1. I hazarded a recollection in response to a post, of stories picked up in media, and asked OKC Submariner whether he had something different from what I recollected -- which is a fair question and challenge. His recounting of events didn't say how the APB for the suspicious Arab fellows turned out. I recalled that they were finally identified and exonerated. He didn't say -- leaving open the possibility that he was talking about some different Arabs than I had heard about, or that whoever wrote what he was citing conveniently forgot about the exoneration to amp up the theory, or that I was simply in error, and they really never were found.
2. You contradicted me -- but you didn't supply any support. Homework yourself, pal.
3. Your comment about my posting style is ignorant, and your precipitate and infantile attempt at relieving yourself of any further burden of discussion of your POV, or your contradiction of mine, won't wash. You're pantsed, Gomer. You post something like that to me, you better put up or shut up.
4. Who's "we",, Gomer? You and your tapeworm?
The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror
Five blocks south of the Murrah Building, at Robinson and Main, Kay H. had just raced out of her office. As she stepped on to the meridian, she was nearly run over as the brown pick-up came careening around the corner. The near miss gave her an opportunity to get a good look at the occupants.
"The driver — I made eye contact with him," recalled Kay. "He looked like he was in his twenties — late twenties. [He] had an angry look on his face. I'll never forget the look on his face. It just was full of hate and anger. It really struck me, because everyone else — people were coming out and they looked scared and confused, and he just looked full of anger."[560]
Kay recalled that two of the three people in the truck were Middle-Easterners. When she was shown photos, she picked out the Iraqi — the same one seen with McVeigh — as the driver.
David Snider, the Bricktown worker who had spotted one of the Ryder trucks that morning, ran outside after the bomb went off, and saw the brown pick-up as it flew past. "They were doing about 60 mph," recalled Snider. "They turned north and headed over the Walnut Street Bridge."[561]
An all-points-bulletin (APB) was quickly put out on the pick-up:
Dispatcher: "Be on the lookout for a late model almost new Chevrolet full-size pick-up — full size pickup brown pick-up. Will be brown in color with tinted windows — brown in color with tinted windows. Smoke colored bug deflector on the front of pick-up."
"…Middle-Eastern males 25-28 years of age, six feet tall, athletic build, Dark hair and a beard — dark hair and a beard. Break."
Officer: "Ok, Is this good information, or do we not really know?"
Dispatcher: "Authorization FBI."[562]
Strangely, the FBI canceled the APB several hours later, refusing to say why and demanding that it not be rebroadcast. When KPOC's David Hall asked the FBI why they canceled it, they denied ever putting it out. But when Hall played back his copy for the FBI man, he suddenly had "no comment."[563][564]
Soon after, Brad Edwards received a tip that the pick-up had been seen several times before the bombing at Sahara Properties (not its real name), a real-estate business in northwest Oklahoma City. The owner of Sahara Properties, an Israeli-born Palestinian named Sam Khalid (not his real name), was the Iraqi's employer.[565]*
Not long after KFOR's reports began airing, the Iraqi sued the station, then held a press conference claiming that he was not a suspect in the bombing, and that he had a solid alibi for the morning of April 19. His name was Hussain al-Hussaini, and he was at work, he said, painting a garage on NW 31 Street. Yet Alvin Devers, a neighbor interviewed by Davis, claimed no one was working on the house that day. "I didn't see anybody," said Devers. "I'd remember…."
In addition, Hussaini's co-worker, Ernie Cranfield, said Hussaini's alibi for the morning of April 19 — a time sheet stating he was at work at 8:08 a.m. — was patently false. Cranfield told Davis that Hussaini was working at a different house by 10:00 a.m., six blocks away, but wasn't there at 8:30 a.m.
"They was out there acting like they was painting on that garage all morning," Cranfield told me. "They didn't know I was already there before.…"[566]
Moreover, according to Cranfield, Sahara Properties doesn't use time sheets: "They use a time clock. They started about five months ago — five, six months ago… I've seem them clocking in every morning." Davis later learned that Khalid's daughter Heather had concocted Hussaini's "time sheet" at the request of her father.[567]
OKC's Middle Eastern Connection
Early in the Oklahoma bombing investigation, The New American obtained a copy of the sworn affidavit of FBI Special Agent Henry C. Gibbons (dated April 20, 1995) relaying the testimony of an eyewitness near the scene of the explosion who "saw two individuals running from the area of the Federal Building toward a brown Chevrolet truck prior to the explosion." "The individuals," says the FBI affidavit, "were described as males, of possible Middle Eastern descent, approximately 6 feet tall, with athletic builds. One of the persons was further described as approximately 25-26 years old, having dark hair and a beard. The second person was described as approximately 35-38 years old, with dark hair and a dark beard with gray in it. The second person was further described as wearing blue jogging pants, a black shirt and a black jogging jacket. A third person, not further identified, was believed to be in the brown Chevrolet truck."
The eyewitness testimony used for Agent Gibbons’ affidavit, together with testimony on April 19th from other eyewitnesses, provided the basis for the FBI’s All Points Bulletin which was picked up and played by local radio and television stations. That APB stated:
Be on the lookout for a late model, almost new, Chevrolet, full-size pickup. It will be brown in color with tinted windows, smoke-colored bug deflector on the front of pickup … middle eastern male, 25 to 28 years of age, six feet tall, athletic build, dark hair and a beard.... driver of the vehicle was not identified. Subjects were last seen heading north on Walker at a high rate of speed.... Authorization FBI.
A follow-up APB printout that this writer obtained from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol was issued at 2:28 p.m. on April 19th. It stated:
Attempt to locate possible suspects and vehicle involved in bombing Oklahoma City 04/19/95 0900 hrs.... Use extreme caution … Stop and check all vehicles matching the following description: Blue small to medium size GM product possible Chevrolet Cavalier or Blazer. Vehicle may be a rental car from National Car Rental Systems DFW [Dallas-Fort Worth] Texas. Possible tag of PTF54F Texas. Suspect information: Occupied by Middle Eastern male subject or subjects....
But without explanation (then, or to this day), the FBI pulled the Mideast APB on the afternoon of April 19th. The Dallas Morning News reported on April 21st that federal agents had searched a Dallas apartment just before midnight on the 19th, seized several duffel bags, and taken several boxes from the building. It reported further that three men of Middle Eastern descent were questioned in Dallas and Oklahoma City in connection with the apartment search. The men, it said, were riding in a Chevy Blazer or Suburban, but the license plate of their vehicle was traced instead to a Chevrolet Cavalier that had been rented at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport by one of the men, a resident of New York City who was from Lahore, Pakistan.
Nothing more was ever reported concerning the men, the search, or the vehicles. But on the following day, April 20th, Special Agent Gibbons’ affidavit on the Middle East suspects was sworn before U.S. Judge Ronald L. Howland seeking a warrant to detain one Abraham Ahmad, who had left Oklahoma City for Amman, Jordan less than two hours after the bombing.
"At approximately 10:43 a.m. on April 19, 1995, an American Airlines flight left Oklahoma City en route to Chicago, Illinois," says the Gibbons affidavit. "Aboard that flight was Abraham Abdallah Ahmed [sic]. Ahmed was scheduled to fly from Chicago to Rome, Italy and finally to Jordan." However, American Airlines personnel in Oklahoma City thought that Ahmad was "acting nervous" and called the airline’s national security office.
Ahmad was interviewed by the FBI in Chicago, while his luggage continued on a connecting flight to Rome, where it was searched by Italian officials. They discovered, said the FBI affidavit, "a) multiple car radios; b) a substantial quantity of shielded and unshielded wire; c) a small tool kit and other tools, consistent with use for both explosive devices and normal electronic repair or installation; d) blue jogging pants...." Agent Gibbons’ affidavit, remember, described the suspects as wearing blue jogging pants.