Posted on 06/20/2002 10:39:50 AM PDT by I_Publius
Jun 20, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) - Just weeks before Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, U.S. authorities received several warnings that Islamic terrorists were seeking to strike on American soil and that a likely target was government buildings, documents show.
The information, though it was never linked to McVeigh, was stark enough that the Clinton administration urged stepped-up security patrols and screening at federal buildings nationwide, including those in Oklahoma.
The government, however, didn't fortify buildings with concrete barriers like those hurriedly installed after McVeigh detonated his explosive-laden truck at the curb of the Murrah building on April 19, 1995, officials said.
Islamic extremists are determined to "strike inside the U.S. against objects symbolizing the American government in the near future," said one warning obtained by The Associated Press.
McVeigh's former trial attorney decried the disclosure Thursday, and accused the government of a cover-up.
"We specifically asked on the record for all evidence, documents and tangible objects to show whether the government had received a warning of acts of terror against federal buildings. We didn't receive this," attorney Stephen Jones said.
Some survivors and relatives of victims said they still don't think the intelligence would have led to McVeigh because it pointed to Islamic extremists.
"What bothers me is that people say the government was warned, but there was nothing specific. How can you lock down all federal buildings?" asked Dan McKinney, whose wife, a Secret Service employee, and niece perished in the attack.
The intelligence that prompted the warnings was gathered across the globe from Iran and Syria to the Philippines and became more specific as to the potential type attack (suicide bombing), target (government building) and likely date (after the third week in March 1995), the documents show.
The U.S. Marshals Service issued an alert on March 15, 1995, to federal courthouses it protects, including the one in Oklahoma City across the street from where McVeigh's truck bomb killed 168 people, the documents show.
"Iranian extremists want it made clear that steps are being taken to strike at the Great Satan," a term used frequently in the Mideast to describe the United States, the marshals memo said. It said a fatwa - a religious order - had been issued to attack marshals or their buildings.
"There is sufficient threat potential to request that a heightened level of security awareness and caution be implemented," the memo added.
Separately, the General Services Administration received a warning from the FBI and asked hundreds of federal buildings it operates to increase security details, including the Murrah building, officials said.
"We were told there was a fatwa threatening to target federal buildings," GSA spokeswoman Viki Reath said this week. "We increased our patrols to 12-hour shifts."
More than two dozen current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials interviewed by AP said the period of spring 1995 was a time of heightened "chatter" among terrorists seeking to strike the United States.
But the officials cautioned the FBI and CIA exhaustively investigated whether McVeigh could have been aided by Mideast terrorist and found no credible evidence linking him to any Islamic extremists, including those who prompted the 1995 warnings.
The information about 1995 emerges as a joint House-Senate panel examining the intelligence and law enforcement failures that preceded Sept. 11 has expanded its mission to look back at the late 1980s and 1990s.
John Gannon, former deputy CIA director for intelligence under President Clinton, said spring 1995 was one of a handful of periods in the 1990s when intelligence on terror threats peaked as the government increasingly turned its attention to Osama bin Laden and his emerging terrorist network.
Gannon said the 1995 warnings were plentiful enough that he initially assumed Islamic extremists had struck when the bomb exploded in Oklahoma City. Law enforcement too issued initial bulletins looking for Arab suspects and borrowed Arabic translators from the military.
"When I first heard about the Oklahoma bombing, the first reaction I had was I wonder if this were a foreign group that had done this or the Islamic extremists that had come up on our screen," Gannon said.
He said it was in 1998, after bin Laden issued a fatwa urging specific attacks on America and two U.S. embassies in Africa were bombed, that U.S. anti-terrorism efforts escalated markedly.
"If there was a watershed year, it was 1998. That significantly elevated our concern and resulted in a concerted effort, and a very strong program to go get Osama bin Laden," he said.
The 1995 intelligence was specific enough that "if that was today, you'd have (Bush Homeland Security Director) Tom Ridge going out and saying we have this threat," said former Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., who in 1995 was a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
McCollum formed a congressional task force in the late 1980s that began warning of the growing threat of terrorism, and which issued some of the 1995 alerts.
"For a good number of years, there was a failure to acknowledge the severity of the threat," he said. "There really had been this disbelief or unwillingness to scare people."
Former Clinton White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said "protecting America against terrorists was a high priority" during the 1990s. "Threat information regularly came in and steps were taken to deal with it," he said.
"In general, the record is very clear that the Clinton administration increased counterterrorism funding and focus more than any other prior administration based on the emerging threats," Lockhart added.
Some of the 1995 warnings were pointed.
"Iranian sources confirmed Tehran's desire and determination to strike inside the U.S. against objects symbolizing the American government in the near future," said a Feb. 27, 1995, terror warning by the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.
The warnings became increasingly specific as to the possible location, type of attack and likely dates.
"These strikes are most likely to occur either in the immediate future or in the new Iranian year - starting 21 March 1995," the congressional task force predicted.
U.S. intelligence monitored a series of meetings and conferences between senior officials of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and other terror organizations in mid-February 1995 in which the subject of killing Americans on U.S. soil came up, officials said.
Around the same time, the FBI received intelligence from the Philippines that two men later convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing had been arrested as they were plotting to blow up U.S. airliners. The men planned to hijack one airliner and crash it into the CIA, Pentagon or White House, documents show.
The marshals warning explained that Islamic extremists had issued a fatwa to kill marshals personnel because of an episode at the end of the World Trade Center bombing trial in which deputy marshals accidentally stepped on a copy of the Quran during a scuffle.
"Allegedly, the fatwa is being disseminated to persons in the United States who have the capability to carry it out," the memo said.
AP-ES-06-20-02 1220EDT
This story can be found at : http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAYWLGUO2D.html
There are two scenarios here, neither of which puts Lockhart in an enviable position:
a) Lockhart was aware of threats and did not divulge them. This is highly unlikely, since you typically keep your press secretary in the loop on things that you DO divulge. If this was the case, the administration clearly failed in "dealing with it".
b) Joe was out of the loop, and is now talking out of his ass.
BTW, the same FBI that covered this up is still intact. How are we supposed to win a "War on Terrorism" or any other kind of war, with this same bunch of characters? I know I touch raw nerves every time I bring that up, because we are supposed to have a new cast, and all, but the fact is, nothing has changed.
And RIGHT NOW!!!
Schippers referred to this memo in an interview with Jim Quinn that was posted on the FR late last year. THe story may also have been mentioned by James Patterson of the Indy Star in another story posted on FR at the beginning of this year.
Please see reply #17 also.
But as a member of that much-maligned group, however, I have to tell you the day CNN "breaks" this story will be the day Bill Clinton is caught in lower Manhattan with a Chinese missile in his pants.
It's going off! It's going off! We are in for a growing stream of tips, leads, and leaks from the good guys so that we are ready for the coming war. It's going to be clear as day that we have been hit for years and the fat loser dishonest creepy phoney that everyone used to love will have about as much respect as a pink-panty-wearing-pedi/homophile.
Please see reply #30 also.
Or the day Hillary admits to knowing what really happened to Vince Foster.
OKCbombing:
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Posted on 6/20/02 2:04 AM Central by grimalkin
WASHINGTON, Jun 20, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Just weeks before Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement received several warnings that Islamic terrorists were seeking to strike on American soil and that a likely target was government buildings, documents show.
hangs out an admission of “prior knowledge”
The information, though it was never linked to McVeigh, was stark enough that the Clinton administration urged stepped up security patrols and screening at federal buildings nationwide, including those in Oklahoma.
hangs out that federal buildings in Oklahoma were a potential target
stepped up security at federal buildings generally includes AKAL???
hangs out “stepped up security” to help explain why so many gummit boys could be on the scene.
SNIP
Islamic extremists are determined to "strike inside the U.S. against objects symbolizing the American government in the near future," said one warning obtained by The Associated Press.
re_emphasizes “prior knowledge”
The intelligence that prompted the warnings was gathered across the globe from Iran and Syria to the Philippines and became more specific as to the potential type attack (suicide bombing), target (government building) and likely date (after the third week in March 1995), the documents show.
“hangs out” target & date
hangs out ME involvements
The U.S. Marshal's Service issued an alert on March 15, 1995, to federal courthouses it protects, including the one in Oklahoma City across the street from where McVeigh's truck bomb killed 168 people, the documents show.
hangs out why Judge across the street is not showing up for work
"Iranian extremists want it made clear that steps are being taken to strike at the Great Satan," a term used frequently in the Mideast to describe the United States, the marshal's memo said. It said a fatwa - a religious order - had been issued to attack marshals or their buildings.
hangs out ME
hangs out target
Separately, the General Services Administration received a warning from the FBI and asked hundreds of federal buildings it operates to increase security details, including the Murrah building,officials said.
attemptS to “hang out” competence & responsibility of Louie & the fibbers.
also reinforces presence of gummit boys on scene 4/19
establishes “wise old owl” image for GSA
"We were told there was a fatwa threatening to target federal buildings," GSA spokeswoman Viki Reath said this week. "We increased our patrols to 12-hour shifts."
voice of authority?
begs the question of how many 12 hour shifts one guy guarding murrah could pull in a row
SNIP
But the officials cautioned the FBI and CIA exhaustively investigated whether McVeigh could have been aided by Mideast terrorist and found no credible evidence linking him to any Islamic extremists, including those who prompted the 1995 warnings.
CYA mode after previously hanging out gummit “prior knowledge of ME connection.
still sticks to “official version” of the tragedy
SNIP
John Gannon, former deputy CIA director for intelligence under President Clinton, said spring 1995 was one of a handful of periods in the 1990s when intelligence on terror threats peaked as the government increasingly turned its attention to Osama bin Laden and his emerging terrorist network.
CYA for the agency
hangs out ME connection to OBL
Gannon said the 1995 warnings were plentiful enough that he initially assumed Islamic extremists had struck when the bomb exploded in Oklahoma City. Law enforcement too issued initial bulletins looking for Arab suspects and borrowed Arabic translators from the military.
hangs out justification for APB for several ME suspects on 4/19
"When I first heard about the Oklahoma bombing, the first reaction I had was I wonder if this were a foreign group that had done this or the Islamic extremists that had come up on our screen," Gannon said.
hangs out gummit knowledge of ME connection to murrah disaster
SNIP
He said it wasin 1998, after bin Laden issued a fatwa urging specific attacks on America and two U.S. embassies in Africa were bombed, that U.S. anti-terrorism efforts escalated markedly.
shell game attempt at diversion between 95 & 98
. "If there was a watershed year, it was 1998. That significantly elevated our concern and resulted in a concerted effort, and a very strong program to go get Osama bin Laden," he said.
bait & switch from 95 to 98
The 1995 intelligence was specific enough that "if that was today, you'd have (Bush Homeland Security Director) Tom Ridge going out and saying we have this threat," said former Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., who in 1995 was a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
wise old owl # 2 attempts to create doubt
McCollum formed a congressional task force in the late 1980s that began warning of the growing threat of terrorism, andwhich issued some of the 1995 alerts.
hangs out prior knowledge of congress
by this point in the piece, it’s been hung out that every body knows:
FBI
CIA
GSA
U.S. Marshalls/AKAL
Congress
SNIP
Some of the 1995 warnings were pointed.
"Iranian sources confirmed Tehran's desire and determination to strike inside the U.S. against objects symbolizing the American government in the near future," said a Feb. 27, 1995, terror warning by the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.
CYA on part of Congress’ prior knowledge
The warnings became increasingly specific as to the possible location, type of attack and likely dates.
the BIG hang out on target, date, & type of attack
"These strikes are most likely to occur either in the immediate future or in the new Iranian year - starting 21 March 1995," the congressional task force predicted.
no wonder Judge Ailey is not coming to court
SNIP
U.S. intelligence monitored a series of meetings and conferences between senior officials of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and other terror organizations in mid-February 1995 in which the subject of killing Americans on U.S. soil came up, officials said.
hanging out blanket CYA for nsa, oni, dod, state?
SNIP
The marshal's warning explained that Islamic extremists had issued a fatwa to kill marshals personnel or strike their buildings because of an episode at the end of the World Trade Center bombing trial in which deputy marshals accidentally stepped on a copy of the Koran during a scuffle.
hangs out why ME i.d.’s murrah as retribution for the Koran clog
"Allegedly, the fatwa is being disseminated to persons in the United States who have the capability to carry it out," the memo said.
limited hang out of ME involvement
The terrorists could be suicide bombers who may "target as many victims as possible and draw as much media coverage as possible," it added. "Once the press is on the scene the new plans call for blowing up everyone."
hangs out “the multiple bombs theory" for the 1st time in the piece.
I’m done now. Don’t know if happy hour will help today
Likewise. Dave Schippers has been talking about this for a long time and I was thinking he may have been off on this one. I do hope the truth eventually outs...
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