Posted on 12/24/2006 12:21:44 PM PST by LurkedLongEnough
WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI failed to fully investigate information suggesting other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, allowing questions to linger more than a decade after the deadly attack, a congressional inquiry concludes.
The House International Relations investigative subcommittee will release the findings of its two-year-review as early as Wednesday, declaring there is no conclusive evidence of a foreign connection to the attack but that far too many unanswered questions remain.
The subcommittee's report will conclude there is no doubt McVeigh and Nichols were the main perpetrators, and it discloses for the first time that Nichols confirmed to House investigators he participated in the robbery of an Arkansas gun dealer that provided the proceeds for the attack.
There have long been questions about that robbery because the FBI concluded McVeigh was in another state at the time it occurred.
The report also sharply criticizes the FBI for failing to be curious enough to pursue credible information that foreign or U.S. citizens may have had contact with Nichols or McVeigh and could have assisted their plot.
"We did our best with limited resources, and I think we moved the understanding of this issue forward a couple of notches even though important questions remain unanswered," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., the subcommittee chairman, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Rohrabacher's subcommittee saved its sharpest words for the Justice Department, saying officials there exhibited a mind-set of thwarting congressional oversight and did not assist the investigation fully.
The report rebukes the FBI for not fully pursuing leads suggesting other suspects may have provided support to McVeigh and Nichols before their truck bomb killed 168 people in the main federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.
The report says the inadequacy of the bureau's work was exposed two years ago when some bombing evidence overlooked for 10 years was discovered in a home linked to Nichols that had been searched repeatedly by agents.
Officials at the FBI press office had no immediate comment Sunday but were looking into the details of the report.
Previously, the bureau has said it believes its investigation of the bombing was exhaustive and that there is no credible evidence that other people were involved.
The subcommittee concludes the Justice Department should not have rushed to execute McVeigh in 2001 after he dropped his court appeals, and that officials should have made more efforts to interview and question him about evidence suggesting he might have gotten help from other people who remain unpunished.
The former lead FBI agent in the case, Dan Defenbaugh, told AP a few years ago he was trying to get one last interview with McVeigh to go over unanswered questions in the case but could not get it arranged before McVeigh was executed.
Rohrabacher's report cites several leads the subcommittee believes were not fully investigated, including:
_information that McVeigh called a German citizen living at a white supremacist compound in Oklahoma two weeks before the bombing and that two witnesses saw the men together before the bombing.
_witness accounts that another man was seen with McVeigh around the time of the bombing. The FBI originally looked for another suspect it named John Doe 2, even providing a sketch, but abruptly dropped that line of inquiry. The subcommittee concludes that decision was a mistake.
_findings in AP articles in 2003 and 2004 that indicated the FBI had gathered some evidence suggesting a group of neo-Nazi bank robbers may have been tied to McVeigh. The subcommittee interviewed three of those robbers, and all denied a connection. A fourth member of the gang died and a fifth member could not be located by Congress.
_phone record and witness testimony that persons associated with Middle Eastern terrorism in the Philippines may have had contact with Nichols, and that Nichols took a book about explosives to the Philippines. The FBI and Filipino police spent months investigating such a connection, but ruled it out.
_information from a former TV reporter concerning an Iraqi national who was in Oklahoma around the time of the bombing.
Just ask anyone living in OKC what a huge whitewash this has all been.
Jamie Gorelick "stopped" that investigation.
Hopefully, Rohrabacher is not just posturing again.
Whitewash indeed. I knew something was up when we stopped looking for John Doe number 2. Remember? For two straight days, his picture was all over the news and then suddenly, nothing. I knew there was more to the story then. After all the crap Clinton pulled before OKC, it was easy to assume there was more to the story..
Yep, Jamie Gorelick came to mind the instant I read the title of this thread.
Put credit where credit is due. In this case, the FBI is the fall guy.
Well, the paper tiger Congress can rebuke all it wants. The FBI couldn't care less and nothing will change.
I never heard Gorelick was involved with OKC - but not surprised. I pray the truth comes out and xlinton gets nailed for ignoring a terrorist attack on US soil ala '93-WTC.
Oh, so suddenly they're worried about over spending my tax dollars? Yes, and just what about John Doe #2. Btw, how is Jose Padilla doing these days?
Thanks for giving it the old "collegiate try", Dana. This is far from over.
Now go home to your wife and triplets and have a good holiday.
Very good question.
The full text of the report is here:
http://intelwire.egoplex.com/2006_12_23_exclusives.html#116690939617012869
That's it.
Rohrbacher has not been cooperative with Jayna.
11 years ago . . . . . ?
Everybody knows it was right-wing hate radio that did it...
I have been thinking about those convicted of heinous crimes and traitors.
I would like to see these this of person put on a lie detector and filled with every type of truth serums to check their story, find the people who aided and abetted them.
This might free a few innocent and get the master minds behind the crimes.
Right now a guilty person sentenced to death might get more than 20 years of 3 hots and entertainment.
Lawyers that get 20 years of tax payers money will hate this idea.
Wasn't the "main" person convicted of the OKC bombing put to death so much faster than usual for a capital crime.
IMHO it *perfectly* explains WHY we took out Saddam - it was revenge for his involvement in 9/11 attempt #1, OKC, TWA800 (remember Pierre Salinger was adamant in claiming it was shot down given the huge number of eyewitnesses), and of course, 9/11 attempt #2. I am *amazed* that Clinton tried to pin OKC on "the VRWC" and the "right wing militias".
What the really big mystery to me is that, GWB and the GOP have not called the Dims on this and have allowed the coverup to proceed.
Perhaps they are afraid of what might happen if the full story were told.
A truly great game is afoot and we are only seeing a small, fleeting piece of it as it continues to unfold.
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