[Dr. Frank fan]

It's a fair question.

The answer seems to be twofold. (1) Pointing out Iraq's involvement would have required him to take leadership and perhaps a military response (such as we are seeing from Bush) which is more than just dropping bombs on aspirin factories. Clinton never displayed any talent or skill at such things.

(2) Blaming it on domestic terrorists, of course, gave him a great political opportunity to demonize things like "right-wing talk radio" and sufficient momentum to counter and neutralize what must have seemed to him a threatening political force at the time which had arisen in opposition to his efforts at socialism and citizen disarmament.

All in all, if there is any truth to the charge it would have been a very rational thing for Clinton to do. Honorable no, but rational yes.

[eno_]

This is pretty far-out stuff, but it is not impossible. The 1993 WTC bombing had all kinds of funky stuff going on where the FBI knew a bombing was going to happen but failed to stop it. So it would, at least, be hard to prove something along similar lines did not happen in OKC. Also there were reports of neo-Facist groups cheering the 9/11 attacks. I don't know if we will ever know what did happen, but it isn't looney to suspect McVeigh did not do it by himself. Bin Laden-trained terrorists had the embassy bombings under their belt, and they sure seem to know the weaknesses of buildings. Careful planning and expertise are much more likely to be successful than a lone wacko with a truckload of ANFO.

One thing I am pretty sure about is that 747s do not blow themselves up on their own.

[LSJohn]

All in all, if there is any truth to the charge it would have been a very rational thing for Clinton to do.

Yes, but that analysis doesn't explain why the FBI would quietly and aggressively go along with it. IMO, FBI had it's own ax to grind or there would have been leaks by the dozens from the inside -- we KNOW a lot of FBI insiders hated Klintoon's guts.

[In mourning for six years]

Your points are excellent! We must also not forget that the OKC Bombing is generally considered the turning point in the Clinton Administration. Prior to that the administration was, as Helen (is she still around?) Thomas so aptly said, "going down the drain."