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American Spectator Editor Admits to Being Agent Provocateur at DC Museum
The following photograph taken by opednews.com shows a confrontation in the lobby of the National Air and Space Museum between two individuals and an officer shortly before video shows officers with the Museum’s security forces rush outside indiscriminately pepper-spraying numerous individuals.
It appears that one of the two in the confrontation with the security officer is Patrick Howley, Assistant Editor of The American Spectator. [See the following photograph in which Howley's Facebook Profile Photo is side-by-side with the person pictured at the Air and Space Museum]
Immediately after the incident began hitting the newswires Howley published a “Breaking News” story with The American Spectator online in which he reveals that he had consciously infiltrated the group on Friday with the intent to discredit the movement. He states that “as far as anyone knew I was part of this cause — a cause that I had infiltrated the day before in order to mock and undermine in the pages of The American Spectator — and I wasn’t giving up before I had my story.”
According to Howley’s story he joined the group in its march toward the Air and Space Museum but the protesters on the march were unwilling to be confrontational. He states “they lack the nerve to confront authority. From estimates within the protest, only ten people were pepper-sprayed, and as far as I could tell I was the only one who got inside.”
He claims that upon arrival at the Museum the group of approximately one hundred protesters split into two factions with the smaller of the two “rushing the doors,” the majority “staying behind.” Howley then admits in his piece that he snuck past the guard at the first entrance in order to “infiltrate” the building and then confronted another guard. He then “sprinted toward the door” at which time he was first hit with pepper-spray.
As he describes his next actions “I forced myself into the doors and sprinted blindly across the floor of the Air and Space Museum, drawing the attention of hundreds of stunned khaki-clad tourists (some of whom began snapping off disposable-camera portraits of me).”
Fully inside, despite the orders of the security guards that the Museum was closed to the public, Howley made his way upstairs – to the location where a banner was unfurled protesting the Museum’s exhibit of unmanned drone weapons.
“I strained to glance behind me at the dozens of protesters I was sure were backing me up, and then I got hit again, this time with a cold realization: I was the only one who had made it through the doors. As two guards pointed at me and started running, I dodged a circle of gawking old housewives and bolted upstairs.”
He then found himself “stumbling around aircraft displays with just enough vision to keep tabs on my uniformed pursuers. “The museum is now closed!” screamed one of the guards as alarms sounded. “Everyone make your way to the exits immediately!” Using my jacket to cover my face — which I could feel swelling to Elephant Man proportions — I ducked through the confused tourists and raced out the exit. “Hey, you!” shouted a female guard reaching for my arm. “Get back here!” But I was already down the steps and out of sight.”
Howley refers to the Museum as “the scene of my crime.” In light of his detailed description of his activities today the fact that they clearly document the commission of the crime of trespassing on federal property, if not the intent to incite a riot there, these admissions should not be taken lightly or ignored. As a result of Howley’s activities a large number of people were subjected to pepper-spray attacks including journalists and tourists who had nothing to do with the protest. Given the negative light that the press is attempting to spin this incident with regard to the ongoing occupations, from Wall Street and D.C. and now spreading to Main Streets across the country, the presence and admitted activities of this self-proclaimed agent provacateur should be brought to the attention of federal law enforcement officials.
It is highly likely that the events that occurred would not have taken the turn they did if it were not for Howley’s admitted adventure in an effort to discredit the Occupy movement. So before the public, the media, and officials turn their attention negatively towards the protests and the protesters there needs to be a critical eye turned on the role of the American Spectator and the role played in these events by its editorial staff. If arrests were made at this incident, and even if none were, the admissions of Howley published brazenly in the pages of his Conservative magazine and bragged about on his Facebook page should lead to an official investigation into his role and that of his employer in the events in Washington D.C. today and should be seen as at least part of the causal nexus that led to the inappropriate use of force that along with Howley negatively affected many who were innocent of any crime other than being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Ironically Howley concludes the story of his adventure mocking the lack of courage of the protesters, who he admitted did not seek – as he did – to confront the authorities, by praising the courage of the guards who twice pepper-sprayed him.
“As I scrambled away from the scene of my crime, a police officer outside the museum gates pointed at my eyes, puffed out of his chest, and shouted: “Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.” He was proud that I had been pepper-sprayed, and, oddly, so was I. I deserved to get a face full of high-grade pepper, and the guards who sprayed me acted with more courage than I saw from any of the protesters. If you’re looking for something to commend these days in America, start with those guards.”
The admissions of Patrick Howley, published in The American Spectator for all to see, require those across the country, both the public and its officials, to take a closer and more critical look at today’s event’s in the Nation’s capitol. Who was really to blame for the chaos and disruption of a Federal Museum? Who should be held responsible for those who were harmed in the melee that took place after Howley admits he defied the orders of the legal authorities and stormed into the building? And how should the story of today’s events unfold in the Nation’s media over the next several days?
UPDATE: Since Howley and the American Spectator were caught and exposed - they have begun a nifty editorial dance to try and rewrite the story - doing away with all of the confessions of unethical journalism and criminal liability. But here is a screengrab I took of the original story last night (anticipating such an attempt): http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/cgrapski/StandoffinDC2011-10-0901-42-38.png
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104 Comments so far
Show AllActually, Howley needed violence to make the protestors look bad. Without that he would not have a story, and eventually, the rag that he works for would dump him for the guy who set up the Planned Parenthood offices. In which case, he might actually have to get a job - if he could find anyone dumb enough to hire him.
please don't expose the 'paleolithic' to such calumny
The people at this thing were acting RESPONSIBLY and then this dirt bag decided they didn't have the balls to be violent? Is this what he thinks is SUPPOSED to happen at protests? Doesn't he know that it's damn near always the COPS who over react and cause the trouble?
I wonder who it is that fires editors. One can't allow such behavior out of people who have the public ear, that makes dishonesty a laudable thing. This guy needs to be tried for his crimes and sentenced for them. He has admitted them, there is at least one pic that does look rather convincingly like him, I would say there needs to be some accountability. If people go to jail for smoking cannabis (which concerns no one else but the smoker), then this guy, who caused serious trouble that could have gotten someone injured or even killed, needs to be held accountable for his actions.
Maybe some community service would teach him what community and responsibility within it is about. But he's a rightie, so I seriously doubt it.
Something here doesn't ring true. Why would i even believe this guy's account of his own experience?
Howley sez: "I deserved to get a face full of high-grade pepper ..."
***
OK, that part I believe.
Otherwise, readytotransform raises a legitimate question. Another shoe may yet drop.
"Something here doesn't ring true. Why would i even believe this guy's account of his own experience?"
It's what I've heard attorneys' call a "statement against interest". It's a public confession that he committed criminal acts with premeditation. If he's lying, what would his motive be for doing so?
Who knows? I am just throwing it out there. The man is a liar and sounds rather sociopathic to me. He also seems not to have had that much of a problem after being sprayed twice in the face. That doesn't really support the reports of people i know who have been through that experience.
I am not sure what exactly he was trying to discredit by his actions......That the protestors aren't aggressive enough?
readytotransform, I think he was hoping to cause a major riot, perhaps by persuading real protesters to commit serious violent acts or by sparking over-reaction to responses by security guards. In doing that, in the confusion, he might have escaped notice as the provocateur. A major riot would have discredited the protesters. But when the ploy failed, and he knew he was going to be identified anyway, he probably thought it was better to identify himself publicly so that police or security officers wouldn't have to spend time investigating who he was and tracking him down, and would therefore be less inclined to file charges against him, and prosecutors less inclined to seek serious punishment.
P.S. His comments clearly show a motive of deflecting prosecution by praising the cops and openly declaring that he was on their side. The deception lies in not admitting that he intended to cause damage and injury and then evade responsibility by escaping.
The infiltration of protest and leftist groups by provocateurs and CIA agents is nothing new. Many years ago I was asked by a Trotskist publicly selling his newsletter in Chicago to join his party to which I replied: "only if you can tell me who the FBI and CIA members of your party are". Protesters have to learn to ferret them out and neutralize them peacefully.
That's what I am talking about, perhaps intimidation was the wrong word, but it also has to NOT be some nicey, nice, la, la hippy we are all good here bullshit.
This guy Howley, an agents provacateur, that represents the 1% elite will not come as any surprise to the politically savvy CDer's. Many predicted the government that represents the billionaire elite 1%, would have to resort to agents provacateurs once the #OWS protests became nascent. That was pretty much a no brainer.
I predict next, that either the FBI or CIA will infilitrate the #OWS protests with agents provacateurs that are part of their al-Qaeda network, like al-Alawaki the CIA lackey, in order to try and demonize the #OWS protests as many good and well meaning people that unfortunately, have been inflitrated and co-opted by al Qaeda, terrorists. That was Edgar Hoovers M.O. during the Civil Rights movement when he used the John Birch Society, among others, to demonize MLK's Civil Rights Movement and his non-violent protests as a communist infilitrated movement.
I think you can count on it. Power will not standby and watch itself be undermined, and the word fair is not part of the exercise of power.
What an idiot Howley is. I agree that he deserves a roundhouse boot to the cajones and also prosecution and a few weeks of hard time in an appropriate detention facility with overcrowding and active gangs. Give him bail he can't make and a wait of say, 24 months for his first hearing.
Do you realize that you are advocating violence here? Trying to incite a riot so the police can shut it down? Please reconsider the violent language you are using - it is not helpful.
Be prepared to see this sort of thing on a regular basis.
This is one of the reasons that non-violent witness training can be very useful. Good for the folks who decided not to follow this fool.
This is about sustainability - clearly something well over the head of Howley.
"This is one of the reasons that non-violent witness training can be very useful."
Yes. I participated in a protest years ago, where such training was given. I admit to my shame that I'm not particularly peacful by nature, so I was very gratefulr to the people who gave the training.
How does one deal with agent provocateurs?
I personally had the dubious pleasure of dealing with a couple of such individuals during the 2004 Rep. convention demonstrations in nyc. And that is just one event. In my experience and from what others have shared, they are pretty obvious.
The two men in nyc were trying to get me to say something along the lines of wanting to do something destructive and they were videotaping no less. I told them that they obviously didn't understand the mindset of those they were attempting to provoke and that it was rather insulting that they were so obvious. They just got annoyed by my reaction.
We might ask them loudly, "are you an agent provocateur?" and force them to lie in public.
Name and shame if someone is provoking to violence.
Ezeflyer,
There was an interesting case in Montebello, Quebec 2007 The peaceful protesters actually caught provocateurs within their protest lines...The provocateurs turned out to be none other than Quebec Police infiltrating the protest lines. Fortunately someone noticed that these clowns had rocks in their hands and eventually a union leader confronted them . The provocateurs vacated the protest area...
This all took place at the Security and Prosperity Partnership Conference in 2007.
Forgive me if my facts are little off here as I am depending on memory....an aging memory at that..
Thomas Gilbert-
youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow
I remember that, they also had boots that matched the police! One thing that helps us is often right wing thugs are often thickies.
That is right Guitarist...Matching boots to boot. lol
I put up the video link showing the union leader confronting the three cops.
Thomas Gilbert-
I think that the group should decide democratically what they want to do before an action, and stick with that plan if at all possible. Keep in mind that there may well be agent provocateurs present during the planning and at the action. However if the actions are legal, or any illegality is planned for, and the participants cannot be stampeded by faux fervor, things should be OK despite them. Jobs like videotaping and maintaiing lists are the most sensitive jobs. If possible, untried people should be asked to make signs or distribute flyers.
That being said, it can be very destructive to try to guess who is a police agent. It sows a lot of negativity, gossip and suspicion. We are fortunate that we are still able to organize publicly. Someday, that may not be the case. Then it will be more important to know who is who. Meanwhile, as in electoral politics, what counts is numbers of people and a good plan.
Like this:
http://www.daylightmagazine.org/files/blog/Lisa%20Kereszi/LIFE-mydans-french_nazi-firing_squad.jpg?0
What else do you do with Fascist collaborators?
In every liberal assembly---church, civic club, group of friends---there is an informant from the FBI, CIA, NSA. The one who tries to stir up violence, the one who insists violence is the only way to win---nine times out of ten, HE IS THE ONE.
He may suggest anything from throwing bottles to carrying guns to making bombs, but be sure that if you say anything like "OK" or "Somebody needs to" or "Count me in" you may expect to have your phone tapped, be followed, have your employer called, or even have your door broken in the middle of the night. As Richard Daily said over thirty years ago "Dis ain't spyi'n. Dis is pertectin' da people."
It would appear as if Patrick Howley wishes to take James O'Keefe's role as a right wing media douche bag causing trouble where none exists.
Well at least Eric Holder knows who to "detain" with a midnight raid.
Son of a camel! This means war!
OMFG!
It is time for OWS to occupy American Spectator's offices.
UPDATE: Since Howley and the American Spectator were caught and exposed - they have begun a nifty editorial dance to try and rewrite the story - doing away with all of the confessions of unethical journalism and criminal liability.
But here is a screengrab I took of the original story last night (anticipating such an attempt):
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy178/cgrapski/StandoffinDC2011-10-0901-42-38.png
Good work. I believe, and correct me if I am wrong, that the group at the Air and Space Museum was the "October 6th demonstration", which has been planning a DC action for months. It was not "Occupy Wall Street". What Howley did was somewhat successful in confusing the public. His role should be widely exposed.
On November 9th in the year 1938, the Nazi's in Germany engaged in a pogrom against German Jews, known as Kristallnacht. The police were incited to be aggressive and destructive. Howley comments on his praise of police who act with courage and aggression toward the protesters. This guy is dangerous and may be the spark right wing nuts act on. No matter the truth. The truth rarely sees the light of day on faux news and main stream media.
What a story!....What is going through this guys mind? What is going through the minds of people like him?
Cgrapski, thank you for doing the screen grab..Good thinking and good work.
I guess we can expect this to get crazier as time goes on.....
Thomas Gilbert-
Sorry for double post
Scum!
A couple of comments.
Unfortunately, Howley may have partially succeeded with the help of Corporate media, as Corporate media including Fox reported on the disruption on the National Space and Air Museum which gave negative light to the protest movement and it appears did not follow up with reports about Howley's infiltration. If Howley were a liberal that did something similar in a Tea Party event, can you imagine the manufactured media outrage?
As others have noted, where is the outrage of Howley's acts? It was a willful act. Again, if he were a liberal, I wouldn't be surprised if the FBI would be knocking on his door.
Update: AP reports Sunday night that the Air and Space Museum opened Sunday after DC protests on Saturday. No mention made of Howley. Anybody surprised Corporate media didn't report the full story?
http://news.yahoo.com/air-space-museum-reopens-dc-protests-183719182.html
During Vietnam, there was a peaceful protest group in Seattle (possibly AFSC) which met and planned their anti-war demonstrations. A guy joined in, was very enthusiastic, but began saying he was disappointed in the results. He said they should blow up a B of A or something to get the public's attention. They told him, "No, they were dedicated to peace, not violence."
He kept on advocating the violence, then said he had access to explosives.
Still, the answer was, "No."
Then he said he could plant the explosives for them and set it off.
Still, "No!"
He said that he would just do it for them, went to the bank and placed the explosives. Several people who were quite alarmed went to the scene.
Major police raid, the whole group was picked up as a terrorist organization. Before the trial, it came out that the bomber was an agent provocateur brought in from another PD to set them up. Since that was years ago, the judge threw the case out of court.
I'm not sure, but now the judge would probably throw the book at them and throw out the testimony about the bomber.
Same thing during the WTO. The black masked "anarchists" would appear, break a few windows, then disappear while the cops came in with gas and clubs. Then, they would show up at another hot spot, break a few windows and disappear. This went on over and over and the demonstrators were the ones who got it in the neck.
This isn't a new tactic. The OSS used it effectively in WW-II.
Sounds familiar minitrue. Another tactic (from COINTELPRO) is to send someone in to meetings or actions who rants and raves and attacks everyone and sounds crazy. That takes time and is unpleasant, drives away people. Usually those planning the actions are polite and kind, and do not want to confront such people, in case they are actually mentally ill and not plants. Any ideas what to do in such cases?
I'm not sure. The first thing that comes to mind is to discuss the problem before it surfaces. Bring out the facts of agents provocateurs and how they infiltrate to gain the groups confidence, then sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly, try to sabotage the movement.
Further discussion on the fact that the mentally unstable sometimes gravitate to a movement. They should be talked with, shown compassion, and if they do not modify their behavior, shown the door.
When either of these situations comes to hand, they should be handled gently, but firmly, and asked or told not to return.
If you get an AP that is really oily and full of cointellpro ideas, it would not hurt to warn others of his identity.
Look out "Occupy Wall Street". The same tricks are coming.
Next up Patrick Howley will no doubt be crying and running after a foil UFO balloon trying to rescue a poor little boy trapped inside who's been strapped with bags of anthrax.
I marched with the peace activists to the Air and Space museum. I left just prior to the incident that was provoked. There was a large contingent of US Park Police, some on horseback, that arrived as the protesters commenced a teach-in about drones on the museum steps. Risking arrest by entering the lobby with signs is a tactic that has been used before at the museum which once housed the Enola Gay.
The Air and Space Museum is largely a commercial of the military-industrial complex and therefore a good target for protest. While the action may have appeared a little ragtag and could have been better explained, even to supporters like me, the fact that none of the protesters were drawn in by the provocateur's actions bodes well for future civil resistance connected to the Occupation movement. Nonviolence is one of the defining aspects of the movement and has served to build ties with new allies.
It is important for people to add the information about the provocateur into web discussions of the Occupation movement. We must act as human microphones on the web to keep the facts in full view to counter the opponents of economic justice who will warp the story to their own ends.
isherwood, I agree. See my recently updated comment here concerning the apparent motivation and the true deception in what Howley did. Now we need someone with journalistic integrity to question Howley about these matters. E.g., are you really disappointed that the protesters didn't cause injury or damage? In your article, did you praise the people who tried to stop you, and publicly declare your sympathies against the protesters, because you're trying to discourage the authorities from prosecuting you? (Etc.)
I was just remembering. A few months ago, the pork police showed up at the Jefferson Memorial and informed everybody that it was illegal to dance at the memorial. Those who tried to dance, some just couples holding hands and swaying a bit, were cuffed and hauled off. One of the people was asked by a pork cop, who was in charge of, or directing this. The guy just pointed to the statue of Jefferson. He was hauled away.
All I can figure is that, now, dancing or singing or reading from the Declaration of Independence in a Federal place is breaking the law. Apparently if one sings or dances or emotes, he or she is expressing joy or freedom, which is rapidly becoming a federal offense in the land of the fee and the home of the grave.
I'm seventy-four years old, so I don't have that much more time, but I also remember when I was a citizen of the Constitutional Republic known as the United States of America. It had a Constitution and a Bill of Rights which was to protect the citizen and limit the government's power.
It saddens me no end to realize that I am now a subject of the American Empire, an Oligarchy which may be referred to as the United Corporations of America, formerly known as the United States of America, but which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the UCA.
If they can keep this up for a little while longer, we will go from being subjects of the Empire to being serfs of the Oligarchy. Many are already. Would you like fries with that?
so sad
First off: I have not seen anything describing Patrick Howley's participation in the Freedom Plaza assembly.
Howley is just the latest example of gonzo journalism run amok. Just another buffoon. Don't give him any more blame or credit than he deserves. He's not the Devil Incarnate -- he's not even Hunter Thompson re-incarnated. He inserted himself into a protest and a sort of Stockholm Syndrome effect seems to have overcome him.
Re-writes of his "article" appear to have more to do with removing the egg from his face and restoring some of his lost credibility as a journalist, if he ever had any, than anything else. It's also possible, of course, that he's trying to set up a defense against criminal charges.
No way do I believe Howley set out to be an agent provocateur or to disrupt the die-in. He was just along for the ride -- hoping to make a name for himself by writing about and mocking what he saw from inside the protest. His hoped for fifteen minutes of fame backfired and became fifteen minutes of infamy. He's not a good enough writer for us to expect to ever hear from him again. The perfect epitaph for him: Patrick Howley, pissant extraordinaire.
I'm convinced ThinkProgress got it right: "The evidence doesn’t seem to show that Howley incited protesters to do anything they weren’t already primed to do, but his stated intention to 'undermine' the 99 Percent Movement and associated demonstrations — and his position leading the charge of protesters at the museum entrance — indicate a little more activism than simply an attempt to get a close look at protests, as Howley says, 'for journalistic purposes.'"
Don't expect me to ever again agree with ThinkProgress about anything. I'm a conservative who's sympathetic enough to what I think Howley had in mind -- mocking yet another half-baked bunch of protesters. Being half-baked himself, he just screwed up the execution of his plan.