Let’s remember when Deadspin asked “Is Pete Carroll a 9/11 Truther?,” on this day in 2013 (June 13)
As head coach of the Seahawks, Pete Carroll has brought in notable speakers to talk to the team about leadership and winning and all that bullshit. He once brought in Jordan Peterson to tell Blair Walsh he could cure his yips if he would just clean his room, or something. One time, he brought in a retired general. Did Carroll have any questions for the general? You bet your sweet ass he did.
Here’s what Deadspin had to say:
Here’s what happened, according to a couple sources: Late last spring, retired general Peter Chiarelli, who had just finished his term as the Army’s vice chief of staff, visited Carroll at the Seattle Seahawks headquarters. Chiarelli was expecting a pleasant meeting. After all, the pair had what important businesspeople tend to call synergies: Chiarelli — who grew up in Seattle — is a big Seahawks fan. His post-military work concerns traumatic brain injury research, a cause of some significance to the NFL. And both have plenty of experience leading groups of men on grand American stages.
The sit-down between Chiarelli and Carroll started off normally enough. They talked about the team, and then about head trauma. Chiarelli, who commanded the American forces in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom II, talked about the brain injuries he had seen there. But Chiarelli’s mention of Iraq sent Carroll in another direction: He wanted to know if the September 11 attacks had been planned or faked by the United States government.
In particular, Carroll wanted to know whether the attack on the Pentagon had really happened. Chiarelli — who was the top-ranking Army official inside the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into its western side — explained that it had. He said he had lost many colleagues. But Carroll didn’t stop there. He ran through the whole 9/11 truther litany.
“Every 9/11 conspiracy theory you can think of, Pete asked about,” said Riki Ellison, the former NFL linebacker who now runs the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance and introduced Carroll to Chiarelli. Ellison, along with Seahawks offensive line coach Pat Ruel, was at the meeting as well. “And he didn’t stop at 9/11 — he had lots of questions about the role of the military today.”
…
Ellison said Carroll did only what anyone else would do: “Pete had a four-star general in the room, one of the army’s top guys. Why wouldn’t you push the envelope?”
I liked the comment from “Smoak on the Water”:
“Pete had a four-star general in the room, one of the army’s top guys. Why wouldn’t you push the envelope?”
Because you have a four-star general in the room, one of the Army’s top guys.
Read the whole thing:
