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Richard Clarke's Suspicions of Al Qaeda Involvement in OKC Bombing (Book Excerpt)
Against All enemies: Inside America's War on Terror, (New York: Free Press, 2004) | 2004 | Richard A. Clarke

Posted on 04/02/2004 7:32:42 AM PST by Wallaby

"Another Conspiracy Theory intrigued me because I could never disprove it. The theory seemed unlikely on its face: Ramzi Yousef or Khalid Sheik Muhammad had taught Terry Nichols how to blow up the Oklahoma Federal Building. The problem was that, upon investigation, we established that both Ramzi Yousef and Nichols had been in the city of Cebu on the same days. I had been to Cebu years earlier; it is on an island in the central Philippines. It was a town in which word could have spread that a local girl was bringing her American boy friend home and that the American hated the U.S. government.

Yousef and Khalid Sheik Muhammad had gone there to help create an al Qaeda spinoff, a Philippine affiliate chapter, named after a hero of the Afghan war against the Soviets, Abu Sayaff. Could the al Qaeda explosives expert have been introduced to the angry American who proclaimed his hatred for the U.S. Government? We do not know, despite some FBI investigation. We do know that Nichols's bombs did not work before his Philippine stay and were deadly when he returned. We also know that Nichols continued to call Cebu long after his wife returned to the United States. The final coincidence is that several al Qaeda operatives had attended a radical Islamic conference a few years earliler in, of all places, Oklahoma City.

(Against All Enemies, p. 127.)


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: againstallenemies; bookexcerpt; okcbombing; richardclarke
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To: MrB
I have to admit I have always thought that was a very, very close resemblance. Also, the OKC/Norman was a hotbed for Islamic fundamentalism. There is a mosque in Norman in particular. Moussaoui lived in Norman, and tried to obtain flight training in Norman.

I think it is very compelling that Clarke writes that Nichols bombs did not work before he went to the PI, but worked very well after the PI visit. I wonder what the basis for his knowledge is.
21 posted on 04/02/2004 8:20:27 AM PST by job (Dinsdale?Dinsdale?)
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To: Mr.Atos
I'm surprised at the number of people who haven't seen these side by side.
One thing to remember is that Padilla is older in the rt. photo than in the drawing.

As far a source goes, I just grabbed the first one that came up on google. There are many more out there.
google

22 posted on 04/02/2004 8:20:39 AM PST by MrB
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To: Wallaby
Bookmarked, because I'll never be convinced this wasn't a overly clever shift by Clinton to avoid involving this nation in a WOT, because it would delay his socialist/environmentalist agenda. Plus he HAD to STOP the rising TIDE of fundamenatlist/constitutionalist conservatism, represented by the CONTRACT WITH AMERICA!!! (which was a reaction to his, and especially his wife's ruthless leftist moves)

Talk about changing the course of history... Wish I'd known about FR, back then... Or maybe it didn't even exist, yet.

23 posted on 04/02/2004 8:26:21 AM PST by SierraWasp (Coastal CA seems hell-bent on becoming America's version of France!!!)
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To: Mr.Atos
Scroll down the page here:

http://www.glennbeck.com/news/06132002.shtml

to the rendering with a hat added (as in the drawing) and the resemblance is closer still.

That said, the drawing depticts a pretty "generic" Hispanic face - one of my drywall contractors looks as close, or closer, in a cap.
24 posted on 04/02/2004 8:26:57 AM PST by M. Dodge Thomas (More of the same, only with more zeros on the end.)
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To: M. Dodge Thomas
"generic" Hispanic face

careful, some leftist might call you a racist now.

25 posted on 04/02/2004 8:28:28 AM PST by MrB
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To: SierraWasp; Jim_Curtis; M. Thatcher
More questions for Clarke:

Al Shifa.

26 posted on 04/02/2004 8:37:30 AM PST by Wallaby
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To: Wallaby
We know that the Clintoonian Administration never investigated that connection. Why? That would be considered dereliction of duty and Clark should have been fired.
27 posted on 04/02/2004 8:45:47 AM PST by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: MrB
The term isn’t my coinage, forensic artists use it describes the fact that some sorts of forensic illustration work from a limited set of components, and absent the presence of distinguishing personal features tend to produce a "generic" rendering. That if you start with a description of a "Hispanic male in his twenties" but your observers offer no reports of facial hair, skin blemishes, scars tattoos, or the like, and no pronounced facial asymmetries or other outstanding facial features, such methods will tend to regress toward the mean (as it were) of a racial "type". This appeared to me to be such a result.
28 posted on 04/02/2004 8:55:42 AM PST by M. Dodge Thomas (More of the same, only with more zeros on the end.)
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To: PhiKapMom
Mr. Clarke is a self-serving fool like Robert McNamara IMO! Add John Dean to that list.
29 posted on 04/02/2004 8:58:25 AM PST by hobson
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To: Wallaby

The jig is up for the 'Rats.

30 posted on 04/02/2004 8:59:08 AM PST by Enduring Freedom (Warrior Freepers Rule The Earth)
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To: american spirit
RE: "Still wondering how Judge Wayne Alley was tipped off not to come to work that day in the Murrah building."

Your question trigger my memory of northern California talk radio discussions in the days following 9/11/01.

I will simply copy a googled source to express it

"What mayor of a major west coast city claimed just hours after 9-11 that he'd been warned not to fly the week of 9-11 by what he described as his 'airport security.' None other than Willie Brown!"

31 posted on 04/02/2004 9:01:39 AM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (Benedict Arnold was a hero for both sides in the same war, too!)
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To: LS
"not one of the ATF employees showed up for work"

How about some documentation---and not from Terry Nichols' brother, but from a federal source? Sounds to me like an urban legend, like "no Jews were in the WTC on 9/11."

This was reported in the broadcast news immediately after the bombing; I remember hearing it. I doubt that there are "federal sources" that are readily available to a casual search, but I will pass on a few non-federal references for your benefit. It was one of the findings of the Key Commission, headed by former Oklahoma state representative Charles Key, as quoted below. To be fair, the Grand Jury that was impaneled based on the Key Commission's report issued a finding that ATF employees were, in fact, present at the Murrah building the day of the bombing; then again, the Grand Jury's findings have been found to be controversial in other matters as well.

I have to confess, researching this on Google was something of an eye-opener...the only sites that referenced it had a definite right-wing tabloid feel to them, starting with WorldNet Daily at the top end and diving right down into the ultra-right weirdo underground. References to this from more reputable sources, such as the website for the NPR outlet on which I originally heard it, seem to have dried up.

http://www.serendipity.li/more/okb3.html

"Glen Wilburn and his wife Kathy, who lost two grand children in the daycare center of the federal building, joined Key in the petitioning to have the County Grand Jury impaneled.

Wilburn has also conducted an extensive investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing. Wilburn stated, "The many witnesses in Kansas, Northern Oklahoma and in Oklahoma City who saw Timothy McVeigh driving the Ryder truck, and in the company of several individuals, have not been allowed to give their testimony yet. The reason we believe that the ATF offices were conspicuously absent that morning of the bombing, is because there was a federal sting operation being conducted the night before of which the ATF lost control.

http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=4225

"In the wake of the '95 bombing, questions were raised as to why there were no ATF field agents killed or injured in the attack that left 168 dead - including 19 toddlers as young as a 1-year-old.

Similar questions arose as to why no one from the Federal Protective Service was present when the bomb detonated.

A Gazette investigation uncovered information that the head of the Federal Protective Service at the Murrah building had an office near that daycare, but was spared because he was not on duty when the bomb went off.

Conflicting records from the government present a hazy picture of the security situation in place that morning.

A response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reports the security officer was not on duty because he called in sick. But other records received through the FOIA Act show the man was in fact paid for 12 hours of work on April 19, 1995.

Last summer this reporter and Gazette publisher Bruce Willingham went to the man's house, hoping to clear up this issue. No one would answer the door and repeated phone calls inquiring about security at the federal building went unreturned."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22888

"ATF absent from Murrah Building

According to the Key commission's report, several witnesses reported that ATF agents were not in the Murrah Building the morning of the bombing because, as some alleged, agents had been warned ahead of time to stay out.

Tiffany Bible, a paramedic with OKC's Emergency Medical Services Authority -- the city's ambulance service -- arrived four to five minutes after the bombing, she told the commission.

"She recalls having thought that there must have been a natural gas line explosion," the report said. "She approached an entrance to the building where an ATF agent was standing and asked how a gas line explosion could do that much damage. The agent replied that it was the result of a car bomb."

Bible "expressed concern" to the agent, the report said, "because there were fellow agents of his in the building. The agent responded by saying, 'No, we weren't in there today.'"

Another witness, Bruce Shaw -- whose wife worked in the Murrah Building at the Federal Credit Union -- testified that another ATF agent said "agents were tipped on their pagers not to come into the office that morning," the report said."

32 posted on 04/02/2004 9:09:22 AM PST by Oberon (What does it take to make government shrink?)
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To: Oberon
"several witnesses reported that ATF agents were not in the Murrah"

This isn't the same as "not one ATF agent came in that day." I teach at a university, and several professors aren't here today. That doesn't mean they were "tipped off" not to come in. It means they don't work today!

As for Shaw's comment, this is highly suspect. Did he see a pager that "told people not to come in?" Was it verified it came from the government? I'm highly suspicious of this entire line of thinking. I don't doubt that Iraq or AQ could be involved, but I don't buy people being 'warned' not to come to work.

33 posted on 04/02/2004 9:16:04 AM PST by LS (CNN is the Amtrak of news.)
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To: ottothedog
It was very ironic that the OKC disaster happened at the same time that the Clinton admin. was having a lot of trouble convincing Congress to pass a new "terrorism" bill because of the opposition generated by many patriotic Americans.
34 posted on 04/02/2004 9:17:50 AM PST by american spirit
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To: LS
This isn't the same as "not one ATF agent came in that day." I teach at a university, and several professors aren't here today. That doesn't mean they were "tipped off" not to come in. It means they don't work today!

Well, deconstruct all you like. I'm telling you that it was reported in the news that all the ATF field agents were absent from the building on the morning of the bombing. I heard that report myself. It may be in error, but I am not lying to you.

35 posted on 04/02/2004 9:23:59 AM PST by Oberon (What does it take to make government shrink?)
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To: Oberon
I'm not saying you're lying.

I'm saying that there is no way the "news" would KNOW if "all" the ATF people stayed away or not---it's not in their power to know that. It's clearly a case of some guy saying that and an irresponsible (or lazy) reporter passed it along as truth.

36 posted on 04/02/2004 9:40:39 AM PST by LS (CNN is the Amtrak of news.)
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To: Wallaby
had been in the city of Cebu on the same days. I had been to Cebu years earlier...

"No more song about Cebu...needs another verse or two. Audience is standing, and leaving, bye-bye-moo-moo, bye-bye-moo-moo, bye-bye-moo-moo-moo-moo-moo-moo-moo-moo."

37 posted on 04/02/2004 9:51:34 AM PST by ItsOurTimeNow ("I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.")
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To: ottothedog
McVeigh was a disgruntled Gulf War I vet.

Both Nichols and McVeigh 'appeared' to be disgruntled vets. How often does someone who is a 'soldier's soldier' make 180 turn? McVeigh was described as someone who, if ordered to march straight off a cliff, would do it. Neither of them sound like the type to hate the US government. Pass the tinfoil please.

38 posted on 04/02/2004 9:59:15 AM PST by ladyjane
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To: Wallaby
But I thought the Slickmeister ALWAYS listened to your every word! I'm sure if YOU TRUELY thought this at the time, His Ofalness would NEVER have blamed the VRWC. I therefore believe that YOU, as the EXPERT, were the one to convince Sinkspore to target "right wing" radio and the militias.

So, please Mr. Clark, explain to us again how important you were to the previous administration AND how seriously they took your so called advice . . .
39 posted on 04/02/2004 9:59:19 AM PST by An.American.Expatriate (A vote for JF'nK is a vote for Peace in our Time!)
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To: ladyjane
Kerry is one.
Ops4 God BLess America!
40 posted on 04/02/2004 10:06:37 AM PST by OPS4
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