Posted on 09/13/2003 7:11:35 AM PDT by JohnBerger
'1000 Years' Adds Detail To Possible OKC-Qaeda Links
New Book Puts Nichols In Chicago in 1994, 20 Miles From Known Al Qaeda Paymaster
A new book, 1000 Years for Revenge : International Terrorism and the FBI, contains significant new information on possible links between the Oklahoma City bombing and al Qaeda operatives working in the U.S. and abroad in 1994 and 1995.
The book devotes a chapter to the Oklahoma City bombing. Much of the material has been covered elsewhere, but author Peter Lance adds new details taken from FBI sources, court documents and interviews with authorities in the Philippines.
Of chief interest in the context of the theory laid out on this site, Lance definitively places Terry Nichols in Chicago, Ill., on Nov. 4, 1994, where he obtained a visa for travel to the Philippines. The Philippines consulate is about 20 miles from the headquarters of Benevolence International Foundation, an al Qaeda-linked charity operation with ties to Ramzi Yousef and alleged al Qaeda dirty bomber Jose Padilla. This site previously placed McVeigh in Chicago during a critical juncture, but this is the first information placing Nichols in the city during a significant time frame.
As previously reported here and elsewhere, the president of BIF at this time was Mohamed Loay Bayazid, whom federal indictments identify as an al Qaeda paymaster, primarily responsible for disbursing cash to terrorist operatives.
As reported on whoisjohndoe2.com based on multiple federal indictments, Bayazid was in contact with Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, who entered the U.S. on Dec. 1, 1994. Khalifa funded Yousef's Manila operation, and stayed in phone contact with the cell during November and into December, according to federal indictments.
Yousef was based in Manila, where he was planning a massive attack on U.S. airliners, including a component similar to the Sept. 11 attacks. Nichols obtained a 60-day visa while in Chicago, then traveled first to Arizona (where he allegedly robbed a gun dealer acquaintance of Timothy McVeigh) and then to Las Vegas, where his ex-wife and son lived. While in Las Vegas, Nichols secreted a extremely large amount of cash in his ex-wife's house and rented a storage compartment which held the loot from the robbery. From Las Vegas, Nichols flew to the Philippines on Nov. 22. His visa would expire on Jan. 21., the day that Yousef's massive attacks were scheduled for execution.
In early to mid December, shortly after Khalifa entered the country, Timothy McVeigh abruptly left his family's home in New York, where he had been assisting with the disposition of his grandfather's estate, and traveled first to Michigan, and then to Oklahoma City. While there, he idenfitied the Murrah Building as his target to an associate on or around Dec. 16. That same day, Khalifa and Bayazid were arrested outside San Francisco. They had bomb-making manuals in their possession, according to several federal and immigration court documents. Immediately after the arrest, McVeigh traveled to Chicago, allegedly for the purpose of buying supplies related to the OKC bombing plot.
Other information in Lance's book, either entirely new or reported with new detail, includes:
The guest log of the apartment building where Yousef and his co-conspirators worked includes visits to the apartment from a man named "Nick" during the period Yousef and Nichols were both in the Philippines.
A cell phone used by Yousef co-conspirator Abdul Hakim Murad was used to make calls to an Oklahoma area code as late as March 1995 (after Murad's arrest), which correspond to calls made to Cebu City using a calling card associated with McVeigh and Nichols. Lance cites as source exhibits from the Judicial Watch lawsuit which accuses Iraq of underwriting the OKC bombing. whoisjohndoe2.com has previously tried to make inquiries concerning these exhibits, but calls and e-mails were not returned.
Nichols obtained his visa one day after Yousef and a co-conspirator obtained final visas for travel in and out of the Phillipines.
Lance cites an FBI 302 report confirming that Yousef accomplice Abdul Hakim Murad confessed in prison on April 19, 1995, that Yousef's working group was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing and further documents the claim with references to Murad's trial materials. Previous sourcing on this specific claim was less than ideal.
— By J.M. Berger
-JMB
Still never figured out how to do links.
That's the kind of book I like.
Thanks for the review.
I found the following on www.okcbombing.org
This may be old news to folks who have been following this closer than I, however I thought it interesting enough to post it here.
I've added the bold/red to some important parts.
tscislaw
=======================================================
"Deathbed" Confession Transcript -- World Exclusive
Posted April 19, 2002
The following interview with ELMINA ABDUL, widow of EDWIN ANGELES, one of the cofounders of the ABU SAYYAF GROUP (ASG), and deep cover agent for the Defense Intelligence Group (DIG) of the Department of National Defense (DND), of the Republic of the Philippines, was taken on March 10, 2002, in the presence of CHRISTOPHER M. PUNO, Information Officer of the Province of Basilan, at BASCOM Hospital, in the general ward.
TRANSLATED TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH ELMINA ABDUL, WIDOW TO EDWIN ANGELES TAKEN AT BASILAN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL GENERAL WARD ISABELA CITY, PROVINCE OF BASILAN REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES BY DORIAN ZUMEL SICAT NEWS CORRESPONDENT MANILA TIMES, OMEGA NEWS SERVICE (USA)
(After introduction to ELMINA ABDUL by Provincial Information Officer Christopher Puno)
NOTE: I interviewed ELMINA in Tagalog, she answered me in Chavacano and Cebuano, two of the local dialects spoken in Basilan. She did not speak in the indigenous dialect because she knew that I do not speak or understand that dialect.
DZS: Good morning Ms. Angeles
DZS: How are you feeling this morning?
EA: Not very well.
DZS: Do you feel like talking with me?
EA: Yes, but not so long. I am tired.
DZS: I will try to be as short as possible. Did Chris tell you what I am here to talk to you about?
EA: Yes. And I am the one who asked him to look for you after I was told that you are interested in the truth about my husband.
DZS: Good. Okay. You are not Edwin's first wife, is that true?
EA: Yes. I am his third wife. For Muslim men, they can have even four wives, if each of the other ones approve.
DZS: How, when and where did you meet Edwin?
EA: We met when he was in the Provincial Jail here in Isabela, in 1995. I was then working for the government radio station, dxOS (Philippine Information Agency)/PIA.
DZS: That was after his capture?
EA: Yes.
DZS: When did you marry him?
EA: In 1997.
DZS: I am going to ask you some very sensitive questions now. Is that all right with you?
EA: Yes. I want to tell the truth of what I know of my late husband.
DZS: Did you know that he was one of those who founded the ASG, along with the late Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, in 1991?
EA: Yes. I know also why he was one of them.
DZS: Can you tell me why?
EA: Yes, I want to tell you why. I want now to tell the truth about my husband. I will die soon. I want you to know the truth. Will you write the truth, Mr. Sicat?
DZS: Yes. I will. I promise.
EA: You are not afraid?
DZS: More than you know, Mrs. Angeles.
EA: Good. Maybe you will stay alive and safe because of your fear. I will tell you that Edwin was ordered to do that.
DZS: Can you explain please.
EA: He was what they call a deep penetration agent or DPA.
DZS: Can you explain please?
EA: As I told you, he was given orders.
DZS: By whom?
EA: Some very powerful men in the DND.
DZS: Did he tell you why?
EA: No. Only that he was ordered to help to organize the ASG and to report all developments.
DZS: Did he tell you who it was?
EA: Not by names. But he told my only at the highest levels.
DZS: Did he ever tell you about his activities in the ASG before he met you?
EA: He told me everything. I do not believe that he would hide anything from me when we were talking alone.
DZS: Please do not be offended, but how do you know that?
EA: Not only because I was his wife, but because he knew that he would soon be killed. He wanted me to know everything so that if anything happened to him I could tell others.
DZS: Do you want to stop now?
EA: No. More water please.
DZS: Can I ask you about some things that happened back in the mid-90s? 1993, 1994?
EA: Yes. I will try to answer what you ask.
DZS: Did he ever talk to you about meetings with Arabs or Americans?
EA: Yes, once he had met with some Arabs and Americans in 1994, in Davao (City), or General Santos (City).
DZS: Did he tell you who they were?
EA: Does the name Ramsey Yousef mean something to you Mr. Sicat?
DZS: Ahmad Hassim. Does that mean something to you?
EA: He had met with them. And an American who he called Terry or the Farmer, and another American whom he did not name.
DZS: Was the American he named as Terry, Terry Nichols?
EA: He did not mention the surname. Only Terry.
DZS: Did he tell you why and how many times they had met?
EA: They met almost every day for one week. They met in an empty bodega (warehouse). They talked about bombings. They mentioned bombing government buildings in San Francisco, Saint Louis and in Oklahoma. The Americans wanted instructions how to make and to explode bombs. He (Edwin) told me that Janjalani was very interested in paying them much money to explode the buildings. The money was coming from Yousef and the other Arab.
DZS: Did he tell you when the bombs would explode; when they exploded?
EA: He told me that the Americans exploded one bomb in Oklahoma in 1995, after he was arrested and after we first met.
DZS: Did he ever tell you who was supplying the money for the bombing of the building, I mean who Yousef was working with or for?
EA: Mr. Sicat, you are the mediaman. Do you not know that Yousef was representing Iraq and Saddam Hussein? Do you not know that?
DZS: Did Edwin tell you that?
EA: Not only Edwin, but others that were close to us, before he was killed. One time, a soldier (Philippine Army) and Edwin were talking secretly. I was there because Edwin demanded. The soldier ordered Edwin never to tell anybody about the Iraqis.
DZS: Did you ever see that soldier before or after that time?
EA: Only two times before. He was the one who would talk to him for information.
DZS: Mrs. Angeles, do you know who killed your husband, Edwin?
EA: The ones who used him and then betrayed him, Mr. Sicat. (She grows visibly weaker). I want to rest now.
DZS: I understand. I'll let you rest now. Thank you so much, Mrs. Angeles. You have told me so much. I will try to see you tomorrow if you are up to it.
NOTE: I was not able to speak with ELMINA again. She became too weak and incoherent the following day. A few days later, the doctors had diagnosed that she was terminal. She needed to be transferred to Davao City to the Regional Hospital (government) for treatment. A few days later, while I was in Davao, arranging for her admission to the Regional Hospital, Chris told me that she could no longer be moved. She would die in transit. Since Muslims require burial within 24 hours of death, I understood the reasoning. The following day, Chris contacted me that ELMINA ABDUL, widow to EDWIN ANGELES (killed by unknown assailants in 1998), died in the pre-dawn hours Saturday March 30. She was the last one to talk with her husband before he was killed. I was the last and only reporter to talk with her about her husband before she died.
(sgd) DORIAN ZUMEL SICAT
News Correspondent
Manila Times /Omega News Service (USA)
Investigative Liaison to Law Office of John Michael Johnston
Robert Bickel, Sr.
Senior Investigator and Legal Analyst
Law offices of John Michael Johnston
Elmina Abdul Angeles Statement
The visits are fact. The connection to Ramzi Yousef, et al, is not established beyond a reasonable doubt. Edwin Angeles (quoted on this thread) is not an ideal witness, although his story is highly suggestive.
Yousef bombed one of those Philippines Airlines flights as a test for a broader attack in 1995, which included a 9/11 style kamikaze crash. Nichols was in the Philippines from Nov. 1994 until just after Yousef's plot was exposed. There's a lot more about this on my site and elsewhere.
My own theory is that Nichols and McVeigh learned to make the bomb from an al Qaeda bomb manual (several were circulating in the U.S. at the time), and that Nichols was in the Philippines as payback for that information. Specifically, I believe Nichols was slated to be a 9/11 style hijacker on a flight that was to be piloted by Abdul Hakim Murad on Jan. 21, 1995. Only circumstantial evidence to back that right now, but there's rather a lot of it.
jmb
Quite right. Nichols being placed in Chicago in early Nov. 1994 is interesting because of broader context of his activity and resources at the time. The fact of his being there is not in itself evidence of anything, especially since he needed to get his visa cleared there.
It's more of a reverse extrapolation. If the theory is that Nichols and McVeigh were connected to Benevolence, you need to establish means, motive and opportunity for contacts at crucial times. Nichols being in Chicago on this date represents the "opportunity" part of the equation.
What's more interesting is McVeigh traveling to Chicago in December, right after two Chicago-connected al Qaeda figures carrying bomb-making manuals had been arrested.
(In the trial and in subsequent interviews, the stated reason for this trip was for McVeigh to sell blasting caps to a Chicago area gun dealer named Dave Paulsen.)
jmb
This is one place to start. http://www.isee.org/ International Society of Explosives Engineers.
There are literally hundreds of college courses taught and text books written on the subject. Most universities that have a school of mining stock a pretty good supply of information in the library. Text books on Structural Dynamics are also useful references. The legal use of explosives is a large industry.
The makes the thought police nervous. They would have us believe that knowledge of this type is only for terrorists.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.