While working as a principal in the Bronx, N.Y., in May 2011 before he became a legislator for the state, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) revealed an affinity for long-debunked conspiracy theories about the 9/11 terror attacks.
The Daily Beast found an archive of Bowman’s personal blog, which appears to have been deleted before February 2016, that included a poem titled “Recapitulate.”
Lines from his composition included “Later in the day/Building 7/Also Collapsed [sic]/Hmm…/Multiple explosions/Heard before/And during the collapse/Hmm…” The verse references the theory that the destruction of the World Trade Center came about from planned, internal explosions—and not by two planes hijacked by 19 Arab terrorists and flown into the North and South Towers.
The poem seems to suggest that the Islamic jihadist organization Al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, wasn’t responsible: “We blamed Osama/Went to war in Iraq/Captured Saddam/Killed him.”
Bowman also lists his sources: “Watch Loose Change/And Zeitgeist” and gives “shout-outs” to “John Perkins/William Cooper/Michael Moore/Peter Joseph/And Adam Curtis.”
Joseph is the director of a series of “Zeitgeist” conspiracy-theory documentaries released between 2007 and 2011. Cooper, who was killed in a shoot-out with law enforcement, was the author of the popular conspiracist book Behold a Pale Horse, which promulgated theories about the Illuminati and extraterrestrials.
Bowman has since denied that he believes the conspiracy theories promoted in his poem and the figures he cited. “I don’t believe anything that these cranks have said, and my life’s work has proven that,” he stated. “I regret posting anything about any of these people. Anyone who looks at my work today knows where I stand.”
