of America alumni Flushing High School alumni LaRouche movement Maryland Democrats Princeton University alumni Skidmore College alumni Writers from Pittsfield, Massachusetts American conspiracy theorists 9/11 conspiracy theorists