Thanks, Doug. I may have had trouble finding a concise summary, cuz there may not be one!!!! Here's what I've done so far (below.) I'm down to 600 words, but I'm still missing McVeigh's motive for "taking credit" etc.
I'm not being lazy, and Peach is really ticking me off about this! There are things and threads and all sorts of things that I have read over time that confuse me. Like, whatever happened to Padilla being John Doe #2? Forgive me if I've not kept up, but I'd like to!
In the fiirst 48 hours after the Bombing of the Murrah Building, all pundits focused on ME connections, and similarities with the 1993 WTC Bombing m.o., etc.
Jayna Davis, first reporter on the scene of the bombing, eventually uncovered a Middle Eastern terrorist cell living and operating in the heart of Oklahoma City. Non of her credible witnesses contradicted the government's case against McVeigh and Nichols.
Davis's sources identified eight specific Middle Eastern men, the majority of whom were former Iraqi soldiers, colluding with the Oklahoma City bombers, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. All of these suspects emigrated to the United States and eventually to OKC following the Persian Gulf War as Iraqi agents. They moved to OKC in 1994 and went to work for a Palestinian man connected with the PLO.
Hussain Al-Hussaini was a dead ringer for the government's profile sketch of the elusive suspect "John Doe #2" (Jose Padilla? Nichols wife? etc?)
"Witnesses identified Al-Hussaini socializing with McVeigh at an Oklahoma City nightclub prior to the bombing. An Oklahoma City gas station attendant also fingered Al-Hussaini as the customer who paid one hundred dollars cash to fill up a large Ryder truck with diesel fuel (the key chemical component used in Ryder truck bomb) on eve of the bombing .
"The day of the bombing a maintenance man working at the motel located adjacent to the service station observed what was very likely the same Ryder truck emanating an odorous stench of diesel, yet according to the witness, the gas cap bore a warning sticker which read: 'Unleaded Fuel Only.'
"Two downtown joggers named the Iraqi soldier as the dark-haired, olive-skinned male they observed timing his run at a breathless pace from the Murrah Building one block east shortly before the bombing.
Some witnesses spotted Al-Hussaini in the cab and Timothy McVeigh driving the Ryder truck. Al-Hussaini was seen stepping out of the truck at ground zero directly in front of the Murrah Building moments before the bomb detonated, and speeding away from downtown in the driver's seat of a brown Chevrolet pickup pursued by the FBI in an official teletype that targeted foreign suspects seen fleeing the bomb site.
On numerous occasions the Arab subjects were seen in the company of Timothy McVeigh, and during a few rare instances, associating with Terry Nichols.
Al-Hussaini was likely a trusted member of Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard before being recruited into the elite Unit 999 of the Estikhabarat, more commonly known as the Iraqi Military Intelligence Service. Unit 999 was headquartered in Salman Pak where an aircraft fuselage was used for terrorist training.
Al-Hussaini moved to Massachusetts after the bombing and sought employment at the Boston Logan International Airport. In November 1997, Al-Hussaini began suffering panic attacks about his airport job and told his therapsist 'If something happens there, I will be a suspect.' During that time, he was living with two former Iraqi Gulf War veterans who provided food-catering services to the commercial airlines at the Boston airport.
The Pentagon has barred several military officials and intelligence analysts from testifying before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing investigating whether the Able Danger program identified Mohamed Atta months before the 9/11 attacks.
The Pentagon's decision to keep the witnesses silent "only demonstrates that the program found something that the Pentagon still wants hidden," according to the Captain.