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| Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols and Ramzi Yousef (Part 11) |
| 2004-04-19 |
| I wrote this. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 During the weeks preceding the Oklahoma City bombing, the US Government received various reports from sources in Iran, Syria and the Philippines warning that bombs would be detonated at US Government buildings, in particular at buildings with courthouses. A warning was therefore sent to all federal courthouses on March 15. This warning indicated that bombings were being organized by the Iranian regime and would begin soon after the Iranian New Year’s Day, which was March 21. (Gerald Posner, Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11, chapter 10; most of this article is from that source.) John Gannon, a CIA deputy director during that period, confirms an extraordinary amount of intelligence reporting and relevant communications "chatter" along those lines during those weeks. Within hours of the bombing, the US Government received seven phone calls from callers claiming to represent Middle Eastern terrorist groups that had organized the bombing. Because of the warnings and claims, FBI Headquarters immediately informed its domestic and foreign field offices that "the likely group" guilty of the bombing was Islamic Jihad, a group supported by Iran. Eyewitnesses at the site reported suspicious activities featuring Middle Eastern men: * Shortly before the explosion, a woman had been in an elevator descending to the ground floor. Also in the elevator was a young Arab man, wearing a backpack, who hurriedly pushed the elevator buttons as if trying to get off. She followed him out of and away from the building a few moments before the explosion. The woman was still close enough to the building that she was knocked off her feet by the explosion. * Several minutes before the explosion, a pedestrian near the building saw a yellow Mercury parked near the federal building. The car sped off, bounced over a concrete barrier in the roadway, swerved to avoid a dumpster, and almost hit the pedestrian. * Shortly before the explosion, a man saw two men run from the federal building’s vicinity toward a brown Chevy pickup truck. He described the two men as wearing beards and as "possibly of Middle-Eastern descent." * Shortly before the explosion, a woman was walking several blocks away from the federal building and noticed three vehicles that seemed to be moving as a group. All the occupants seemed to be Middle Eastern men. One man in one of the cars was staring so intently at something that she herself turned to look in that direction and saw the federal building, which was still standing normally. One of the vehicles was a yellow Mercury, and another was a brown pickup. * Right after the explosion, a woman ran out of another building, located about five blocks from the federal building, to look at the federal building and was almost hit by a brown pickup that had raced around a nearby corner. There were three male occupants, at least two of whom looked like Middle Eastern men. At least one of the occupants had an obviously very angry expression on his face. Later, when she was shown photos of suspects, she selected a photo of an Iraqi with ties to terrorist groups. * A few hours after the explosion, a group of three people reported seeing a brown pickup with three Middle Eastern occupants speeding out of town. That report was compelling enough to prompt the police to issue an all-points bulletin, authorized by the FBI, to search for the pickup. As soon as Timothy McVeigh was identified as the culprit who rented the Ryder truck that carried the explosives, US Government investigators discounted all such eyewitnesses. "We went from a Middle Eastern case investigation to an all-domestic on the turn of a dime," says Buck Revell, then the FBI’s Assistant Director for Criminal Investigations and the FBI’s representative on the Restricted Interagency Group for Terrorism. Dewey Clarridge, Chief of the CIA Counter-Terrorism Center, says that the identification of McVeigh and Nichols as the culprits "knocked the wind out of many of my former colleagues. There was little incentive for the Agency to fund a large operation against Arab militants when suddenly the concern was with domestic ones." =============== Immediately after the explosion was reported by the mass media, Abdul Hakim Murad, who had been extradited from the Philippines to the United States exactly one week earlier, declared to a guard that Ramzi Yousef’s so-called "Liberation Army" had carried out the bombing. =============== On April 21, two days after the bombing, a phone call was made from the Nichols’ home in Herington, Kansas, to a boarding house in Cebu City in the Philippines. Less than two hours later, Nichols surrendered to the police. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #5 MBD - wow! Have a cup of coffee. While I agree it's been disappointing to see the Iraqi's fail to get with the program, it's a bit over the top to throw in the towel so early. It's far too soon to assume that the little brown folk are incapable of democracy. Without the meddling of Iran, Syria and SA, and some key hits on the right "leaders", I still think they have a chance of moving forward. I'm glad Bremer's going to be replaced soon. Not to disparage him, he's done a fine job, but I think it's time we get someone fresh to look at the situation anew. I'm not so sure about Negraponte (sp?). I just don't know enough about him. I still wonder if we shouldn't just carve them up into different states, as was proposed before the war. Whatever, I believe that the people are capable of democracy - it's those already in power that are having a problem with the idea. |
| Posted by: B 2004-04-19 7:55:31 AM |
| #4 Yeah, the Feds rushed judgment at the time, and later exhonerated the Saudi government for its facilitating role in the massacre of 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001. Facts have no currency in this sick, sick world. It is my judgment that George Walker Bush's attempt to export the American social-political system to Iraq, is a irreparable failure. The non-governmental workers are currently locked in compounds, and will return to work when hell freezes over. If elections are ever held in that savage country, the winners - the Islamofascist Shia oligarchy - will exterminate the Turkemen, Kurd and Christian minorities. If that is "freedom," then Hitler must have been a "freedom fighter." So what's the cover-story? |
| Posted by: Man Bites Dog 2004-04-19 3:08:31 AM |
| #3 Nice job Mike. I remember hearing how Clinton was relieved to find a white dude to stick this on. Sorry that it's now going to the grassy knowle area of history. I think we are at war with Islamic nuts. I think their leaders and money men should be exterminated. Bummer! |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-04-19 1:22:30 AM |
| #2 I want to believe this, but I feel like I have to approach it with the same skepticism as the 9-11 conspiracy theories. Regardless, McVeigh was killed too soon. Should have let him rot for 25 years and gilled him every 4 months. Too many unanswered questions. |
| Posted by: joe 2004-04-19 12:39:00 AM |
| #1 Posner says, after recounting alot of this information, that they were all mistaken. Now, that's not really credible, is it? I think he was led astray by his government sources. Do you think John Doe #2 is Hussain al-Hussaini or Jose Padilla, or someone else entirely? |
| Posted by: Pete Stanley 2004-04-19 12:32:40 AM |