HOT! "Deathbed" Confession Transcript -- World Exclusive Iraqi intelligence tied to Terry Nichols

Insight Mag ^ | 04.19.02 | Timmerman

[Registered]

"Deathbed" Confession Transcript -- World Exclusive
Posted April 19, 2002

The following interview with ELMINA ABDUL, widow of EDWIN ANGELES, one of the cofounders of the ABU SAYYAF GROUP (ASG), and deep cover agent for the Defense Intelligence Group (DIG) of the Department of National Defense (DND), of the Republic of the Philippines, was taken on March 10, 2002, in the presence of CHRISTOPHER M. PUNO, Information Officer of the Province of Basilan, at BASCOM Hospital, in the general ward.

TRANSLATED TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH ELMINA ABDUL, WIDOW TO EDWIN ANGELES TAKEN AT BASILAN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL GENERAL WARD ISABELA CITY, PROVINCE OF BASILAN REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES BY DORIAN ZUMEL SICAT NEWS CORRESPONDENT MANILA TIMES, OMEGA NEWS SERVICE (USA)

(After introduction to ELMINA ABDUL by Provincial Information Officer Christopher Puno)

NOTE: I interviewed ELMINA in Tagalog, she answered me in Chavacano and Cebuano, two of the local dialects spoken in Basilan. She did not speak in the indigenous dialect because she knew that I do not speak or understand that dialect.

DZS: Good morning Ms. Angeles

DZS: How are you feeling this morning?

EA: Not very well.

DZS: Do you feel like talking with me?

EA: Yes, but not so long. I am tired.

DZS: I will try to be as short as possible. Did Chris tell you what I am here to talk to you about?

EA: Yes. And I am the one who asked him to look for you after I was told that you are interested in the truth about my husband.

DZS: Good. Okay. You are not Edwin's first wife, is that true?

EA: Yes. I am his third wife. For Muslim men, they can have even four wives, if each of the other ones approve.

DZS: How, when and where did you meet Edwin?

EA: We met when he was in the Provincial Jail here in Isabela, in 1995. I was then working for the government radio station, dxOS (Philippine Information Agency)/PIA.

DZS: That was after his capture?

EA: Yes.

DZS: When did you marry him?

EA: In 1997.

DZS: I am going to ask you some very sensitive questions now. Is that all right with you?

EA: Yes. I want to tell the truth of what I know of my late husband.

DZS: Did you know that he was one of those who founded the ASG, along with the late Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, in 1991?

EA: Yes. I know also why he was one of them.

DZS: Can you tell me why?

EA: Yes, I want to tell you why. I want now to tell the truth about my husband. I will die soon. I want you to know the truth. Will you write the truth, Mr. Sicat?

DZS: Yes. I will. I promise.

EA: You are not afraid?

DZS: More than you know, Mrs. Angeles.

EA: Good. Maybe you will stay alive and safe because of your fear. I will tell you that Edwin was ordered to do that.

DZS: Can you explain please.

EA: He was what they call a deep penetration agent or DPA.

DZS: Can you explain please?

EA: As I told you, he was given orders.

DZS: By whom?

EA: Some very powerful men in the DND.

DZS: Did he tell you why?

EA: No. Only that he was ordered to help to organize the ASG and to report all developments.

DZS: Did he tell you who it was?

EA: Not by names. But he told my only at the highest levels.

DZS: Did he ever tell you about his activities in the ASG before he met you?

EA: He told me everything. I do not believe that he would hide anything from me when we were talking alone.

DZS: Please do not be offended, but how do you know that?

EA: Not only because I was his wife, but because he knew that he would soon be killed. He wanted me to know everything so that if anything happened to him I could tell others.

DZS: Do you want to stop now?

EA: No. More water please.

DZS: Can I ask you about some things that happened back in the mid-90s? 1993, 1994?

EA: Yes. I will try to answer what you ask.

DZS: Did he ever talk to you about meetings with Arabs or Americans?

EA: Yes, once he had met with some Arabs and Americans in 1994, in Davao (City), or General Santos (City).

DZS: Did he tell you who they were?

EA: Does the name Ramsey Yousef mean something to you Mr. Sicat?

DZS: Ahmad Hassim. Does that mean something to you?

EA: He had met with them. And an American who he called Terry or the Farmer, and another American whom he did not name.

DZS: Was the American he named as Terry, Terry Nichols?

EA: He did not mention the surname. Only Terry.

DZS: Did he tell you why and how many times they had met?

EA: They met almost every day for one week. They met in an empty bodega (warehouse). They talked about bombings. They mentioned bombing government buildings in San Francisco, Saint Louis and in Oklahoma. The Americans wanted instructions how to make and to explode bombs. He (Edwin) told me that Janjalani was very interested in paying them much money to explode the buildings. The money was coming from Yousef and the other Arab.

DZS: Did he tell you when the bombs would explode; when they exploded?

EA: He told me that the Americans exploded one bomb in Oklahoma in 1995, after he was arrested and after we first met.

DZS: Did he ever tell you who was supplying the money for the bombing of the building, I mean who Yousef was working with or for?

EA: Mr. Sicat, you are the mediaman. Do you not know that Yousef was representing Iraq and Saddam Hussein? Do you not know that?

DZS: Did Edwin tell you that?

EA: Not only Edwin, but others that were close to us, before he was killed. One time, a soldier (Philippine Army) and Edwin were talking secretly. I was there because Edwin demanded. The soldier ordered Edwin never to tell anybody about the Iraqis.

DZS: Did you ever see that soldier before or after that time?

EA: Only two times before. He was the one who would talk to him for information.

DZS: Mrs. Angeles, do you know who killed your husband, Edwin?

EA: The ones who used him and then betrayed him, Mr. Sicat. (She grows visibly weaker). I want to rest now.

DZS: I understand. I'll let you rest now. Thank you so much, Mrs. Angeles. You have told me so much. I will try to see you tomorrow if you are up to it.

NOTE: I was not able to speak with ELMINA again. She became too weak and incoherent the following day. A few days later, the doctors had diagnosed that she was terminal. She needed to be transferred to Davao City to the Regional Hospital (government) for treatment. A few days later, while I was in Davao, arranging for her admission to the Regional Hospital, Chris told me that she could no longer be moved. She would die in transit. Since Muslims require burial within 24 hours of death, I understood the reasoning. The following day, Chris contacted me that ELMINA ABDUL, widow to EDWIN ANGELES (killed by unknown assailants in 1998), died in the pre-dawn hours Saturday March 30. She was the last one to talk with her husband before he was killed. I was the last and only reporter to talk with her about her husband before she died.

(sgd) DORIAN ZUMEL SICAT
News Correspondent
Manila Times /Omega News Service (USA)
Investigative Liaison to Law Office of John Michael Johnston
Robert Bickel, Sr.
Senior Investigator and Legal Analyst

Law offices of John Michael Johnston
Elmina Abdul Angeles Statement

[quimby]

I still don't see why Nichols & McVeigh needed any help.

So your theory is Nichols went to the Philipines for a vacation ? Also, can you point to just when a fertilizer (amonia nitrate) enhanced bomb was used to destroy any building before OKC ?

[Mitchell]

FYI. Does anybody know what this insightmag.com is? The website has the appearance of a tabloid. Do they have a political agenda?

[Benson_Carter]

that's the only thing I can think of as to why the story is not plausable.

also I am not convinced that McVeigh hated the US enough for making his Army Ranger test so close to his return from combat in Desert Storm that he failed the test from not being as rested and healthy as the other guys who had not seen combat. I don't believe that was enough to set him off in search of Saddam's men to blow up the Federal building.

John Doe #2 pic and Mohammed Atta are very similar, though.

[quimby]

Angeles ultimately was cleared of terrorism charges at trial, when documents proving he was working as a government agent were produced. He was released from prison in 1996 — but not before he provided astonishing details during a videotaped interrogation by Philippine police authorities of his activities with Abu Sayyaf, including the secret meetings with Iraqi intelligence agent Yousef, Nichols and the second American identified in the document as John Lepney.

Is this the name you mentioned as the second american ?

[Alamo-Girl]

This is from their "about" page:

Insight on the News is a national weekly newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. by the Washington Times Corporation. As Newsweek is the sister newsweekly of the Washington Post, Insight is the sister newsweekly of the Washington Times.

Paul Rodriguez is the managing editor

[IVote2]

Insight magazine is published by the Washington Times, a sister publication for the Times.

It is a well respected publication.

[IVote2]

I have never believed a simple truck full of fertilizer could blow up that building and I'm not alone in this belief.

Hopefully one day we will know the truth. God willing.

Jen

[JohnGalt]

Owned by the Washington Times, which is owned by the Moonies.

My concern is that the agenda behind these recent reports is not getting to the truth, but stirring up support for war with Iraq.

[Reactionary]

Bump. Ping.

[ctdonath2]

So your theory is Nichols went to the Philipines for a vacation?

I haven't seen enough evidence yet that Nichols went to the Philipines at all.

Even if he did - so what? I went to the same general area for a vacation, so why couldn't he?

Also, can you point to just when a fertilizer (amonia nitrate) enhanced bomb was used to destroy any building before OKC ?

Yup! The Texas City Disaster, 1947. A boatload of ammonia nitrate sitting in the harbor caught fire. When the cargo finally detonated it wiped out a large portion of the city. Ironically, the detonation ignited another ship with the same cargo, which also eventually detonated causing further damage.

Lots more documentation here.

But wait - there's more! A few months later, a similarly-laden ship ignited and detonated in France, also causing significant architectural damage. Other instances involved major ANFO-type explosions, but were fortunately small enough and/or far enough from buildings to limit the damage: Repauno, January 14, 1916, Oakdale, September 15, 1916, Nixon, March 1, 1916, Red Sea, January 23, 1954, Traskwood, AR, December 17, 1960, Australia, August 30, 1972, Pryor Creek, OK, January 17, 1973.

And all these were accidents, featuring large amounts of legitimately transported or stored quantities of ammonium nitrate, where burning liquid fuels were somehow mixed in (doesn't take much) and the hot concoction seriously confined - exactly what McVeigh did, only intentionally.

This mixture is not uncommonly used on a small scale on farms (which tend to have the ingredients on hand) for removing stumps and rocks.

That McVeigh may have been the first to do it as an intentional large-scale criminal act likely has more to do with (a) not many people set out to do that kind of evil, and (b) there are more convenient methods.

To the thread's topic: if such ANFO detonations have occured accidentally on numerous occasions, there is no need for Nichols to have travelled halfway around the world to find out how to do such a simple & cheap process intentionally, particularly when he likely was taught it by father or boss using items in the family or business' barn.

[ctdonath2]

See #30. Worse has happened repeatedly - by accident.

[quimby]

My concern is that the agenda behind these recent reports is not getting to the truth, but stirring up support for war with Iraq.

Maybe the original motive for supressing the foreign connections was avoiding war with iraq. Do you know anything about the author, Mr. Timmerman ? I suspect not, but for those who may not know, he wrote the recently released book "shakedown" about jesse jackson amongst others.

[quimby]

The incident you mentioned was an accident, and not a bomb in the OKC bombing sense. Plus the fact, 7 years have passed since OKC, and what is common knowledge today was not then common knowledge. A couple of ANFO bombs have been used in the middle east since OKC, but I don't know of any before then and appearently neither do you.

[JohnGalt]

Ahh, I am pretty familiar with him. First he's a Democrat.

Timmerman has been writing scandal stories since he was fired from Newsweek in 1994 and became a Conservative hero in the pages of the American Spectator. He quit/was fired from Newsweek after they refused to run a story about ballistic missile technology transfers to China. It certainly was a great story, but he misfired in 2000 with a story about Gore and an INS scam.

[quimby]

This mixture is not uncommonly used on a small scale on farms (which tend to have the ingredients on hand) for removing stumps and rocks.

You are talking apples and oranges or at least pop gun and cannon. Scaling a bomb is not as simple a process as you seem to want to make it out to be.

[Registered]

First he's a Democrat.

Keep in mind JimRob was a Dem up to a year or two ago. Schippers is a Dem too.

[Mitchell]

Thanks to all of you for the information on Insight Magazine.

JohnGalt wrote: My concern is that the agenda behind these recent reports is not getting to the truth, but stirring up support for war with Iraq.

These two things aren't inconsistent. It's quite possible that the reports are getting at the truth, but that they were released now for the purpose of building up support for war with Iraq. (I'll say "building up" instead of your "stirring up", since I think it is a matter of explaining the rational justification for war.)

[quimby]

It certainly was a great story, but he misfired in 2000 with a story about Gore and an INS scam.

Well, timmerman's story may have misfired, but the full INS story is now being revealed, at least to those who want to know the truth. Did you have an example of a false story he wrote ?

[JohnGalt]

I think the victims of the OKC bombing deserve better than to become propoganda fodder for those with hidden agendas.

I am more interested in punishing the 'others unknown' than nuking 'Iraq.'

[Wm Bach]

My concern is that the agenda behind these recent reports is not getting to the truth, but stirring up support for war with Iraq.

Then Bush must be the head Moonie.