Former DOJ officials claim OKC Bombing coverup began in D.C.

Speaking on the condition that their names not be revealed, a group of former Department of Justice (DOJ) officials have told this newspaper that the FBI never seriously investigated Tim McVeigh's connections to a right-wing paramilitary training camp.

Neither, they say, were McVeigh's ties to a notorious bank robbery gang operating in the Midwest investigated. Further, FBI agents interested in working the case were thwarted by Department of Justice attorneys and by other FBI officials. Even spoken with their identities hidden because of fears of retribution, the explosive statements are especially surprising now, coming as they do on the heels of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that journalists may be jailed if they refuse to reveal sources in federal cases.

That decision has reportedly already had a chilling effect on some federal whistleblowers.

In addition to the former officials' personal insights into the case, however, the newspaper has been able to corroborate much of what they have said about problems with the OKBOMB investigation with other sources and documents pertaining to the bombing of the A.P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.

Documents from the FBI and other federal agencies involved in the OKBOMB case support their claims that the FBI failed to arrest all the persons involved and that political considerations played a role in deliberately limiting the investigation to Tim McVeigh, Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier n even though the agencies repeatedly assured bombing victims and the public that all persons involved would be brought to justice.

One former high-ranking member of the DOJ said the investigation began with five very experienced FBI commanders appointed by former director Louis Freeh to investigate the bombing.

However, the former official explained that after each of those men left the case, a less experienced agent took over the OKBOMB investigation, and the probe into other suspects' involvement suddenly ground to a halt.

One person assigned to the bombing investigation said, "I was inside the FBI office when Freeh showed up. There was a loud shouting match with our SAC.

"It wasn't long after that Bob Ricks announced he was retiring and taking a job with the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. He left the investigation and by the time the case was transferred to Denver, the prosecutors were telling the field agents what evidence to bring them."

"I caught hell for sending in evidence that people at Elohim City were involved. They (prosecutors in Denver) said, ‘Never send us anything that points to anyone other than McVeigh and Nichols.'"

Each of the persons who contributed to this story has continued to follow media reports about the bombing for over a decade. They have come forward n albeit without attribution n to express concerns and to provide details of a government cover-up of a failed sting operation at Elohim City n a sting operation, each agrees, that may have been bungled by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF).

"I was close to the bombing case immediately," one former official told the Gazette, "and over time it became clear the White House had taken the investigation away from the FBI and handed it over to officials at the Department of Justice.

"And that's not how it works. The FBI should investigate and then turn the evidence over to them to decide if they want to proceed with a prosecution. That didn't happen in this case. In this case, after the original commanders left the case, the DOJ began calling the shots n telling field agents what they could investigate and what they couldn't."

Several law enforcement sources had previously indicated to this newspaper that they are convinced from the evidence they have seen that McVeigh was aligned with Andreas C. Strassmeir, a German military officer that some believe was still on the payroll of the Bundesweir (German military) at the time of the blast.

One former senior member of the DOJ put it in strong terms. He laid blame at the feet of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Forearms.

"I know Strassmeir was central to this crime and I believe Carol Howe, the informant, was dead right. She warned the ATF and they blew this whole thing. They knew the details of what was in the works and they messed everything up.

"FBI headquarters knew about Strassmeir's presence at the Elohim City compound and couldn't admit it. They had to find a way to work around the agents in the field. I don't think (Danny) Defenbaugh had any idea how much stuff was being withheld from him and his men."

Indeed, in the days leading up to McVeigh's planned execution, thousand of pages of documents regarding other suspects in the case suddenly began turning up in FBI field offices around the country.

With the possibility that there could be thousands of pages of important FBI interviews that attorneys for McVeigh had never seen, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft had no choice but to put off the execution until the matter could be further explored.

A former crime lab technician, Defenbaugh, suddenly was placed in the embarrassing position of having to admit the largest and most expensive investigation in history had been compromised. He left his position as Dallas SAC and entered retirement soon after thousands of pages of previously unrevealed documents surfaced.

Regarding some of the most recently discovered documents, a former DOJ official said that he is still unable to answer all the questions, but agrees with others who played a role in the OKBOMB investigation, saying Strassmeir was and still remains the key figure in the bungled sting operation and subsequent cover-up.

"We didn't do an interview with this guy," he said. "Can you believe that? Two assistant U.S. attorneys made a phone call over a year after the bombing and let an FBI agent listen and take notes. Hell, that's not a real investigation. The FBI would go straight to Berlin and get him. This is a joke."

Confirming his recollection of events, the newspaper has obtained a copy of a FD-302, which records an FBI agent's recollections of two telephone interviews with Andy Strassmeir.

Strassmeir's attorney, Kirk Lyons, was included in both overseas conference calls made at the behest of the DOJ. The first conference call took place on April 30, 1996. The second took place the following day.

Calling from Oklahoma City, special agent Lou Ann Sandstrom monitored both calls to Berlin, while DOJ lawyers Aitan Goelman and Beth Wilkinson asked several questions about Strassmeir's relationship with McVeigh.

The FD-302 notes that, "Strassmeir did not remember meeting McVeigh until he was interviewed by defense investigator Richard Reyna. Reyna told Strassmeir that McVeigh remembered meeting Strassmeir, and that Strassmeir bought several items from McVeigh.

Claiming that his memory was refreshed by the visit from the defense investigator, Strassmeir said he told Reyna that he may have met McVeigh at the Tulsa Gun Show and never saw nor heard from him again.

Notes recorded by Special Agent Sandstrom also reflect the following exchange concerning a phone call McVeigh made from his motel room in Kingman, Ariz., before the bombing: "Strassmeir advised he could not recall where he was on April 5, 1995, when a call came into Elohim City for him, but believed he was out working on a nearby property, and did not receive the call.

"On April 19, 1995, Strassmeir said he and Eddie Wing were clearing a fence line on property located ten miles from Elohim City. Strassmeir could not remember the name of the property owner."

Concluding the interview, Strassmeir told Goelman and Wilkinson that, "He was not involved in the planning or execution of the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, nor did he have any foreknowledge of the bombing."

Readers may recall that this newspaper published a series of articles beginning in the spring of 1997 detailing its interviews with ATF informant Carol E. Howe.

Howe, a college student and former Houston, Texas, debutante, was recruited by the Tulsa office of the ATF in the late summer of 1994. Howe accepted employment with the agency after passing a polygraph examination. As a paid confidential informant, her assignment was to infiltrate the neo-Nazi movement in eastern Oklahoma.

From trips to Elohim City in the fall of 1994, Howe quickly discovered a plot there to overthrow the government with violence. At the center of the conspiracy was the camp's paramilitary advisor "Andy the German" Strassmeir.

Howe's reports were sent to the Dallas regional office and then forwarded to Washington, D.C. Marked sensitive-confidential, her identity was simply CI-183.

The Howe file clearly indicates a violent plot at Elohim City n a plot that included "(M)ass shootings and bombings of government installations." And the person said to be urging the killings was Strassmeir.

Interviewed on Dec. 24, 1996, Howe told the Gazette, "All Andy wanted to do was blow up federal buildings. That's the truth. He even told the young radicals he was training that, if they wouldn't go to war with the U.S. government, he would leave and find a group that would."

Speaking of Elohim City spiritual advisor and founder, Robert Millar, Howe told the Gazette: "Millar even gave a sermon and urged the younger members under Andy's training to prepare for war with the government. He told them other militias would follow suit. The key date was the upcoming anniversary of Waco: April 19th."

So violent was the rhetoric at Elohim City that the Tulsa office obtained a large number of "mail covers," and phone calls were recorded at the urging of the U.S. attorney's office in Tulsa.

So complete was the undercover operation, the ATF even had a video camera installed in Howe's apartment in Tulsa where she entertained several members of the Aryan Republican Army. On one videotape, White Aryan Resistance leader Tom Metzger of California was even caught visiting the attractive young blonde's apartment.

In spite of the detailed information and recordings of the radicals, no one seemed to be able to thwart the plan. On Patriot's Day, 1995, 149 men, women and 19 children perished. Another 500 were injured.

Shortly after the bombing, the ATF boosted Howe's pay and sent her back to Elohim City. There she reported that the residents were preparing for a standoff with the government.

A few tense days later, Howe returned to Tulsa and told her ATF handler, Angela Finley Graham, that a member of the leadership at the camp confirmed the group's role in the bombing, saying simply, "We have a big secret here."

"It was Tuttle this or Tim Tuttle that," Howe recalled for this newspaper. "I even saw him there one time. He was walking along with Andy. He was just one of many skinheads that passed through."

Howe's work was terminated, though, shortly after she made her report public about the "big secret" at Elohim City.

According to documents in Howe's ATF file, the FBI then contacted the informant's supervisors and told them to close their investigation into Elohim City and completely back off.

Later, this newspaper obtained copies of Howe's (largely) complete file after she began cooperating with the Gazette.

Someone familiar with the ATF's investigation at Elohim City after the bombing offered an explanation for the FBI's actions.

"The FBI learned from inside that militia members were coming to Elohim City for a standoff. It was clear we were dealing with some very dangerous people who were capable of anything. We wanted to avoid more bloodshed and that's why they (ATF) had to be pushed out. If we wanted something from Elohim City, all the FBI had to do was pick up the phone and call Robert (Millar)."

That individual went on to say that he remains convinced the ATF would have eventually made the situation far worse had the agency continued to meddle with the OKBOMB case.

Shortly after the DOJ learned that Howe had begun giving this newspaper interviews about the plot, she was indicted in Tulsa federal court on conspiracy to make bomb threats and possession of an unregistered destructive device. However, it took the jury only a short time to find her innocent of all charges.

A member of that jury told this newspaper they were handed the case at nearly 5 pm on Friday.

"Someone said, ‘I think we all know this girl has been set up by the government and we know she should go free. But why don't we order dinner from the best BBQ joint in town and eat on the government's dime one more time?'"

Even after Howe was acquitted of the charges, government officials made comments to major media, dismissing Howe as a radical, mentally deranged, or both.

To some extent the tactic has worked, but a former DOJ official said he is more convinced than ever Howe had good information.

"She's solid in my book. I'd like to meet her," he said about Howe and the intelligence she uncovered at Elohim City.

"The FBI knew about Strassmeir. He was reporting to the Germans and maybe others. The bureau picked up some of the stuff on a back channel. Andy came over here as an agent… but he may have gone "native" on them and joined the radical cause he was supposed to destroy. Or, he put the bombing together to show the American's they had a problem with the neo-Nazi movement."

In a hushed voice the former Department of Justice official explained his theory: "I know this sounds terrible. But our laws at the time of the bombing were very restrictive. Janet Reno even had the FBI cranked down even more. Hell, our hands were tied and we couldn't do anything. We had to wait for them to blow up something before we could get an investigation together. Andy was a cutout! Someone who could sneak around and get information illegally and give it to the Germans."

"It gets worse," he explained. "Overseas, they don't let people have the rights we do here. They don't let their skinheads march around and form chapters. They bust them and put them away.

"Over in Germany and Israel they were very upset that we didn't just round all these people up and put them in jail. They think our bad guys are helping set up cells of radicals in Europe and Israel. Who knows who hired Andy? But Andy is the key and we need a grand jury investigation to get to him."

http://www.sydweedon.com/Resources/OKC.htm < > The OKC Bombing Was the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building the work of a larger conspiracy of terrorists? There are three basic threads of conspiracy theory in the speculation about the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. I have given them place names for shorthand based on the locus of their explanations: The Waco Theory – This is the government’s position. One lone wacko, Timothy McVeigh, acting in concert with a second lone wacko, Terry Nichols, with erstwhile emotional/logistical support from lone wacko Michael Fortier, blew up the Murrah Building with a truck bomb made with ammonia nitrate and fuel oil. They did this to avenge the attack on the Branch Davidian compound at Mt. Carmel near Waco, Texas. The Elohim City Theory – This thread connects McVeigh to the white separatist compound at Elohim City in eastern Oklahoma and a mysterious German illegal alien by the name of Andreas Strassmeir to whom McVeigh placed telephone calls shortly before the bombing of the Murrah building. This thread is supported by the activities and testimony of an ATF confidential informant by the name of Carol Howe and the research of investigative journalist David Hoffman. There are two sub-threads to this theory: 1. The OKC bombing was a botched “sting” operation by the ATF that went terribly wrong and was subsequently covered up. Motivations for this scenario are complex but intriguing. If the ATF was able to swoop in at the last moment, defuse the bomb (or appear to defuse a bomb already made safe by the undercover operative) the public relations impact would be enormous. The ATF would be seen as saving America from dangerous domestic terrorists; the patriot/militia movement could be discredited; and John Doe #2, who was thought to be an informant, could be allowed to escape and penetrate more deeply into the terrorist organization with enhanced credibility since he would be viewed as a "hero," while McVeigh would take the fall. 2. The OKC bombing was a successful attack by neo-Nazis and/or rogue operatives of U.S. intelligence and federal law enforcement but was covered up because ATF informants and other government intelligence assets were involved. Revenge for the execution of Richard Wayne Snell, a “Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord” member convicted of killing an Arkansas state trooper and a pawn shop owner figures into the motive in this scenario. Snell was executed on the same day as the OKC bombing, April 19, 1995. Richard Millar, patriarch of Elohim City was with Snell at the prison and watched news reports of the bombing on television prior to Snell's execution. Millar then brought Snell's body back to Elohim City for burial there. It is known that Snell had planned just such an attack and cased the Murrah Building ten years earlier. The Manila Theory – This thread is the Islamic terrorist thread which is based upon reported contacts between Terry Nichols and Abu Sayef terrorists in the Philippines who put him in touch with Ramzi Youssef, the Al Qaeda operative who planned the 1993 WTC bombing, and Iraqi intelligence assets. This theory is strengthened by numerous reports of Islamic terrorist cells operating in Oklahoma following the settlement in that area of some 5,000 Iraqi refugees following the Gulf War. Of the three theories, the thread I have named "The Waco Theory" is the weakest. There is simply too much conflicting testimony and loose ends to believe that this attack was limited to the dynamic duo of McVeigh and Nichols. In terms of connections, conflicting and suppressed testimony, and eye witness accounts of strange things that went on around the Murrah building on the morning of the explosion, "The Elohim City Theory" is perhaps the strongest. "The Manila Theory" largely depends on the deathbed confession of a Philippine intelligence operative who places Nichols and Youssef together, but in this post 9-11 world, the Iraqi-Al Qaeda connection is receiving renewed interest and scrutiny. A lawsuit filed recently against the government of Iraq has served to substantially bolster this thread. The Manila thread is also supported by some interesting circumstantial evidence based in the movements of Nichols and Youssef in the Philippines. The Manila and Elohim theories are not mutually exclusive. There is a bit a bleed-through between the two. Some witnesses reported that one of the John Doe's seen speeding away from the scene of the crime in a brown Chevy pickup was a "dark skinned male" with the implication being a middle eastern rather than African complexion. Some of the suppressed statements from federal officials indicate that there was some warning or premonition that a terror attack was about to occur and the warnings come from both the Elohim connection and Islamic terrorist concerns. The explosion analysis evidence from Gen. Partin can be seen as supporting either thread, but to my eye tends to support the Elohim scenario a bit better, since it is hard to see how middle eastern terrorists would be able to get into the Murrah building and set cutter charges. There is an ideological point of connection between neo-Nazi's and radical Islamic terrorists. They both share a lethal hatred of Jews. There appears to be long-standing relationships which existed between Iraqi intelligence operatives and some of the players in the Elohim City orbit. Kelley O'Meara reports: Dennis Mahon is long suspected of being a player in the conspiracy to bomb the Murrah building. Mahon is described in Jones' book as "a virulent racist and avowed enemy of the U.S. government" and is a high-ranking member of the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) movement. The defense team reports that its investigation shows "the Iraqi government has given Dennis Mahon thousands of dollars over the past six years, and Mahon has been banned from entering Canada and the United Kingdom and is classified by Interpol as an international terrorist." The FBI did not bother to interview Mahon in connection to the Oklahoma City bombing. -- from Iraq Connections to U.S. Extremists< > I buy the last one The others let Clinton off the hook

Ever since early in my engineering work with OKBIC, I have been leery of J.D.Cash and his insistence on the NeoNazi/failed sting angle. No doubt, the Elohim City bunch needed (and still needs) to be watched closely, but much of JD's work appears to be diversionary. The guy is spooky -- he appears for a while, disappears, then pops up somewhere else.

One can't help but wonder who is pulling the strings of (or pulling the strings for) a non-entity reporter for a non-entity paper like the McCurtain (OK) Gazette -- and how such a "nobody from nowhere" can get into the places and do the things JD does. Very strange...

FWIW, It doesn't take very many clicks of the mouse following the likes of Kirk Lyons (for example) to find oneself in strange places, indeed...

BTW, Roger Charles was once an investigator for OKBIC -- but their parting of the ways occurred even before I came on the scene...

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This NeoNazi stuff is interesting, but, FWIW, my money is on Jayna as for where the real story lies.

Can you spell/smell "G-o-r-e-l-i-c-k"? ...

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