Pentagon shooter: Right-wing extremist?

Liberals argue that John Patrick Bedell was a right-wing extremist — conservatives say he was a lunatic lefty

John Patrick Bedell.
(Image credit: Creative Commons)

Investigators are piecing together a complex picture of John Patrick Bedell, a California man killed last week after he opened fire on guards at the entrance to the Pentagon. Bedell's family describes him as a bright young man who got lost in mental illness. In his online postings, Bedell, 36, raged about his 2006 arrest for growing marijuana and argued that the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 attacks. While Bedell was registered as a Democrat, some commentators say his natural allegiance lay with the Tea Party. What do the facts suggest about Bedell's political motives? (Watch a report about the Pentagon shooter's motives)

Once again, a right-wing extremist targets the government: Like Joe Stack, whom some called a "Tea Party terrorist" after he crashed a small plane into IRS offices in Texas, says Peter Grier in The Christian Science Monitor, John Patrick Bedell "appears to have been a right-wing extremist" driven to violence by "virulent antigovernment feelings." The number of extremist groups with similar beliefs is growing so quickly it's scary.

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