Posted on 10/22/2002 1:33:44 PM PDT by glorygirl
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."
Earlier this month, 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.
Earlier this 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.
Nothing puzzling about it. Clinton wanted OKC pinned firmly on the right-wing. Likewise, intelligence services learned to provide to the Clinton Administration what they wanted to hear. So why would anyone be surprised that the FBI and CIA failed to see 9/11 coming?
Maybe I should have put this in "breaking news" --somebody else can try, if they want. Just "add a keyword" -- breaking.
Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda, et al.: Complaint (PDF) Lawsuit claiming a 9/11 link between Iraq and al Qaeda. Sept. 3, 2002
The file is in slow loading .pdf format, but it is an interesting read. Some excerpts:
39. Upon information and belief, there have been numerous meetings between IRAQI Intelligence agents and high-ranking AL QAEDA terrorists to plan terror attacks. Once such meeting occurred in 1992, when ZAWAHIRI (EGYPTIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD leader and AL QAEDA officer) met with IRAQI INTELLIGENCE agents in Baghdad, IRAQ over several days. An IRAQI serving with the TALIBAN who fled Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, was captured in Kurdistan and has corroborated this meeting and confirmed that IRAQI contacts with AL QAEDA began in 1992.
During the early 1990s, Sudan’s Sheikh Hassan al-Tourabi of the Islamic National Front arranged meetings between BIN-LADEN and IRAQI INTELLIGENCE officials. BIN LADEN met with FARUQ AL-HIJAZI, an IRAQI INTELLIGENCE agent in the Sudan who would later head IRAQI INTELLIGENCE for SADDAM HUSSEIN. BIN LADEN again met with IRAQI INTELLIGENCE officers in 1994 and 1995 in the Sudan. At these meetings, BIN-LADEN and IRAQI INTELLIGENCE secret service director FARUQ AL-HIJAZI agreed to work together on terrorist projects directed against the U.S.
55. From 1996 until 2001, BIN LADEN with the financial and logistical support of OMAR and others in the TALIBAN and IRAQ and IRAQI INTELLIGENCE, created, supplied and operated at least five training camps in order to create an “Islamic Foreign Legion” capable of attacking their enemies throughout the world. These camps trained men from 15 nations in guerrilla warfare, terrorist activities, rocket warfare, demolition and bombing, including the use of mines, grenades, TNT, nitroglycerine and plastic explosives. Classes were also given in “how to kill a policeman” and “traps, murder and terrorist moves.”
57. In February 1997, BIN LADEN publicly expressed his support for IRAQ in its conflict with the United States stating:
“The hearts of the Muslims are filled with hatred towards the United States of America and the American president for American conduct towards IRAQ.”59. IRAQ upon information and belief, agreed to supply arms to AL QAEDA and provide AL QAEDA with access to and training in the use of chemical and biological weapons and agreed to instruct AL QAEDA terror trainers at its Salman Pak camp in Baghdad that contained a Boeing 707 used to practice hijacking. IRAQ also agreed to supply AL QAEDA terrorists with new identities and passports from Yemen and the United Arab Emirates.
60. AL QAEDA agreed to provide protection from political opponents to IRAQ and SADDAM HUSSEIN, and to commit assassinations and other acts of violence to create instability in regions of IRAQ, particularly Kurdistan, to assist the regime of SADDAM HUSSEIN. AL QAEDA further agreed to provide trained terrorists, assassins and martyrs to carry out terror attacks in concert with IRAQ against their common enemies, including the United States.
64. Between April 25 and May 1, 1998, two of BIN LADEN’s senior military commanders, MUHAMMAD ABU-ISLAM and ABDULLAH QASSIM, visited Baghdad for discussions with SADDAM HUSSEIN’s son -- QUSAY HUSSEIN -- the “czar” of IRAQI INTELLIGENCE.
65. QUSAY HUSSEIN’s participation in those meetings highlights the importance of the talks in both symbolic and practical terms. Upon information and belief, as a direct result of these meetings, IRAQ again made commitments to provide training, intelligence, clandestine Saudi border crossings, financial support and weapons and explosives to AL QAEDA.
66. IRAQI INTELLIGENCE officials met with BIN LADEN in Afghanistan several more times. A second group of BIN LADEN and AL QAEDA operatives from Saudi Arabia were then trained by IRAQI INTELLIGENCE in IRAQ to smuggle weapons and explosives into Saudi Arabia and other countries, which they later accomplished in an effort to carry out future terrorist acts of violence. A third group of BIN LADEN and AL QAEDA operatives received a month of sophisticated guerrilla operations training from IRAQI INTELLIGENCE officials later in the Summer of 1998.
67. Despite philosophical and religious differences with SADDAM HUSSEIN, BIN LADEN continually sought to strengthen and reinforce the support he and AL QAEDA received from IRAQ. In mid-July 1998, BIN LADEN sent Dr. AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, the Egyptian co-founder of AL QAEDA, to IRAQ to meet with senior Iraqi officials, including Iraqi vice president TAHA YASSIN RAMADAN. Upon information and belief, the purpose of this meeting was to discuss and plan a joint strategy for a terrorist campaign against the United States.
69. During the July 1998 visit ZAWAHIRI toured an IRAQI military base and nuclear and chemical weapons facility near al-Fallujah in IRAQ and upon information and belief, observed training by IRAQI INTELLIGENCE officials of AL QAEDA operatives at the al-Nasiriyah military and chemical weapons facility in IRAQ.
79. Following the December 1998 air strikes on IRAQ, SADDAM HUSSEIN dispatched FARUQ AL-HIJAZI to Kandahar, Afghanistan in order to meet with BIN LADEN and plot their revenge.
81. To demonstrate IRAQ’s commitment to BIN LADEN and AL QAEDA, HIJAZI presented BIN LADEN with a pack of blank, official Yemeni passports, supplied to IRAQI INTELLIGENCE from their Yemeni contacts. HIJAZI’s visit to Kandahar was followed by a contingent of IRAQI INTELLIGENCE officials who provided additional training and instruction to BIN LADEN and AL QAEDA operatives in Afghanistan. These Iraqi officials included members of “Unit 999,” a group of elite IRAQI INTELLIGENCE officials who provided advanced sabotage and infiltration training and instruction to AL QAEDA operatives.
82. At that meeting, upon information and belief, BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA and IRAQ agreed to join efforts in a detailed, coordinated plan for a protracted terrorist war against the United States.
84. IRAQ maintains an advanced chemical and biological weapons program and is one of only three countries in the world producing a highly developed weaponized anthrax. Some time during or after 1998, IRAQ agreed to help BIN LADEN and AL QAEDA develop a laboratory in Afghanistan designed to produce anthrax.
85. In addition to the al-Nasiriyah and Salman Pak training camps, by January 1999, BIN LADEN and AL QAEDA operatives were being trained by IRAQI INTELLIGENCE and military officers at other training camps on the outskirts of Baghdad.
86. In January 1999, IRAQ began reorganizing and mobilizing IRAQI INTELLIGENCE front operations throughout Europe in support of BIN LADEN and AL QAEDA. HAQI ISMAIL, believed to be a member of the IRAQ’S MUKHABARAT Secret Service, left IRAQ to train in an Afghanistan AL QAEDA camp. ISMAIL was believed to be a liason between IRAQ, the TALIBAN and AL QAEDA and was rewarded with a position in the TALIBAN Foreign Ministry.
103. On July 21, approximately six weeks before the September 11 th attacks, IRAQI columnist Mulhalhal reported that BIN LADEN was making plans to “demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”
104. Mulhalhal’s July 21 article further informed that BIN LADEN would strike America “on the arm that is already hurting.” Upon information and belief, this references a second IRAQI sponsored attack on the World Trade Center. This interpretation is further bolstered by another reference to New York as “[BIN LADEN] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra everytime he hears his songs.” (e.g., “New York, New York”) identifying New York, New York as a target.
105. Mulhalhal further indicated, “The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer.” (Emphasis supplied) This appears to be a reference to the use of commercial aircraft as a weapon. The information was reported in an IRAQI newspaper who’s editor-in-chief serves as secretary to UDAY HUSSEIN’S Iraqi Syndicate of Journalists. The article expressed IRAQI admiration and support for BIN LADEN’s plans and its appearance in the newspaper would clearly have to be endorsed by SADDAM HUSSEIN himself.
106. All IRAQI news media is strictly controlled and censored by the government of SADDAM HUSSEIN and is under the direct oversight of UDAY HUSSEIN. Various members of IRAQI intelligence work at and control the content of each and every newspaper published inside IRAQ. 107. The information contained in Mulhalhal’s published statements were known prior to the events of September 11 th , and that Mulhalhal has ties to IRAQI intelligence, demonstrates foreknowledge of the planned attacks by BIN LADEN and indicates support by IRAQI co-conspirators.
110. According to U.S. and foreign intelligence officials, in the spring of 2000, IRAQI INTELLIGENCE agents met with September 11 th pilot hijackers ZAID SAMIR JARRAH and MARWAN AL-SHEHHI in Dubai, UAE in order to advance the hijacking of U.S. aircraft to commit terrorist acts. Not long after the meeting, AL-SHEHHI entered the United States on May 29 and JARRAH entered on June 27, to begin preparations for attacks.
133. Instruction documents on an artillery weapon known as the “Super Gun” were found in AL QAEDA camps when they were captured by U.S. forces in the winter of 2001-2002. IRAQ is the only state known to have purchased and assembled the super gun, a weapon so large it must be constructed in segments. It has a range of several hundred miles.
"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.
anybody recall the name of the lady that initially represented timmy? from what jones says, she should have a lot to say.
Clinton also didn't know crap about international affairs, and he wanted this to problem to go away. He also wanted the first WTC bombing to go away, Khobar towers, Somalia, Embassy bombings in Africa, and the USS Cole bombing to go away too.
He ignored the terrorist problem for his entire presidency, and he ushered this country directly into September 11, 2001
Well, you DO have a picture of Big Bird as the main feature on your FR webpage, I guess it fits.
"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."
makes you wonder who belonged to the leg w/ the army fatigues and combat boot found in the rubble that they could never match up to any of the victims.
Yep, that just about covers it.
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