Posted on 09/13/2003 11:42:09 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
CONSPIRACY? Oklahoma City Cover-Up: The Iraq Connection
By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter
There are several possible explanations for what is either the government's lack of interest or a cover-up.
CBN.com – OKLAHOMA CITY — Before 9-11, it was the worst act of terrorism ever committed on American soil. The Oklahoma City bombing has been portrayed as an attack by Americans Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols against their fellow Americans. But that was never the whole story.
There is strong evidence that McVeigh and Nichols were only two members of a broad conspiracy, one that included other white supremacists and possibly Iraqi agents. But what has always been puzzling has been the government's lack of interest in pursuing other suspects.
The execution of Timothy McVeigh helped bring a feeling of closure to the family and friends of the 168 people killed in 1995 in the Oklahoma City bombing. But McVeigh's lawyer, Stephen Jones, cautions that if the government thinks it convicted the chief suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing, it got the wrong man.
"I believe Timothy McVeigh's role in the Oklahoma City bombing was a very minor one," Jones said. "A member of the conspiracy? Yes. The leader? No. The financier? No. The organizer? No. Timothy McVeigh saw his role as the cover for everybody else, to be the person to fall on the sword. It served deep-seated emotional needs that he had, and it furthered the role of the conspiracy."
Ever since the McVeigh trial, Jones has accused the federal government of a cover-up, and indeed, the government was found to have withheld 4,000 pages of evidence during the McVeigh trial.
Jones' book, Others Unknown refers to the other suspects the government stopped pursuing. Several witnesses saw McVeigh with other men up to and after the Oklahoma City bombing. John Doe #2 was described as dark complected. Some said he looked Hispanic. Some said Arab.
Rodney Johnson had to swerve his truck to avoid hitting McVeigh and John Doe #2 as they crossed the street right before the bombing. "Timothy McVeigh was in the lead, and John Doe #2 was right behind him — a dark skinned, possibly Mexican American, possibly native American, some people say, but dark skinned," Johnson recalled.
Shortly after the Murrah Federal Building was blown up, the FBI issued an all points bulletin for Middle Eastern suspects, but then within hours the manhunt was called off. The Justice Department was no longer interested in a Middle East connection. But it goes further than that.
In the months and years that followed, it certainly seemed as if the Justice Department did not want there to be any other suspects, Middle Eastern or otherwise. In the trial of Timothy McVeigh, the government did not call a single witness who could place McVeigh at the scene of the crime, presumably because each one of those witnesses would also testify that they saw McVeigh with other suspects. Eyewitnesses complained that in some cases, FBI agents were not interested in their accounts of John Doe #2.
Debbie Nakanashi, who is considered an important witness, said, "At first they were very excited with what we had to tell them. They brought in a sketch artist, Jeannie, I can't remember her last name, Boylan, who worked with me. And they were very excited with what I had to say. As the months went by, however, their attitude gradually changed to a point where I felt they were just kind of like, the last time I saw them it was like they were just cleaning up a little mess, there, you know."
Oklahoma police sergeant Don Browning said that on the day of the bombing, while rescue efforts were still going on, he saw FBI agents in blue raid jackets using tall ladders to remove all the surveillance cameras from the remains of the Murrah building. None of that video, which might reveal the identity of at least one of McVeigh's co-conspirators, has ever been released, except one tape showing only the Ryder truck.
Former Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key said, "There's at least a total of, according to a court document, 22 different surveillance videos. Why don't they release those videos and let the people see what those videos show? I mean they surely would clear up who and how many and what nationality some of these John Does are, and the Justice Department has continued to fight every effort to release those surveillance videos."
There are several possible explanations for what is either the government's lack of interest or a cover-up. One is that the Clinton administration wanted a simple open and shut case that would lead to a speedy execution.
Others believe the pursuit of other suspects would have revealed how badly the government bungled the investigation, or might have showed that the government could have prevented the bombing.
Federal informant Carol Howe had warned the government that a federal building would be bombed. And on the morning of the bombing, witnesses saw a bomb squad in the vicinity of the Murrah building.
And there are new questions about the government's failure or unwillingness to establish a Middle Eastern connection to the bombing, despite a sizeable amount of clues. An FBI report says that on the day of the bombing, then CIA counter-terrorism official Vincent Cannistraro took a call from Saudi Arabia.
Stephen Jones said, "He received a telephone call from a credible source, high up in Saudi intelligence. A person with some responsibility for protecting the Saudi royal family advised him that the work of the bombing was the work of four or five agents, recruited by Iraq, but who did not know they were working for Iraq, who were in this country."
Last October, Senator Arlen Spector sent FBI chief Robert Mueller a letter complaining that the FBI and the Justice Department were stonewalling his efforts to look into an Iraqi connection.
Congressman Dan Burton, chairman of the Government Reform Committee, has reportedly subpoenaed Naval intelligence for a photograph or video believed to show McVeigh and John Doe #2 getting out of the Ryder truck before the bombing.
Last year, a group of relatives of the victims filed suit against Iraq for involvement in the attack. They link Iraq through Muslim extremists in the Philippines.
In the time before the bombing, Terry Nichols made several trips and phone calls to Cebu City, the Philippines. The plaintiffs allege that Nichols met with members of the Abu Sayyaf terror group, but most importantly with Ramzi Youssef, the mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, in which the bomb and the method used were almost identical to the Oklahoma City bombing.
"We have proof from a previous case that Ramzi Youssef was an agent of Iraq," said Mike Johnston, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs in the suit against Iraq.
And Johnston says the Iraq connection is solid. "I think the strongest piece of evidence is the absolute, incriminating pattern of telephone calls, made by Terry Nichols and others to the Philippines leading up to bombing. It is apparent that both Nichols and some other individual or individuals were checking on and receiving instructions from the Philippines via phone in the critical time leading up to the April 19th bombing."
Stephen Jones says there is no doubt Nichols, who was married to a Filipino, met with Youssef in the Philippines. "His own father in law, who is a Philippine policeman, said to us and to the Philippine police that he found books on explosives and bomb making in Terry Nichols' luggage at the house. Why would Terry Nichols carry books on and explosives and bomb making to the Philippines?"
The suit also alleges a name and a face for John Doe #2. The alleged name is Hussein Al-Husseini, a former Iraqi soldier who witnesses have sworn was with Timothy McVeigh. When Al-Husseini was first named by an Oklahoma City reporter, he sued for libel, and lost.
Johnston said, "Mr. Al-Husseini failed to provide any cognizable response or plausible explanation in opposition to the circumstantial evidence that he was John Doe #2. We think the circumstantial evidence, the physical similarities, the lack of an alibi, indicate to me that we can prove in a legal context, more probably true than not, that the individual we name in our complaint is John Doe #2."
Mr. Al-Husseini's whereabouts are not known, and his attorney did not return our call.
While Jones is unsure about an Iraqi connection to the Oklahoma City bombing, he says McVeigh was very sympathetic to Iraq.
"I can talk about it now, since he's waived attorney client privilege. He thought the United States policy against Saddam Hussein was wrong, that he'd been used, these were innocent people over there, it was a poor country and we were fighting the wrong enemy," Jones said.
It is still up to the United States government to tell what it knows. The FBI has said it is "unaware of any foreign terrorist connection."
Jones says that when he accepted Timothy McVeigh as his client, he received what would be a prophetic warning from McVeigh's first attorney.
"She said to me, when you know what I know, you will never think of the United States of America again in the same way. I learned that government law enforcement agents will do, at the direction of their political masters, whatever it takes to see that their instructions are followed...destroy evidence, withhold evidence, lie. They will do it. They did do it," Jones recalled.
The question remains...why would they do it?
Charles Key said, "You're trying to get your government to do the right thing, to just tell the truth. To just pursue those people who were involved and let the chips fall where they may."
The Oklahoma City bombing case is not closed. Suspects are still at large. The government may even know their identities. It may also know they have Middle East connections. But for whatever reason, the government is not interested.
Piling the bodies up outside of Clinton's office in Harlem if need be. This was his 9-11 and he didn't do a damn thing about it. It's just a shame we have President Bush coming real at us on all angles with the war on terror but will let Billy Boy off the hook for his past deeds.
And millions of people struggle to increase the power and reach of government, the power and reach of government law enforcement agents and their political masters.
To favor big, powerful government is insanity.
All government--the best government ever devised--is a necessary evil--necessary, yes, but also evil. It is the protector of freedom; it is also the enemy of freedom. It enforces its authority with violence and threat of violence. It empowers its law enforcement agents and their political masters, who will do whatever it takes...
There was an opportunity to strongly suggest to "We The People", that militia's are very bad. What is a fact, and what they've banked on, is that many of "We The People" don't comprehend what it means to be vigilant against tyranny.
Now. If there is stong evidenced tying the OKC bombing to Iraq, and our Government is simply not interested, I would submit that they are happy with the effect of the information they have already put out. An orchestrated way to negatively portray those groups in our society closest to uprising against their usurpation of "We the People"'s power as Kooks. That if our Government should need to wipe a few of these "Kooks" out from time to time, the public would see it as a service to them.
Pretty slick huh?
Eddie01 "I'm glad you posted this, even if others already had."
McVeigh's first attorney to Mr. Jones, his new attorney: "She said to me, when you know what I know, you will never think of the United States of America again in the same way. I learned that government law enforcement agents will do, at the direction of their political masters, whatever it takes to see that their instructions are followed...destroy evidence, withhold evidence, lie. They will do it. They did do it," Jones recalled.
The question remains...why would they do it?
Of all the puzzles this one is the simplest. "It all counts toward thirty." You hear that a lot among federal employees. What percentage feeeeeeeel that way? I don't know. But they are our "Good Germans." I cannot explain the psychosis vis-à-vis their attitude toward their fellow citizens but I do understand things like bureaucrtic politcis, promotions, bureaucrtic perqs like assigned parking spaces, fat retirement checks at an early age. . . .
Would you have gone along with a heavily armed assault on a house full of children to arrest a man when that man was on friendly terms with the local law enforcement and appears in public regularly? No? You're not a "Good German," then.
Of all the things all agree upon this is the most damning. To wit, there are tapes. Why not release those tapes? McVeigh was executed. Nichols was never accused of being there that morning. Why not release those tapes? Mainstream news organizations such as CBS have sued to get them and more.
Would they prove eyewitness accounts that others were there with McVeigh? Would the government and the judge then have to explain why no eyewitnesses were allowed to testify at McVeigh's trial -- people inside the building testified and understandably had jurors and prosecutors in tears -- but no witness who could place McVeigh at the scene was allowed to testify. As Time magazine reported at the time it was because they saw others with McVeigh and the prosecutors were not interested in that.
I don't like it but I can understand why some government employees behave as "Good Germans." What I don't understand and I despise are decision makers who have let murderers of American children, women, and men go free.
Despite years of ridicule and threats some truth about Ruby Ridge and Waco did make it to the American citizens. OKC is no different.
"In July 2001, in the FOIA lawsuit filed by an Oklahoma journalist, the Justice Department reluctantly conceded the existence of 23 videotapes. The tapes photographed the area around the Murrah Federal Building between April 15, 1995, and 9:02 a.m. April 19, when the bomb went off." [end]
Mr. Patterson goes on the name the judge in his report.
You see there were other cameras besides the ones on the Murrah Building. They were on nearby buildings.
Rather than the Nichols trial I am more interested in the lawsuit alleging Iraqi involvement that I specified in an earlier thread referenced above, I believe. Frankly, I don't care if it turns out that BJ was correct and Rush Limbaugh made him do it -- I just want, as they say, justice.
If Bush came out and linked both TWA 800 and OKC to failed Clinton investigations and cover up's...the airline industry would take another hit it cannot afford again and people would be demanding for the hanging of Clinton...which isn't a bad thing...but you know for a fact that the DNC and the Clintons would come out with all kinds of things on Bush and their business dealings with the Saudi's.
Lest not forget! Those FBI files were screwed with for a reason! Blackmale.
"Back room deals," by Bill O'Reilly February 2, 2002 on townhall.com says
What "Mr. Bush may have given the Democrats is an assurance that he will not embarrass their party by aggressively pursuing" Clinton's wrong-doings.
I heard O'Reilly say more than once on his radio show that the Congressional Democrat leaders made it clear from the beginning: you touch Bill Clinton and you will get nothing through Congress.
If I am not mistaken, Ramzi Youssef has never uttered a word in response to any question, at any time, since he was arrested.
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