Posted on 04/09/2002 8:21:06 PM PDT by glorygirl
Elmina "Yang" Abdul, wife of Edwin Angeles who was a government agent tasked with infiltrating the Abu Sayyaf Group in the southern Philippines in the mid-1990s, told a local paper before her death that Abu Sayyaf leaders and several Middle Eastern and American bombers held a conference on terrorism in the southern Philippines in 1994.
Angeles, Abu Sayyaf chieftain Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani and two unidentified members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), held a meeting with Ramsey Youssef, Abdul Murad, and two Americans, Terry Nichols and presumably Timothy McVeigh, in a warehouse near Dole (a Philippine plantation company) in South Cotabato, between General Santos City and Davao del Sur, southern Philippines in 1994, Abdul said in an exclusive interview with Manila Times before her death at the Basilan Community Hospital on March 30.
Nichols and his American friend were later sent to a place (not identified) for more instructions on bomb-making to destroy a building in the U.S., Abdul claimed, but she added that she could not remember the name of the building.
Youssey and Murad, both Pakistanis who grew up in Iraq, are now serving multiple prison terms for terrorist activities, including the bombing of the World Trade Centre which killed six people and injured 1,000 in New York on February 26, 1993.
Nichols received a life sentence and McVeigh a death sentence for the bombing of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building which killed 168 people in Oklahoma on April 19, 1995. Basilan Provincial Information Officer, Christopher Puno, was present in the ward during the interview with Abdul, the Manila Times said.
Abdul was a former local radio announcer before she became the fourth and last wife of Angeles. She met him in 1995 while he was in the Basilan Provincial Jail. They were married in 1997.
She witnessed her husband's killing by still unidentified gunmen in Kaun-Purnah, Isabela, Basilan on January 14, 1999. Sources said she knew a lot of things in relation to the activities of her husband.
Abdul once revealed to a TV journalist that her husband had established an armed group of Muslims, with aims similar to the Abu Sayyaf's, on Sacol Island where they had stayed for eight months from May to December, 1998. Sacol is known as a refuge for armed groups.
When she became pregnant, her husband decided to leave Sacol Island for Isabela, Basilan, where he was gunned down.
Angeles' real name was Ibrahim Yakub, one of the founders of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the early 1990s.
In February, 1995, Angeles surrendered to the Philippine Marines based in Sulu, saying he no longer shared the ideals of Ustadz Abdurajack, Abu Sayyaf chieftain. Sources said this was the time when Angeles decided to become a deep-penetration agent of the government.
He worked as a full time civilian agent of the Intelligence Command of the Philippine National Police.
Later, he revealed to Arlyn de la Cruz, a TV journalist, that he led the military in a number of operations against the Abu Sayyaf Group.
He said he was the masked man who identified Khadaffy Janjalani and Jovenal Bruno as Abu Sayyaf leaders at the Tagbak checkpoint in Sulu in 1995.
He added that he was behind the arrest of suspected Arab terrorists in Metro Manila's suburban Caloocan and Paranaque in 1996, and that top government and police officials planted evidence on the suspected Arab terrorists.
He gave advice on what type of fire-arms must be planted on the suspects. Angeles also revealed that he signed an affidavit in the law office of Senator Aquilino Pimentel at the Golden Loop Tower in suburban Pasig, in which he alleged that the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) was behind the creation of the Abu Sayyaf Group.
Angeles made these revelations in the newsroom of ABS CBN, the country's largest TV network, but top officials, instead of giving him protection, decided to send him to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for a witness protection programme.
This paved the way for the authorities to arrest him and send him to Basilan, southern Philippines, where he was charged with 54 counts of kidnapping. He was acquitted because he presented orders from his supervisors on the cases filed against him.
After his acquittal, the cases against the suspected Arab terrorists were likewise dropped for lack of evidence.
He also worked with the government to lure Abu Sayyaf chieftain, Abdurajak Janjalani, to surrender before then president Fidel Ramos. This did not materialise.
He tried to help the southern command and negotiated for the release of Robert Beus, a German national and canning executive of Mar Fishing Corporation, one of the biggest tuna factories in the southern Philippines, who was kidnapped by a faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 1997. The ransom payment of $ 9,803 (P 500,000) never reached the kidnappers.
The Janjalani family also blamed him for Abdurajak Abubakar's death by still unknown men, in December, 1998.
Journalist de la Cruz, who has been writing a book on Angeles, said earlier: "Was Angeles an Abu Sayyaf turned government agent, or a government agent turned Abu Sayyaf?"
Lawyer Stephen Jones who represented McVeigh, quoted Angeles extensively in his book, Others Unknown, to prove that his client was not acting alone when he bombed the Federal building in Oklahoma.
Note it does not talk directly about two Iraqis at the meeting as have the previous Manila Times articles.
I wonder the same thing. Does glorygirl know the answer?
Is this preparation for an attack on Iraq by laying the groundwork for a justifiable pretext to Arab nations?
1994
13 SEP
Timothy McVeigh begins his plot to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building.
Sept 12-13,1994- McVeigh rents a room at the El Siesta Motel in Vian, Arkansas, which is immediately adjacent to Muldrow, Ok, which is where the Millars of Elohim live. So if the government is right, the conspiracy began while McVeigh was staying in Arkansas (Source for El Siesta is Others Unknown p.178.)
30 SEP
The first ton of ammonium nitrate is bought for the bomb from a farm co-op in McPherson, Kan.
18 OCT
The second ton of fertilizer is purchased.
21 OCT
McVeigh, disguised as a biker, buys $2,775 worth of nitromethane racing fuel for the bomb at a Texas track.
16 DEC
McVeigh drives by the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and points it out as his target to his friend, Michael Fortier. _________________________________________________
I wonder if the story about 16 Dec is there to give McVeigh an alibi for the meeting in the Philippines?Fortier would tell any story the government wanted him to.
This is very interesting. We know the CIA played a significant role in Osama bin Laden's activities in the 1980's.
Indictment of McVeigh and Nichols
24. On or about November 21, 1994 and prior to departing for the Philippines, NICHOLS prepared a letter to McVEIGH, to be delivered only in the event of NICHOLS' death, in which he advised McVEIGH, among other matters, that storage unit No. 37 in Council Grove, Kansas had been rented in the name "Parker" and instructed McVEIGH to clear out the contents or extend the lease on No. 37 by February 1, 1995. NICHOLS further instructed McVEIGH to "liquidate" storage unit No. 40.
25. On or about December 16, 1994, while en route to Kansas to take possession of firearms stolen in the Arkansas robbery, McVEIGH drove with Michael Fortier to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and identified the building as the target.
26. In early 1995, following NICHOLS' return from the Philippines, firearms stolen in the Arkansas robbery were sold and McVEIGH, NICHOLS and Michael Fortier obtained currency from those sales.
27. On or about February 9, 1995, NICHOLS, using currency, paid for the continued use of storage unit No. 40 at Council Grove, Kansas in the name of "Joe Kyle."
The letter was one of several items in a sealed brown paper bag that Nichols left with Mrs. Padilla when he departed for the Philippines on Nov. 22, 1994.
I found what appears to be a discrepency in the record of the Grand jury report while looking for the date of Nichols last visit to the Philippines.
"A canvas by FBI agents of the area around Junction City, including businesses and motels, was immediately conducted. At the Dreamland Motel, owner Leah McGowan remembered a man in a Ryder truck who had been a recent guest there. She provided a description of the individual to the FBI. When asked if she remembered the man's name, Mrs. McGowan identified him as Timothy McVeigh. Mrs. McGowan was then shown the composite drawing of John Doe I and was asked if Timothy McVeigh resembled the drawing. The response was affirmative."
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The original explanation as to how McVeigh was discovered in a county jail in OK was that a "friend" of McVeigh's recognized the composite drawing and called the FBI to report McVeigh's anti-government views. After the call McVeigh's SSN was run through the system and he was located in the county jail.
IIRC, Leah McGowan was never called as a witness in the McVeigh trial. Could this discrepency be the reason?
I confirmed that Leah McGown did not testify at the McVeigh trial. Leah is the one that registered McVeigh at the Dreamland Motel and filled out the registration card. However, the only individual called to provide testimony from the staff of the motel to establish that McVeigh was there was Leah's son, Eric. In April 1995, Eric was 17 years old. The prosecutors were asking for the death penalty based partially on the testimony of a 17 year old, while choosing not to call the adult that registered McVeigh.
This does not pass the smell test.
I believe the Grand Jury statement about Leah McGown leading the FBI to McVeigh is a lie. That was the reason she was never placed on the stand.
Notice how the story evolves
In a day of stunningly swift developments, Attorney General Janet Reno told a mid-afternoon news conference that McVeigh had been held since Wednesday by police in the small town of Perry, Okla., 60 miles north of here, where he was stopped for speeding just 80 minutes after the bombing. It was not until Thursday night that local officers recognized him from composite drawings of two bombing suspects distributed by the FBI. McVeigh had been identified only as "John Doe 1" in the arrest warrant issued yesterday.
On Thursday, April 20, FBI agents reached the Dreamland Hotel in Junction City. The manager recognized the composite of John Doe No. 1, a young cleanshaven man with a military crewcut. The man, hotel officials said, had stayed in Room 25 and had been driving a large Ryder truck. He also had registered as Timothy McVeigh.
Around that time, a former co-worker of McVeigh's saw the composite sketch on television and called the FBI, telling agents McVeigh expressed anger at the federal government and agitation over the federal-Branch Davidian standoff near Waco, Tex., court records said.
Realizing the story in the court record about the co-worker calling in would never wash, suddenly the story of Leah McGown identifying McVeigh takes center stage while Leah never takes the stand.
12. On April 21, 1995, a former co-worker of Tim McViegh's reported to the FBI that he had seen the composite drawing of Unsub #1 on the television and recognized the drawing to be a former co-worker, Tim McViegh. He further advised that McVeigh was known known to hold extreme rightwing views, was a military veteran, and was particularly agitated about the conduct of the federal government in Waco, Texas, in 1993. In fact, the co-worker further reports that McViegh had been so agitated about the deaths of the Branch Dividians in Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993, that he personnnaly visited the site. After visiting the site, McViegh expressed extreme anger at the federal government and advised that the Governemnt should never had done what it did. He further advised that the last known address he had for McViegh is 1711 Stockton Hill Road, #206, Kingman, Arizona.
13. On April 21, 1994, investigators learned that a Timothy McViegh was arrested at 10:30 a.m. on April 19, 1995, in Perry, Oklahoma, for not having a lisencse tag and for possession of a weapon approxiamtely 1-1/2 hours after the detonation of the expolosive device at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Perry, Oklahoma, is approximately a 1- 1/2 hour drive from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
8. "The composite drawings were shown to employees at various motels and commercial establishments in the Junction City, Kansas, vicinity. Employees of the Dreamland Motel in Junction City Kansas, advised FBI agents that an individual resembling Unsub #1 depicted in the composite drawings had been a guest at the Motel from April 14 through April 18, 1995. "
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This is the only place in the complaint where they do not give the date the witness was interviewed. If that date was after 21 April, that would be significant since it would prove there is another lie in the OKC grand jury report.
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