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The Middle Eastern (Iraq) Connection to Oklahoma City (1995 Official Congressional Prior Warning)
Indianapolis Star (Opinion Section) ^ | February 17, 2002 | Jim Crogan

Posted on 02/17/2002 12:04:34 AM PST by OKCSubmariner

Ever since the country was savagely attacked on Sept. 11, the FBI has relentlessly investigated flight schools, airports, universities, mosques, Middle Eastern charities and Muslim communities, looking for connections to al-Qaida or other jihadist groups.

The only stone, it seems, the bureau hasn't been willing to turn over is its own investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing. Presumably, that's because the 1995 terrorist attack was the exclusive work of homegrown extremists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Or was it?

Even though McVeigh went to his death denying any larger plot, serious questions remain unanswered. Did John Doe No. 2 ever exist? If so, who is he? If not, why did a second suspect initially emerge? What material or witnesses did the bureau use to create its three sketches of this alleged co-conspirator?

And then there's that troublesome FBI-authorized all-points bulletin issued just minutes after the truck bomb exploded. The alert sent members of Oklahoma City law enforcement searching for two Middle Eastern-looking men seen speeding away from the blast area in a brown Chevy pickup with tinted windows and a bug shield. The APB was abruptly cancelled several hours later without explanation.

The evidence that the Oklahoma City bombing involved a larger conspiracy, one with Middle Eastern connections, is compelling. And the trail begins with that mysterious pickup.

The week after the bombing, Jayna Davis, a veteran Oklahoma City reporter at KFOR-TV, got a tip, which began her investigation of a local property management company. Dr. Samir Khalil owns Samara Properties, and several former employees told Davis they had seen a pickup, matching the APB's description, at the office.

Davis discovered that Khalil, a Palestinian expatriate, had pled guilty in 1991 to several counts of insurance fraud and served eight months in a federal prison. Khalil's court papers indicated that the FBI investigated him for alleged connections to the Palestine Liberation Organization. But Khalil vehemently denied any PLO links. And he's never responded to my calls for comment.

Former Samara employees also told Davis that six months before the bombing, Khalil hired a group of Iraqi refugees to do painting and construction work. This group had allegedly fled Iraq to escape Saddam Hussein's regime. But a Samara employee told Davis he saw them cheering the terror attack and vowing to die in Saddam's service.

Davis then used surveillance camera to take pictures of these Iraqis. Eventually, she focused on one man, Hussain Alhussaini (also known as Al-Hussaini Hussain), who seemed to match the last FBI profile sketch and description of John Doe No. 2.

Over the next several months, she interviewed witnesses who said they saw McVeigh in the company of a Middle Eastern-looking man in the days and hours before the bombing. Using KFOR's photo line-up, they identified that individual as Alhussaini.

Perhaps the most intriguing statements she collected came from a host of staff members at a motel near downtown Oklahoma City. They reported seeing McVeigh with a number of Middle Eastern men at the site in the months preceding the bombing. Using KFOR's photos, those men were identified as Samara employees. Alhussaini was included in that group.

The motel witnesses also said they saw several of the Iraqis moving large barrels around in the back of an old white truck. The barrels, they alleged, emanated a strong smell of diesel fuel, one of the key ingredients used in the Oklahoma City bomb.

Davis also discovered that the mysterious brown Chevy pickup was impounded by the FBI on April 27, 1995. The pickup had been abandoned in an apartment building lot. According to the police report, the truck had been stripped of its license plate, inspection tag and all its vehicle identification numbers. It also was spray-painted yellow, but the original color was listed as brown. One resident at the complex told the FBI the driver was "clean-shaven, with an olive complexion, dark, wavy hair and broad shoulders," in his late 20s or early 30s and of Middle Eastern descent.

Davis also used a hidden camera to interview Lana Padilla, Terry Nichols' ex-wife, about Nichols' repeated trips to the Philippines, a hotbed for terrorist activity. "Tim bought Terry the first ticket for the Philippines," Padilla said. That trip occurred in 1989. His last visit came in November 1994.

Ramzi Yousef, the Iraqi convicted for masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to blow up U.S. airliners, operated out of Mindanao and Manila in the Philippines. Yousef received funding from Osama bin Laden. According to a motion filed by the McVeigh defense team, an American fitting Nichols' description met with Yousef in the Philippines in 1992 or 1993.

Davis eventually aired a number of pieces, taking care to disguise the Iraqi's identity. However, Alhussaini voluntarily stepped forward on June 15, 1995, to publicly claim that KFOR and Davis had labeled him as John Doe No. 2.

Alhussaini told Channel 9 in Oklahoma City he was living in fear. He claimed to be working at one of Khalil's properties when the bombing occurred. And he produced a handwritten time sheet as proof. The former Iraqi soldier also denied knowing McVeigh, and demanded a public apology from KFOR.

KFOR and Davis stood by their reports and countered with witnesses who contradicted Alhussaini's assertions, including the time sheet, which was labeled a fabrication. Alhussaini responded by filing a state civil libel suit. However, he withdrew the suit the day before a judge was scheduled to rule on KFOR's motion for summary judgment.

Meanwhile, Alhussaini's suit froze KFOR's coverage of the story. And Davis eventually quit after The New York Times bought the station and the investigation was stopped. The former reporter, who had collected 22 signed affidavits from the witnesses she interviewed, was called to testify before a state grand jury that examined the bombing in 1997. With the witnesses' permission, she gave the grand jury the affidavits.

Alhussaini then refiled his libel suit in federal court. Once again attorneys for KFOR and Davis filed for a dismissal. On Nov. 17, 1999, U.S. District Judge Tim Leonard granted their motion. In his ruling, Leonard stated that all the facts in Davis' report were either true or statements of opinion, and did not libel the plaintiff. Alhussaini then appealed the ruling. A hearing was held on Sept. 10; a decision is pending.

Alhussaini moved from Oklahoma City and was reportedly living in the Boston area. His lawyer declined to give me a phone number for his client.

According to 1997 medical records produced during his federal suit, Alhussaini said he had worked for a while at Boston's Logan Airport (where two of the planes were hijacked on Sept. 11). Quoting from those records, Alhussaini first told his psychiatrist that he had quit his airport job because, "If anything happens there, I will be a suspect." However, he later told his doctor that he "wanted to look for another job because he feels unsafe in the environment he works in, the airport, given the recent events involving his being previously suspected of involvement in the Oklahoma bombing."

Alhussaini's specific job at the airport was never identified. I contacted the Massachusetts Port Authority, which oversees Logan, to obtain dates of employment. A spokesperson said the agency would not release any information.

During the course of her investigation, Davis made contact with Yossef Bodansky, executive director of the 13-year-old Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare. Bodansky told Davis the task force had warned of an impending Islamic-sponsored terrorist attack in America's heartland back in 1995.

On Feb. 27, 1995, the task force had issued its first confidential warning to federal agencies that Islamic terrorists "may soon strike Washington D.C., specifically the Capitol and the White House." This confidential alert, which he said was quietly distributed to federal intelligence agencies and law enforcement, claimed the attacks were to begin after March 21, 1995.

"Striking inside the U.S. is presently a high priority for Iran," stated the warning. The alert also stated that upcoming terrorist strikes might be directed against "airports, airlines and telephone systems." In light of Sept. 11, it was a telling note.

On March 3, 1995, the task force issued an update. This "super-sensitive" alert stated there was a "greater likelihood the terrorists would strike at the heart of the U.S." Bodansky also told Davis that after the truck bombing, he reviewed intelligence data that confirmed, "Oklahoma City was on the list of potential targets."

Bodansky gave Davis copies of the task force's original alert and some of his confidential notes detailing the update and Oklahoma City's target status. His material notes an independent warning from Israeli intelligence a month before the bombing. The warning indicated a terrorist attack was impending and that "lilly whites" would be activated. Lilly whites, Bodansky writes, were people without any background or police records who would not be suspected members of a terrorist group.

Now President Bush has labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea an "axis of evil." And hyperbole aside, details of Iran's alleged involvement in terrorism were included in last summer's U.S. Department of Justice indictment issued in connection with the Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Bodansky told me that Iran and Iraq agreed to cooperate in terrorist operations against the West.

Over the past seven months, I reviewed all of Davis' documents, including the material she got from Bodansky. I also conducted my own follow-up interviews and found no holes in her investigation. As for Davis, she's tried twice to give her material to the FBI.

According to her attorney Tim McCoy, Department of Justice attorneys prosecuting Nichols rejected Davis' documents in 1997 because they didn't want more material to turn over to the defense. McCoy testified to this at a recent hearing in Nichols' state murder case.

In 1999, former FBI agent Dan Vogel accepted the material, but he said that higher-ups later rejected it because the agency questioned Davis' ownership rights.

I called the bureau but it declined to explain this strange turn of events. Perhaps if Vogel had been allowed to testify at a recent hearing in Nichols' Oklahoma murder trial, details would have been forthcoming. But the Justice Department refused to let him take the stand.

Is this a case of FBI incompetence, political interference or the Justice Department's desire not to complicate a seemingly open-and-shut case against McVeigh and Nichols? I don't know.

I do know that too many questions remain unanswered. And I wonder: If the FBI had followed through on these leads, might agents have turned up links to sleeper cells or the network that planned the Sept. 11 massacre?


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: fredthompson; okcbombing
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To: OKCSubmariner
bttt
101 posted on 02/22/2002 4:26:22 PM PST by LiberteeBell
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To: Uncle Bill
Didn't you used to post the same kind of 'scary' stuff about Y2K internment camps - what ever happened to those camps anyway - and what happened to the plans for interning the US populace?

Was it all a ruse?

102 posted on 02/22/2002 4:26:33 PM PST by _Jim
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To: OKCSubmariner; lawdog; honway
OKC, I notice your piece has _Jim out from under his rock to spread disinformation and distraction....I wonder just how much your threads have cost us in tax dollars to pay this moron's salary.

Notice that nothing in this thread attempts to portray McVeigh as innocent - the thread merely points out that the FIBBies refused to investigate the other leads and refused to turn that discoverable information over to the defense counsel. The first fact displays gross negligence on the FBI's part, the second fact displays criminal conduct.

But Der _Jim doesn't want anyone to focus on those facts...does he?

103 posted on 02/22/2002 4:27:19 PM PST by Abundy
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To: LiberteeBell
Did you notice that this 'story' was published in the "Opinion" section of the Indianapolis Star?

Does that make more opinion - or 'story'?

104 posted on 02/22/2002 4:28:45 PM PST by _Jim
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To: Abundy
But Der _Jim doesn't want anyone to focus on those facts...does he?

Just count in all these 'stories' posted by these conspiro-loons the number of 'mays' and 'might haves' and 'has connections' in one hand and THEN sift for real objective facts in the other -

- which hand comes up heavier?

(The one with the 'mays' and the 'might haves' ...)

105 posted on 02/22/2002 4:33:15 PM PST by _Jim
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To: OKCSubmariner
I'll tell you the kind of thing _Jim is. He comes on a thread concerning William S. Donaldson, 56, a retired Navy Attack Pilot, who had just died of a brain tumor, and spoke all kinds of evil things about Mr. Donaldson. Now, think of that, the guy is dead, and he still wants to spit on his grave. That's _Jim in a nutshell. I'm still surprised he hasn't changed his handle. Jim Robinson had to pull his remarks they were so offensive, rude, and so insulting. Don't take my word for it, take a look at the thread for yourself. DoughtyOne was there also, and can verify _Jim's remarks. He should have been banned. It was much, much worse than a personal attack. It was something Larry Flynt would do. _Jim would have to be of very low character to make such terrible remarks about Commander Donaldson, especially "after" his death. We won't have to take a poll for James. This is also troubling, in that it shows that _Jim has no compassion at all. How can he make it in these times?

TWA 800 Investigator William Donaldson Dies

106 posted on 02/22/2002 5:17:20 PM PST by Uncle Bill
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To: _Jim; lawdog; honway
This will be my only response to you.

There is no "may" or "might have" regarding the failure of the US Attorney and the FBI to turn over discoverable information to Defense Counsel for McVeigh and Nichols. Period.

Their failure to comply with the law is documented and admitted on their parts. To date no one has been fired or disbarred for this intentional misconduct.

As a trained investigator, the hairs on the back of my neck raise up and scream "red flag" when I view this misconduct alongside their failure to follow up on the leads discovered by the reporters.

While these two facts may not be connnected and may not mean anything, anyone who does not follow up and investigate whether they are connected is either part of a coverup or imcompetent. If nothing else, followup to eliminate these individuals as suspects is required. To say that because McVeigh confessed the case is solved is gross incompetence at the least; possibly criminal negligence if those who stopped the investigation knew better.

But you won't acknowledge any of this - I fully expect you to copy a portion of this post in a reply, take it out of context, analyze it through your pro-government-at-all-costs-to-freedom mentality and then ridicule me as some tin-foil hatter - totally discounting my law enforcement experience.

Have at it.

107 posted on 02/23/2002 3:09:09 AM PST by Abundy
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To: _Jim; lawdog; honway
Acutally _Jim, this will be my last post to you.

"mays and might haves" in one hand, facts in the other and decide which is heavier?????

Read on, if you are willing to admit you are wrong - or are even Federal Judges tin-foil hatters????

The evidence that the Oklahoma City bombing involved a larger conspiracy, one with Middle Eastern connections, is compelling. And the trail begins with that mysterious pickup.

The week after the bombing, Jayna Davis, a veteran Oklahoma City reporter at KFOR-TV, got a tip, which began her investigation of a local property management company. Dr. Samir Khalil owns Samara Properties, and several former employees told Davis they had seen a pickup, matching the APB's description, at the office.

Davis discovered that Khalil, a Palestinian expatriate, had pled guilty in 1991 to several counts of insurance fraud and served eight months in a federal prison. Khalil's court papers indicated that the FBI investigated him for alleged connections to the Palestine Liberation Organization. But Khalil vehemently denied any PLO links. And he's never responded to my calls for comment.

Former Samara employees also told Davis that six months before the bombing, Khalil hired a group of Iraqi refugees to do painting and construction work. This group had allegedly fled Iraq to escape Saddam Hussein's regime. But a Samara employee told Davis he saw them cheering the terror attack and vowing to die in Saddam's service.

Davis then used surveillance camera to take pictures of these Iraqis. Eventually, she focused on one man, Hussain Alhussaini (also known as Al-Hussaini Hussain), who seemed to match the last FBI profile sketch and description of John Doe No. 2.

Over the next several months, she interviewed witnesses who said they saw McVeigh in the company of a Middle Eastern-looking man in the days and hours before the bombing. Using KFOR's photo line-up, they identified that individual as Alhussaini.

Perhaps the most intriguing statements she collected came from a host of staff members at a motel near downtown Oklahoma City. They reported seeing McVeigh with a number of Middle Eastern men at the site in the months preceding the bombing. Using KFOR's photos, those men were identified as Samara employees. Alhussaini was included in that group.

The motel witnesses also said they saw several of the Iraqis moving large barrels around in the back of an old white truck. The barrels, they alleged, emanated a strong smell of diesel fuel, one of the key ingredients used in the Oklahoma City bomb.

Davis also discovered that the mysterious brown Chevy pickup was impounded by the FBI on April 27, 1995. The pickup had been abandoned in an apartment building lot. According to the police report, the truck had been stripped of its license plate, inspection tag and all its vehicle identification numbers. It also was spray-painted yellow, but the original color was listed as brown. One resident at the complex told the FBI the driver was "clean-shaven, with an olive complexion, dark, wavy hair and broad shoulders," in his late 20s or early 30s and of Middle Eastern descent.

Davis also used a hidden camera to interview Lana Padilla, Terry Nichols' ex-wife, about Nichols' repeated trips to the Philippines, a hotbed for terrorist activity. "Tim bought Terry the first ticket for the Philippines," Padilla said. That trip occurred in 1989. His last visit came in November 1994.

Ramzi Yousef, the Iraqi convicted for masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to blow up U.S. airliners, operated out of Mindanao and Manila in the Philippines. Yousef received funding from Osama bin Laden. According to a motion filed by the McVeigh defense team, an American fitting Nichols' description met with Yousef in the Philippines in 1992 or 1993.

Davis eventually aired a number of pieces, taking care to disguise the Iraqi's identity. However, Alhussaini voluntarily stepped forward on June 15, 1995, to publicly claim that KFOR and Davis had labeled him as John Doe No. 2.

Alhussaini told Channel 9 in Oklahoma City he was living in fear. He claimed to be working at one of Khalil's properties when the bombing occurred. And he produced a handwritten time sheet as proof. The former Iraqi soldier also denied knowing McVeigh, and demanded a public apology from KFOR.

KFOR and Davis stood by their reports and countered with witnesses who contradicted Alhussaini's assertions, including the time sheet, which was labeled a fabrication. Alhussaini responded by filing a state civil libel suit. However, he withdrew the suit the day before a judge was scheduled to rule on KFOR's motion for summary judgment.

Meanwhile, Alhussaini's suit froze KFOR's coverage of the story. And Davis eventually quit after The New York Times bought the station and the investigation was stopped. The former reporter, who had collected 22 signed affidavits from the witnesses she interviewed, was called to testify before a state grand jury that examined the bombing in 1997. With the witnesses' permission, she gave the grand jury the affidavits.

Alhussaini then refiled his libel suit in federal court. Once again attorneys for KFOR and Davis filed for a dismissal. On Nov. 17, 1999, U.S. District Judge Tim Leonard granted their motion. In his ruling, Leonard stated that all the facts in Davis' report were either true or statements of opinion, and did not libel the plaintiff. Alhussaini then appealed the ruling. A hearing was held on Sept. 10; a decision is pending.

OK, so what "might haves" appear in this report? NOTHING!

Facts? Well, it would appear that a Federal Judge determined that the reporter and all of her witnesses are not part of some FreeRepublic-based, tin-foil celebration, but credible witnesses telling the truth about what they observed - and he dismissed a libel suit filed by one of the middle eastern men linked to McVeigh.

Unless Judge Leonard is part of the tin-foil conspiracy, I'd say he pretty much determined the facts outweigh the "might haves."

Before you focus on "opinions" in the Judge's decision, that would cover a witness who observed the men loading drums into a rental truck (which is a factual observation) and also the witnesses opinion that he/she smelled diesel fuel (their opinion that what they were smelling was diesel fuel). Don't bother trying to pick this apart to discount it - all you will succeed in doing is demonstrating what a government shill you are.

But I know you can't admit you are wrong; So, now I'm waiting for you to link me, these witnesses and reporter I've never met, and the Judge with OKCSubmariner and the black helicopter crowd - I know you will never admit that your beloved FBI dropped the ball either intentionally or through gross misconduct/neglect...

108 posted on 02/23/2002 3:23:33 AM PST by Abundy
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To: OKCSubmariner; Uncle Bill
See #107 and #108...then sit back and watch _Jim work his magic...
109 posted on 02/23/2002 3:27:04 AM PST by Abundy
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Comment #110 Removed by Moderator

To: Abundy
The evidence that the Oklahoma City bombing involved a larger conspiracy, one with Middle Eastern connections, is compelling.

Again, ZERO evidence, just a compilation of more "weasel words", to wit: (1) "involved a larger conspiracy" (2) "is compelling" in an attempt to 'continually peddle' this conspiracy ...

111 posted on 02/23/2002 5:42:10 PM PST by _Jim
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To: Uncle Bill
Now fess up Unc - you're guilty of scaring these fine folk here on FR with A LOT of useless fluff written by the bunker-mentality set -

- UNLESS you can provide proof that the government CHANGED their collective mind about interning citizens over Y2K - in which case you're NOT guilty after all of trying to scare these fine folk here on FR ...

112 posted on 02/23/2002 5:47:57 PM PST by _Jim
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To: _Jim; Uncle Bill; OKCSubmariner
Ah douchebag, the Judge disagrees with your assertion that there is no evidence:

Alhussaini then refiled his libel suit in federal court. Once again attorneys for KFOR and Davis filed for a dismissal. On Nov. 17, 1999, U.S. District Judge Tim Leonard granted their motion. In his ruling, Leonard stated that all the facts in Davis' report were either true or statements of opinion

113 posted on 02/24/2002 2:38:05 AM PST by Abundy
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To: Abundy
that all the facts in Davis' report were either true or statements of opinion

Firstly, the sentance above is not clear as to what is fact or what is opinion - he simply lumps it all together without discriminaton with that logical 'or' that allows for either.

Secondly - this is quickly turning into a tail wagging the dog situation with all the trivia that is reporting about the trivia that has at some point in this chain of trivia reporting succeeded in converting

  1. simple opinion and
  2. observation of un-related events
into 'fact'.

The time has come to produce this evidence as opposed to the "reporting of multitudinous amounts of minutia, trivia and un-related events that attempt to synthesize a conspiracy where none exists, where the material evidence clearly indicates to the contrary, and the motives of those who continue to explore such conspiracies are suspect" ...

114 posted on 02/24/2002 7:44:16 AM PST by _Jim
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To: _Jim; OKCSubmariner; Jim Robinson; honway
I already reposted the facts once you moron. The entire report constitutes facts, that when objectively viewed, demand further investigation by law enforcement. I even showed you the difference between a fact and an opinion in the report.

You continue to demonstrate an unwillingness to admit you are wrong. You continue to demonstrate either a quark-sized intellect or an absolute anti-truth agenda. Either way you will some day rot in hell. I just hope I get a chance to see you face to face before you depart this world. Because if it does turn out you are on someone's payroll, you need about 5 minutes worth of attitude adjustment for the dishonor and spit you lump on every victim's grave with your disinformation, spin and obfuscation.

115 posted on 02/24/2002 8:28:20 AM PST by Abundy
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To: Abundy
Are you calling names again?

Haven't you been cautioned about this before - several times as a matter of fact?

I think you've seen this before - here it is again -

- From: http://www.freeRepublic.com/forum/a3af9e1165cec.htm

"Personal attacks, petty (and not so petty) bickering, flame wars, feuding, etc.

There's been a lot of it lately. My abuse report runneth over. I don't like it. It tears us apart and makes Free Republic look petty and vindictive, discrediting us and driving away our readers. That's why you see my reminder right there in bold letters on the posting form every time you post: "NO personal attacks!"


116 posted on 02/24/2002 8:36:15 AM PST by _Jim
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To: Abundy
Psst. Don't let Jimbo distract you..he'll just get promoted to "GS- 14" or higher!

As to "ZERO evidence" I couldn't disagree more!

117 posted on 02/24/2002 10:46:46 AM PST by lawdog
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To: _Jim
"conspiro-loons"

You really doth protest too much ! Practice what you preach.

118 posted on 02/24/2002 10:51:34 AM PST by lawdog
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To: _Jim
F#ck off.
119 posted on 02/24/2002 3:08:51 PM PST by Abundy
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To: OKCSubmariner; ratcat; Fred Mertz; It'salmosttolate; Noumenon; Askel5
_Jim Magnet

OKC Bombing: Precursor to 9-11?

Evidence links the OKC bombing to Middle Eastern terrorists, and the failure of officials to examine this evidence in 1995 may have set the stage for the September 11th attacks.

The New American
by William F. Jasper
Vol. 18, No. 02
January 28, 2002

The Black Tuesday terror attacks on America have prompted some journalists to take a look at the abundant evidence of Middle Eastern terrorist involvement in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the possible connection of that event to the more recent 9-11 attacks. A recent example is Insight magazine. A December 3rd article by Kelly Patricia O’Meara reports that Timothy McVeigh’s convicted co-conspirator Terry Nichols "reportedly attended a meeting in the early 1990s on the predominantly Muslim island of Mindanao, a hotbed of fundamentalist activities, at which Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah were present. The themes of the meeting were ‘bombing activities, providing firearms and ammunition, training in making and handling bombs.’ Yousef was the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993; Murad and Shah were convicted in a 1996 conspiracy to blow up 12 U.S. jetliners."

O’Meara interviewed Iraq expert Dr. Laurie Mylroie, author of the newly released book, The War Against America: Saddam Hussein and The World Trade Center Attacks. A consultant to the McVeigh defense team, Mylroie told Insight that "the connection of Terry Nichols, the Philippines and Ramzi Yousef is a very important point that neither the FBI nor the press pursued." Mylroie added, "I doubt that Nichols has ever been asked about his connections to Yousef because the government didn’t want to know. It wanted to say, ‘Here are the perpetrators; we arrested them and we brought them to justice. Case closed.’"

Dr. Mylroie’s book marshals convincing evidence that Ramzi Yousef was acting as an agent for Saddam Hussein. The foreword to her book was penned by former CIA Director R. James Woolsey two weeks after the September 11th attacks. In that piece and other articles since Black Tuesday, Woolsey has expressed his support for her thesis and stated his belief that Hussein was behind both the 1993 and the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center Towers. He scorches the Clinton administration (under which he served) for an unwillingness to look at the evidence of state sponsorship of these acts of terrorism.

Familiar Ground

All of this is familiar ground to regular readers of this magazine. For nearly seven years THE NEW AMERICAN has been publishing stories concerning evidence pointing directly toward Iraqi involvement with McVeigh and Nichols in the bombing (see www.thenewamerican.com/focus/okc/). In "A Tale of Intrigue," in our December 25, 1995 issue, for instance, we reported on the evidence pointing toward a possible connection between Terry Nichols and Ramzi Yousef in the Philippines. It is a theme we have returned to many times, as additional supporting evidence has developed.

In our October 16, 1995 issue ("Startling OKC Developments"), we reported on the series of stories by Jayna Davis, an investigative reporter for the Oklahoma City NBC affiliate, KFOR-TV. Mrs. Davis had interviewed eyewitnesses who had seen individuals identified as being of Middle Eastern extraction speeding away from the Murrah Federal Building in a pickup truck immediately before the blast. Her investigative reports pointed to at least one Iraqi "refugee," a former soldier in Saddam Hussein’s army, who was living in Oklahoma City. He had come to the U.S. under a controversial Clinton program that had brought several thousand Iraqis here for resettlement — without screening and security checks to weed out Saddam’s agents posing as refugees. Mrs. Davis also located credible witnesses who placed this Iraqi in the company of Timothy McVeigh in the days prior to the bombing.

KFOR aired several stories with video footage of the Iraqi bombing "suspect," but digitally blurred his face and did not identify him by name. They identified him only as a "possible John Doe No. 2," presented the considerable evidence pointing to him as a prime suspect, and asked why federal authorities were completely uninterested in questioning him or looking at the evidence. The Iraqi suspect, Hussain Al-Hussaini, identified himself publicly when he launched a defamation lawsuit against Davis and KFOR.

Rather than looking objectively at Jayna Davis’ excellent research, virtually all of the Oklahoma City and national media adopted the Bill Clinton-Janet Reno thesis that the OKC bombing was a domestic "right-wing" attack, and rejected out of hand any evidence of foreign ties to the bombing. A careful review of Davis’ extensive evidence and our own parallel investigation quickly convinced this writer that Davis was on solid ground.

O’Meara’s Insight item singles out as a prime co-conspirator suspect an individual whom this magazine has reported on extensively. O’Meara points directly at a notorious leader of the Ku Klux Klan and White Aryan Resistance, Dennis Mahon, who, she says, was "long suspected of being a player in the conspiracy to bomb the Murrah building." The story notes — as we have reported several times in the past — that "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," notes O’Meara. That is true; while the Clinton/Reno Justice Department and FBI bragged about the thousands of agents involved in the OKC investigation and the tens of thousands of interviews they conducted, the government never explained why obvious suspects like Mahon and Al-Hussaini were never questioned.

New Evidence

Last October, Paul Bedard, a writer for U.S. News & World Report, dropped a potential bombshell when he reported that top Pentagon officials believe that Timothy McVeigh was an Iraqi agent and claimed that McVeigh was in possession of Iraqi telephone numbers. In a short item entitled "McVeigh’s ghost" that appeared in Bedard’s Washington Whispers column on October 29th, U.S. News reported:

Some dismiss it as being akin to Elvis sightings, but a few top Defense officials think Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh was an Iraqi agent. The theory stems from a never-before-reported allegation that McVeigh had allegedly collected Iraqi telephone numbers. Why haven’t we heard this before about the case of the executed McVeigh? Conspiracy theorists in the Pentagon think it’s part of a coverup.

Mr. Bedard subsequently appeared on Fox TV’s Fox and Friends show, where he stated that McVeigh "had information about Iraq which has led some officials to think that he was an Iraqi agent and maybe was doing Saddam Hussein’s business in Oklahoma City." Mr. Bedard’s reports were the first ever to allege that Timothy McVeigh possessed Iraqi telephone numbers. If true, this would mean that highly significant information had been covered up; nothing of this sort came out during the McVeigh or Nichols trials.

On September 13th, two days after the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., listeners to WRRK in Pittsburgh, Pa., were stunned to hear Chicago attorney David Schippers state that he had attempted to warn Attorney General John Ashcroft and other federal officials about the catastrophic attack weeks before it occurred. Schippers, the author of Sellout: The Inside Story of President Clinton’s Impeachment, gained international fame as the chief investigative counsel for the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives’ successful impeachment of President Bill Clinton. According to Mr. Schippers, he had received information from intelligence sources, including FBI agents, that a massive terrorist attack was being planned for lower Manhattan (where the World Trade Center was located). Schippers said that he began trying to get this information to Ashcroft six weeks before the Black Tuesday attacks.

Currently representing Jayna Davis, Schippers had attempted even earlier to get her information concerning the OKC-Iraq connection to the attorney general. In both cases, he said, he had been stymied by lower-level Department of Justice officials who would not give him access to Mr. Ashcroft or any of his top lieutenants. Mr. Schippers repeated these charges in several other radio and print interviews.

On March 20, 2001, Fox TV’s Bill O’Reilly interviewed Jayna Davis, providing the first major national coverage of her OKC-Mideast research. Subsequently, Mr. O’Reilly has focused his program, "The O’Reilly Factor," on a related aspect of the OKC-Mideast connection, achieving some very positive results. His September 26th broadcast entitled "What is Going On at the University of South Florida?" asked some piercing questions of USF Professor Sami Al-Arian and his connections to the Islamic Jihad terrorist group. We had asked similar questions in a detailed article ("America the Vulnerable," September 14, 1998) about Al-Arian, Ramadan Shallah, Khalil Shikaki, and others at USF connected to Islamic Jihad and Hamas. That article pointed out that Al-Arian and company were operating through USF-affiliated "think tanks" such as the World Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE) and the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP) to give terrorist leaders access to the U.S. and to radicalize American Muslims for recruitment into the extremist networks. We noted therein that an ICP/WISE speaker, Kamal Helbawi, a Hamas leader based in Pakistan, was one of several militants who had addressed Muslims in a very inflammatory speech at a conference in Oklahoma City.

"Oklahoma City has played host to other leaders associated with Hamas, ICP, WISE, and other suspected terrorist fronts," we reported. "And evidence developed by this magazine and other investigators indicates that locally based and foreign individuals associated with these long-established terrorist networks were involved in the April 19, 1995 bombing. Unless officials are pressured to conduct an honest and thorough investigation, more atrocities and tragedies are sure to follow."

Thanks to Bill O’Reilly’s coverage on Fox, USF announced last December 19th that Dr. Al-Arian was being dismissed from employment at USF. That will be a rather empty victory, however, if federal immigration, intelligence, and law enforcement officials do not follow up with an intensive investigation into the vast terrorist support network within this country, of which Al-Arian’s USF band appears to be a significant part.

Many people held high hopes that the important OKC-Mideast evidence that the Clinton-Reno regime had suppressed would be acted on under the new Bush-Ashcroft management. But the Department of Justice under Ashcroft is thus far following the Reno script on OKC. On October 29th, Oklahoma Judge Ray Dean Linder ruled that, because of objections from the Bush-Ashcroft Justice Department, retired FBI Agent Dan Vogel would not be allowed to testify about evidence he had received concerning Mideast connections to the OKC bombing. Vogel, an Oklahoma City FBI Special Agent, had volunteered to testify in the upcoming state trial of Terry Nichols, who has already been convicted on federal charges as an accomplice with Timothy McVeigh in the bombing. Among the things that Mr. Vogel could testify about is that he received 22 affidavits and more than 30 witness statements describing sightings of Middle Easterners with McVeigh. The information was transmitted to him at the FBI’s Oklahoma City office on January 28, 1999 by reporter Jayna Davis, accompanied by her husband, Drew Davis, and her attorney, Dan Nelson. Mr. Vogel has said that he is willing to testify before a congressional committee if he is subpoenaed to do so.

Last November 17th, Indianapolis Star writer James Patterson wrote a story on the Davis-Vogel-OKC-Ashcroft developments that was picked up nationally by the Associated Press. In the article, entitled "Missing evidence from Oklahoma City," Patterson wrote: "The FBI doesn’t want to talk about it, but the evidence keeps mounting. Critical evidence that several Middle Eastern men may have been connected to the Oklahoma City bombing appears to have been kept from the public by the FBI."

"Officially, the FBI has dismissed the possibility of a John Doe No. 2, an olive-skinned man whose sketch they released immediately after the bombing, or other suspects," said Patterson. "But current and former FBI agents in Oklahoma City say they received documents pointing to another person or even a cell of Middle Eastern operatives. At a minimum, Congress should question one former FBI agent who says he obtained 22 affidavits and more than 30 witness statements describing sightings of Middle Easterners with McVeigh."

The Star article states that FBI "agents believe if that evidence had not been suppressed by the FBI, it could have helped uncover plans leading to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon." Patterson quotes an unnamed former FBI agent as stating: "We did have some Oklahoma connections to the events in Washington, D.C., and New York City. We did find out that one of these individuals was trying to take flight training at a Norman [Okla.] flight instruction school."

Why do the Bush administration and Congress continually avoid looking at this evidence, especially the more recent evidence Mr. Schippers claims to have about forewarning of the 9-11 attacks? It is absolutely imperative that Congress and the White House be held accountable for this gross dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice. How many more attacks must we suffer and how many more lives must be lost before this very reasonable, common-sense request to investigate prime suspects and examine available, credible evidence is finally acted upon by officials in Washington?

THE FAILURE OF U.S. INTELLIGENCE

Bush asks Daschle to limit Sept. 11 probes

Dick Cheney asks Daschle to Limit Sept. 11 probes


Some dismiss it as being akin to Elvis sightings, but a few top Defense officials think Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh was an Iraqi agent. The theory stems from a never-before-reported allegation that McVeigh had allegedly collected Iraqi telephone numbers. Why haven't we heard this before about the case of the executed McVeigh? Conspiracy theorists in the Pentagon think it's part of a coverup.
Source

The Oklahoma City Bombing - Glenn and Kathy Wilburn - Links

Frank Keating - Crimes Committed By FBI Officials and Agents During National Security Operations

UNSEALED ALI MOHAMED CASE DOCUMENTS

POLICE STATE

PUBLIC RECORDS CONFIRMING THE PRESENCE OF ADDITIONAL BOMBS IN THE MURRAH BUILDING

Oklahoma City Bomb Report - Brigadier General Benton K. Partin, USAF (Ret.)

OKCSubmariner(Patrick B. Briley) Articles:
Did Former FBI Inspector Preside Over FBI Cover-up of OKC Bombing?
Did Former FBI Inspector Preside Over FBI Cover-up of OKC Bombing?
Significant McVeigh Contacts
Significant McVeigh Contacts-Part II of II
Significant McVeigh Contacts-Part I of II
FBI Suppresses Information About Middle Eastern Suspects In OKC Bombing Case
Updated Version: FBI Suppresses Information About Middle Eastern Suspects in the OKC Bombing Case
FBI Avoids Black and White Caucasian Accomplices of McVeigh in OKC
FBI Suppresses and Falsifies Information About Middle Eastern Suspects in the OKC Bombing Case
Another Example of FBI Behavior to Suppress Evidence in the OKC Bombing Case
Remove and Investigate FBI Director Louis Freeh


36,000 pages of undisclosed evidence? - Court could allow Nichols' lawyers to see FBI tips

Was FBI early arrival in Oklahoma City? - Hotel receipt shows top terror man showed up 9 hours before blast

Network: Remove gag from terror witnesses -CBS asks court to release papers, allow parties to speak about attack

Oklahoma City terrorism report released 6-year investigation concludes government 'concealed' truth

Justice: No Key meeting before execution - Investigator still wants to schedule discussion with Ashcroft

Key requests meeting with Ashcroft - Oklahoma City investigator says 'improprieties' exist in case

Revealing the truth about OKC - Geoff Metcalf interviews bombing investigator Charles Key

Accomplices known to FBI - Document provides evidence tying white racists to McVeigh

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard:

'Vacuous' press echoes official line? Evans-Pritchard: Alternative media dig into, reveal true story

'The resurrection of President Clinton'

'Glenn and Kathy Wilburn'

Bomb squad seen before blast

John Doe 2

Evidence: White racists aided McVeigh - Mideast connection - books on how to speak Arabic

FBI whistleblowers on cover-up - Ex-agents tell '60 Minutes II' of evidence ignored

McVeigh diagrams ANFO bomb - Details show larger device than government officials stated

Feds canceled pre-blast raid Committee head: If government had acted, attack on building could have been thwarted

Officials had prior knowledge of bombing - McVeigh's contacts, activities known to ATF year in advance

Witnesses heard multiple explosions - Experts say Murrah Building damage not done by truck blast alone

FBI refused 22 eyewitness testimonies - Evidence implicating Mideast connection created 'discovery problem'

FBI ignores 'John Does' - Report: Witnesses who saw McVeigh with other suspects not called to testify

McVeigh, Nichols 'did not act alone' - OKC investigating committee concludes U.S. 'had prior knowledge of the bombing'

Oklahoma City's lost information - Early accounts differ from today's 'official' explanation of bombing

Oklahoma City blast linked to bin Laden - Reporter says FBI refused to accept evidence of foreign terror connection

Dead McVeighs tell no tales

The ghost of Tim McVeigh

Open letter to John Ashcroft

Another reprieve for McVeigh

Federal Bureau of Incompetence?

Who will prosecute FBI criminals?

Don't kill McVeigh -- yet


Glenn Wilburn
Two weeks before his death, the call finally came. Glenn, always gracious, made his final heroic effort. Too ill to move, he insisted on being lifted into his wheelchair, his drooping limbs strapped with a sheet, and was taken out to say goodbye to Oklahoma.

"Do you think that the stress of all you've been through the past two years contributed to your illness?" asked the reporter.

"Yes," replied Glenn, the emotional trauma had probably supressed his immune system.

"Knowing that, would you do it all over again?"

"Yes, because I have to look at myself in the mirror."

He died on July 15, 1997, aged 46, an ordinary American who showed great independence of mind. He had been angry with God, bitter at the injustice of the bombing, but he had made his peace. "Lord forgive me that I didn't become all that You wanted me to be," he prayed aloud, in his last conscious act with his wife.

He asked to be buried by Dr. Larry Jones, a family friend and founder of Feed the Children, who had come to see him every day in his agonies.

"What do you want me to tell them?" Jones had asked.

"Just tell them the truth, Larry," replied Glenn.

He did. At the funeral service, Dr. Jones gave a blistering oration.

"I don't want us to become a nation, as Alexander Solzhenitsyn said of the Soviet Union, where the lie has become not just a moral category, but a pillar of the state. If I'm not mistaken, we're living in America, and this frustrates me, what is taking place. I am beginning to see Americans are living under fear of their government."

..For Kathy Wilburn it was a cruel two years. First her grandchildren, then her husband. But she is one of life's stoic souls, raised with the virtues of a different age.

"I will carry it forward," she told me, choking back the tears. "I was Glenn's voice when he couldn't speak any longer, and my mission now is to continue being his voice, for however long it takes, until we know the truth."
The Secret Life of Bill Clinton - pg.106-108


120 posted on 02/24/2002 9:03:57 PM PST by Uncle Bill
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