Posted on 11/24/2007 11:59:37 AM PST by xjcsa
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) --- A team of FBI agents that re-examined the Oklahoma City bombing after a resurgence in conspiracy theories uncovered no new reliable leads, the man who initially supervised the bureau's investigation told a newspaper.
In his new memoir, "On-Scene Commander," former FBI deputy director Weldon Kennedy criticizes those who believe federal authorities did not find all the people involved in the terrorist attack's planning. He spoke to The Oklahoman newspaper for a story in Saturday's editions.
"There's no possible way there were other conspirators," Kennedy wrote. "I can say with total confidence that we identified all three conspirators in the case and arrested them."
The bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was executed in 2001. Of his friends linked to the case, Terry Nichols is serving life in federal prison for his role in the attack and Michael Fortier spent years in prison for his crimes before being released last year.
Kennedy oversaw the agency's probe during the first couple of months after the April 19, 1995, attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building near downtown Oklahoma City. He also served as spokesman for the FBI at news conferences.
He told the newspaper that he learned of the re-examination of the bombing, which killed 168, "through my continuing association with contemporaries in the FBI and so forth."
"I've not seen any of the documents ... but I'm told that that review was very comprehensive and quite conclusive that there was ... no lead, no avenue unexplored, in the entire case," he said.
In his book, Kennedy wrote that the mysterious "John Doe No. 2" turned out to be "someone's memory playing tricks on him." FBI sketches of "John Doe No. 2" were released worldwide after witnesses said that man was with McVeigh when the bomb truck was rented in Junction City, Kan.
Kennedy said he is certain there are no others involved in the bombing because McVeigh and Nichols used a telephone calling card -- purchased under a fake name -- in their plot to find bombing materials and to keep in contact. The FBI was able to track where the two called.
"If there in fact was another conspirator, I am absolutely convinced that we would have been able to identify him through the telephone (records) and through other investigation that we did which was exhaustive," he said.
Kennedy, 69, was the special agent in charge in Arizona when FBI Director Louis Freeh tapped him to head up the initial bombing investigation in Oklahoma City. He retired from the agency in 1997.
...works for me.
Yes, but they are all dirty.
Asking the man who headed the original investigation to critique his work is not likely to produce new results.
So the agent that would have been in charge of the cover up claims there was no cover up. Big deal.
We’re not supposed to think. We’re supposed to accept what we are told and move on.
Jose Padilla can not be dismissed as someone’s memory playing tricks.
And Terry Nichols, convenience store clerk, travelling to the Phillipines is similarly something that needs to be absolutely clarified.
Anyone know what happened to OKCsubmariner? I thought that poster was all over the OKC stuff...
Banned, I believe.
Remember, remember when we used toi believe automatically everything the FBI said? Huh, do you?
Boy, that was a long time ago.
I guess this FBI agent knows Gorelick.
Hell, it only took 14 years for Weldon to get his story straight.
I think that pretty much explains the whole thing.
He would have been 59 in 1997, plenty old enough for a government employee to get full retirement.. but
"Weldon Kennedy also later resigned from the FBI after being accused of lying to Congress about corrupt practices at the FBI crime lab."
A web site says its true, he did resign for the stated reason. I believe that he ran the OKC bombing investigation and then was promoted to Freeh's top Deputy Director.
This FR thread says its true, he resigned.
Another site says, "Senator Charles Grassley, formally accused Kennedy of lying to Grassley and Congress and of covering up the FBI crime lab falsification of evidence as revealed by an FBI agent, Fredrick Whitehurst, who had worked at the lab. Kennedy resigned shortly thereafter and went to work at a security position in St. Louis."
I think that it's true. It's also true that he has a hell of lot at stake to stop any questions about the work of his FBI.
Folks, it took years for American citizens to get Congress to do honest hearings on Ruby Ridge and Waco (more or less, but better than the original hearings caricatures). Without free, modern talk radio the efforts may have failed.
All the while the citizens were ridiculed and threatened -- the government had a version and the Bush (Ruby Ridge) and Clinton (Waco, covered up Ruby Ridge) administrations were sticking to "the story".
I don’t have a problem with the folks they fingered. I do have a problem with the folks they didn’t finger. I also have a problem with certain people who were warned before the event, yet the authorities don’t own up to prior knowledge. I do have a problem with at least three inside informations a Elohim city, one of which laid out the plan fairly clearly in advance, and was thanked for it by be blackballed, even though she remained in the employ of federal agents for about a year after the bombing.
The whole thing stinks. What the terrorists couldn’t accomplish, the federal agencies did, namely to generate a an inability of the public to trust a thing they say.
Yes, I remember. That was a long, long time ago, long before Ruby Ridge, Waco and the Richard Jewell frame-up and more that I’m sure you could call to memory. A sad turn of history, indeed.
Perhaps Mr. Kennedy can explain why Nichols went all the way to the Philippines to work alone on his bombs. Are they more tolerant of playing with bombs than Kansas?
Otherwise perhaps Mr. Kennedy can explain why president security adviser Richard Clarke would write this in his book, Against All Enemies:
"we do know that Nichols's bombs did not work before his Philippines stay and were deadly when he returned."
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