Bumbling against terror (The FBI's record doesn't inspire confidence that we're being well...)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | December 31, 2006 | Jack Kelly

[neverdem]

The FBI's record doesn't inspire confidence that we're being well protected

The House International Relations committee issued a report last week criticizing the FBI's investigation of the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

The FBI failed to pursue credible information that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols had help, the committee said.

The FBI shouldn't have abandoned its search for John Doe No. 2, the committee said. Jayna Davis, then a reporter for a television station in Oklahoma City, said she found at least 20 witnesses who identified Hussain al-Hussaini, a former Iraqi soldier, as the man they saw with Timothy McVeigh.

And the FBI should have investigated more thoroughly contacts between Mr. McVeigh and Andreas Strassmeir, a German national who was a paramilitary instructor at Elohim City, a neo-Nazi compound near the Arkansas border, the committee said.

The FBI says its investigation was exhaustive, but the discovery just two years ago of a large cache of explosives in a house in which Mr. Nichols lived (and which the FBI had searched) casts some doubt on that claim.

Investigative reporter Peter Lance has just completed his third book describing FBI blunders (or worse) in the war on terror.

In his first, "A Thousand Years for Revenge," Mr. Lance showed how the 1993 World Trade Center bombing could have been prevented were it not for negligence by senior FBI officials in New York, and how the FBI had been informed in 1995 of al-Qaida's plans to use airplanes to attack American landmarks.

In his second, "Cover Up," Mr. Lance described how the FBI ignored intelligence about al-Qaida provided by a young mobster, Gregory Scarpa Jr., in order to protect a corrupt FBI agent. (Former Special Agent Lindley DeVecchio was indicted last March on four counts of murder chiefly because...)

[neverdem]

Jack Kelly is national security writer for the Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio (jkelly@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1476).

Clinton was more interested in persecuting right wing militias and promoting gun control.

[kingu]

Clinton was more interested in persecuting right wing militias and promoting gun control.

Interesting how that first word of yours is absolutely missing from the entire article.

[neverdem]

FBI Says Files In Leak Cases Are ‘Missing' NY Sun article from last week

[Incorrigible]

I thought according to Clinton, it was Rush Limbaugh that bombed OKC. The FBI didn't follow up on that either.

[art_rocks]

The FBI seems to believe their own press so much that they don't find the truth just what is fast and convenient. Years ago, who could prove they were wrong on a case. Now with the internet, and people who want to investigate a story, we can easily see the obvious mistakes the FBI made.

Wonder if TWA 800 review is next.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

And the FBI should have investigated more thoroughly contacts between Mr. McVeigh and Andreas Strassmeir, a German national who was a paramilitary instructor at Elohim City, a neo-Nazi compound near the Arkansas border, the committee said.
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TANKS for the thread,,,,Andreas Strassmeir~AKA~Andy the German was "Let" leave the country during the investigation
of the bombing by the FBI,(SOF Mag. articles),,,
His name popped up connected to the ME/Arab/Philippine/ islam angle of this mess,,The FBI screwed-up,?,Maybe,,, Some say Andy the German was INTERPOL,,,or Israeli... Sooo,,,,,,

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Wonder if TWA 800 review is next.

i wonder why the FBI was the lead investigative agency on an airplane crash. Isn't that usually the pervue of the NTSB? The fact that the FBI was involved to the extent they were is plenty of reason to question anything that was 'concluded' concerning flight TWA 800.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Strange things happened during those times,,,
Things we will never know,,,,,
Timmy had to find somebody that knew how to build powerful
bombs,,,He found them,,,That 4800lb Bomb was special
built for that strike,,,not just regular ANFO...

[WilliamofCarmichael]

I've heard several inerviews with Mr. Lance. He's done a hell of job. I have a great deal of respect for him. He names names. He's ventured into to very perilous territory.

During interviews you may want to be prepared for the annoyance of hearing that "Bush 41" is to blame for the WTC bombing, Dr. Rice lied, "Bush 43" was warned about 9/11 and did nothing.

When pinned down in one interview he did allow that, yes the Clinton White House messed up also.

I want to know, if Richard Clarke knew of Terry Nichols' bombs and trips to the Philippines, why did his big boss go around saying that Limbaugh was to blame for the OKC bombing?

Second, Mr. Clarke boasts of the TWA 800 "exit startegy," I want to know why the Clinton administation needed a TWA 800 "exit startegy?"

I believe that Mr. Lance has respect for Mr. Clarke -- after all -- Clarke did have a MSM-approved, Bush-basing book. I don't believe Mr. Lance answers my questions in his book and I know that he did not answer my email with those questions.

[Drammach]

i wonder why the FBI was the lead investigative agency on an airplane crash. Isn't that usually the pervue of the NTSB?

The initial reaction of the government (Clinton administration ) to TWA 800 was that it was a terrorist attack..
That is why the FBI took over the investigation..
It was considered a "criminal" investigation from the "git-go"..

If it had been handled by the NTSB first, until such evidence of terrorism was actually revealed, then we might have had a different story..
The results of NTSB investigations are public..
By making it a criminal investigation and citing national security, all evidence could be withheld from public scrutiny..

[singfreedom]

That's odd, I'd always heard he was Neo-Nazi, and "anti-anything but white folks", just like the others at Elohim City. I don't think I've ever heard the Israeli/Interpol angle.

I know a couple of the legion of folks who believe, absolutely, that they saw an Arab individual in the company of McVeigh on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. Knowing these people personally, I tend to believe them. Just too many people saw the guy--AND recognized his picture.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

That's odd, I'd always heard he was Neo-Nazi, and "anti-anything but white folks", just like the others at Elohim City. I don't think I've ever heard the Israeli/Interpol angle
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This was in the SOF MAG. articles I read,,Deep Cover,,
I really don't know,,He walked rite out of the US in the face of the FBI,,Why ?,,,The FBI had been watching that "Nut-Farm" for awhile,,had an informant on the inside,
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I know a couple of the legion of folks who believe, absolutely, that they saw an Arab individual in the company of McVeigh on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. Knowing these people personally, I tend to believe them. Just too many people saw the guy--AND recognized his picture.
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This also was in the stuff I read,,,Letters were written,,
statements were given,,,Nothing was done to amount to anything,,,All Hushed Up !!,,Somebody wanted it to all go away,,Get it over,,Move on,,,,,,,,,,Why,???

IMHO,,,Timmy should never have been executed till we knew the whole story...Which we'll never know now...
IMHO,,,The "Powers that be" didn't want to drag the
Moozzis through the mud at that point,,,they were pals,,,
IMHO,,,You are absolutely correct that people knew and were not listened to,,,

The World Changed on 9/11...

[singfreedom]

Being from the Oklahoma City area, I was always amazed at the number of Oklahomans, let alone U.S. citizens, that were perfectly willing, some even eager, to let the "Arab connection" just disappear under the rug. They, seemingly, just couldn't/wouldn't accept the possibility of foreign involvement in such a personal tragedy, here, in the middle of the country.

I have found this attitude annoying. I want, always, to know the "whole truth" and I will always believe the people of Oklahoma were robbed of the right to know that "whole truth" by a bumbling bastard that cared not a whit for our safety--present or future.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

I think that Peter Lance is as close as anyone to getting the "whole" picture; to wit, government employees' mis-, mal-, and nonfeasance followed by coverup, coverup. I respect Mr. Lance and wish him luck -- but..

A lot of his interviews have been with leftists. I read one interview with democracynow*. I've seen connections to the Huffington site, DailyCuss, the old Air America thing.

I've heard all CoasttoCoastAM (Air 'merica) interviews.

The only interview I heard him include Clinton in the blame was when KSFO conservative host Barbara Simpson asked a specific question; though at least once on CoasttoCoastAM (Air 'merica) he allowed that all share the blame.

It's strange. He goes mostly to leftists who mistake his book as a chronicle of how the good guys are getting over on the bad guys, us. :)

* democracynow: Several impromptu "Bush nn was president when . . ."; to wit, "under Bush 43" [this or that bad thing happened] and [this or that bad thing happened], "this was when Bush 41 is in the White House"

He started to tell how "President Clinton" had issued a get-OBL order in 1996 but Ms Amy Goodman interrupted him to ask another question.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Well You Just NAILED it,,,!!!!!!!!!!,,, Under the rug is
rite where it went,,,National Embarrassment I guess,,, I just cannot see how this could be done,,,But then,,, Libo-Kraps have lied to me before,,,More of the same,, I wonder how they feel about it since 9/11 ...

[BILL_C]

for later reading