Is al Qaeda recruitment of U.S. vets linked to OKC?

Intelwire.com ^ | 1/9/2004 | J.M. Berger

[JohnBerger]

Just one month after an al Qaeda recruiter was ordered to contact former U.S. servicemen, both Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols relocated to areas where Osama bin Laden's terror network was actively recruiting.

In December 1992, al Qaeda operative Clement Rodney Hampton-El was given a list of former U.S. servicemen to recruit as volunteers by a Saudi-linked cleric based in the Philippines, according to testimony in his 1995 trial. (previous story)

Shortly after Hampton-El was given the list, McVeigh quit his job and moved to Florida, where al Qaeda was creating a new financing network. In January 1993, Nichols traveled to the Philippines, where al Qaeda had extensive training and financial operations already in place, and stayed there for 30 to 60 days.

The recruiting program offers an entirely new context in which to consider long-disputed claims of Middle Easten involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing.

[JohnBerger]

Ping to OKC

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[Wolverine]

'Jihad in America': Author explains how he made video, lived to tell about it

Film here

 

Story Here

[LS]

I would have no problem with this theory, except for one thing: why didn't McVeigh EVER mention any of this? What did he have to gain by not "spilling the beans" or at least giving a "Praise Allah" someplace? And why hasn't Nichols said anything about this?

[JohnBerger]

Good stuff. I've actually drawn extensively on Emerson's material, although he himself is adamantly opposed to an ME theory on OKC (due to the fact that he was crucified in the press for suggesting it was an ME operation immediately after the bombing).

jmb

[JohnBerger]

I would have no problem with this theory, except for one thing: why didn't McVeigh EVER mention any of this? What did he have to gain by not "spilling the beans" or at least giving a "Praise Allah" someplace? And why hasn't Nichols said anything about this?

McVeigh didn't even implicate Nichols, let alone anyone else.

Nichols is still facing a death sentence in his state trial. He has no motivation to implicate himself any further in OKC or to implicate himself in other plots.

jmb

[gitmogrunt]

My neighbor's son is a high school senior and I thought I saw the Al Qaeda recruiter's car at their house the other nite.

[coloradan]

McVeigh didn't say anything about anything, except that he was really unhappy about the way the Davidians were treated. For example, he didn't say anything about John Doe #2, who was repeatedly witnessed and widely regarded to exist, until the FeeBees decided to pursue the "lone bomber" theory and stopped all mention of John Doe #2 - including not calling witnesses to McVeigh's trial who saw him.

[roses of sharon]

Excuse my ignorance, but, I remember seeing a picture of McVeigh's supposed accomplice, compared side by side to a picture of the "dirty bomb" guy being held right now, on FR sometime ago.

Sorry I can't spell his name!

Did you see it? Or do you recall those pictures?

[JohnBerger]

Yep, I actually posted that on my old site: http://www.whoisjohndoe2.com and the pic is still there.

Incidentally, McVeigh's trip to Florida exactly corresponds with the most reliable report of Jose Padilla (dirty bomber)'s conversion to Islam. Padilla's workplace was five minutes up the street from the Benevolence office mentioned in the new article.

jmb

[Peach]

Thanks for the ping; been reading more and more about OKC links lately it seems.

[fortunecookie]

I would have no problem with this theory, except for one thing: why didn't McVeigh EVER mention any of this? What did he have to gain by not "spilling the beans" or at least giving a "Praise Allah" someplace?

Perhaps McVeigh worked with AQ like a mercenary, but never converted to Islam. Two fields of thought with hatred toward a common enemy uniting for a common goal. I've always considered this a possibility. And AQ is 'wise' enough to know that, at least at that time, getting 'recruits' to convert would not be feasible. But years later, after 'tolerance' toward Islam turned into 'tolerance' for radical, fundamentalist Islamists as well, getting other extremists wouldn't be as difficult - like Lindh, seek out the disenfranchised youth and also recruit in prisons.

[roses of sharon]

Thank you, I bookmarked this time. Great site.

It is stunning to look at those two side-by-side.

Do you think the gov. is looking into the possibility that they are the same man?

Have they addressed this question at all?

[fortunecookie]

I remember that! I was also curious about why John Doe #2 was suddenly dropped and mention of him disavowed. I think by then they wondered if there was some kind of connection. After briefly reappearing in the news recently, and looking alarmingly like the sketch artists drawing, he has disappeared from the news again. I think his last name was sort of Latino sounding and started with a 'P'.

[SierraWasp]

I can't remember if it was during a rare interview with McVeigh, or just someone's surmising, that the idea that McVeigh was easily turned after seeing "The Highway of Death" into a "domestic terrorist" as a form of vigilante vengence against what he percieved as a bullying government of the US, pushing around God fearing peoples, especially "fundamentalists!"

There is still something very "dirty" about this whole sordid chapter in American history that is still trying to work it's way to the surface, but can't quite make it!!!

It's driven many "round the bend" and even from the pages of FreeRepublic.com. You watch... Within a very short time, _Jim will be here to try desperately to dispel any verasity to this supposition as he ALWAYS does!!! I'm not going to ping him a "courtesy ping" just to see how long it takes.

[hotpotato]

More importantly, why didn't Al Qaeda ever take credit for the explosion?

[hotpotato]

There is still something very "dirty" about this whole sordid chapter in American history that is still trying to work it's way to the surface, but can't quite make it!!! ... You watch... Within a very short time, _Jim will be here to try desperately to dispel any verasity to this supposition as he ALWAYS does!!!

I would suspect that's because he thinks it's nonsense. What is your guess? He's trying to cover for someone?

[LS]

Well, you'd think even if he didn't convert, if he was in league with AQ, he'd have mentioned them at least ONCE in his questioning---he or Nichols. But QC never came up once. Nor did Iraq. I'd love for it to be shown there is a connection, but sometimes you have to accept the reality that crazy people do crazy things pretty much alone.

[LS]

Exactly. Too many dogs that did not bark here.