An Oklahoma Mystery New hints of links between Timothy McVeigh and Middle Eastern terrorists

EITHER CONVICTED OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBERS Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were part of a conspiracy, possibly involving Middle Eastern and Filipino connections, or they were not. Seven years later, the authorities have still not fully examined this question.

But taking on this issue would seem to fit the mission of the House and Senate Intelligence committees, which are jointly investigating intelligence failures by the FBI and CIA before 9/11. Chaired by two Floridians -- Republican Representative Porter Goss and Democratic Senator Bob Graham -- the Committees' began their closed-door work by focusing on two areas: U.S. investigations of terrorism since the CIA established a counterterrorism unit in 1986 and Osama bin Laden's role in sponsoring international terrorism since the mid-1990s.

Back in 1995, several Congressional Committees did search for international ties to the Oklahoma City attack, but came up empty, explained former Representative Bill McCollum in an interview. Still, the reports issued by the House Republican Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, which McCollum chaired until 1995, were quite prescient.

"The task force was on the mark when it came to their warnings about the emerging threat of Middle Eastern terrorism," McCollum said. "I can tell you that we were very concerned about the possibility of a Middle East connection to Oklahoma City. But we never found any evidence there was one."

McCollum, however, said he never heard of the reporting done by TV journalist Jayna Davis, which connected McVeigh and Nichols with Middle Eastern figures in Oklahoma City and the Philippines. Nor did he know of Davis' ongoing communications with Yossef Bodansky, executive director of the Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare. "Seffy [Bodansky] never told me anything about that," he said. "This is all news to me."

After the bombing, Bodansky marshaled his intelligence sources and began an investigation. He found some of the same Middle Eastern connections uncovered by reporter Davis. "The stories you are telling fit very closely with the stories I have," he told Davis, in a taped conversation on April 24, 1996.

In the tape, Davis asks if the names are tied to the bombing. And Bodansky responds, "I didn't get them because I am trying to run a private, one-man census of the Oklahoma City area."

The government also turned up experts who believed they found possible evidence of a Middle Eastern signature on the bombing. In 1997, Stephen Jones, lead attorney for McVeigh, filed a motion claiming the defense team had acquired a one-page summary of a government report by two unnamed Israeli experts who examined the Murrah Building. "Their conclusion was the Oklahoma City bombing bore the indisputable earmark of Middle Eastern terrorists," said Jones in an interview.

The men were eventually identified as Dorom Bergerbest-Eliom, chief of security for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Yakov (or Yaskov) Yerushalmi, a civil engineer and Israeli government consultant. Attorney Jones filed a court motion complaining to federal Judge Richard Matsch that the government had wrongly denied the document to McVeigh's defense team.

"We never did get the full report," Jones continued. "Judge Matsch reminded the prosecutors they had a legal obligation to turn over any exculpatory material to the defense. However, the judge left it to the Justice Department to decide what was exculpatory."

DAVIS, THE FORMER TV REPORTER FOR KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, began investigating the bombing the day after the attack. In seven years, she's accumulated 26 affidavits and more than 100 hours of taped interviews. In particular, she zeroed in on a group of Iraqis who worked for Samir Khalil, a Palestinian-born businessman and owner of a property-management company in Oklahoma City. Davis also did pieces on John Doe No. 2, the mysterious figure identified in initial police bulletins as having been seen fleeing the federal building after the bombing. The FBI later announced that John Doe No. 2 never existed.

One of the Iraqis, Hussain Alhussaini, later came forward and identified himself as the person being fingered in Davis' television reports as John Doe No. 2. He sued the reporter for defamation. A federal judge dismissed the suit; Alhussaini has appealed. (See: Heartland Conspiracy, published in the L.A. Weekly, Sept. 28-Oct. 4, 2001.)

The TV reporter, who has since quit the station, also interviewed Lana Padilla, Nichols' first wife. She told Davis that McVeigh had given her ex-husband thousands of dollars and paid for his first trip to the Philippines. Nichols, who is now awaiting trial in Oklahoma City on state murder charges, traveled extensively to the islands and eventually married a Filipino woman. Padilla has now been subpoenaed as a prosecution witness in Nichols' state case.

Davis also turned up material that appeared to connect Nichols to Ramzi Yousef and Abdul Hakim Murad. Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is now serving a life sentence in federal prison. He also had hatched unrealized plans to blow up 12 airliners and to assassinate Pope John Paul II.

Murad, a confederate of Yousef, is also in federal custody. He told Philippine police about a plot to hijack an airliner and crash it into CIA headquarters. Murad also claimed in 1996 that a large number of Middle Eastern men were being trained at U.S. flight schools in connection with these plots. This information was passed on to the FBI. What the agency did with it is unknown.

Court documents, related to this alleged Filipino connection, were attached to a motion filed by McVeigh's defense team in 1996. One is an FBI memo detailing a conversation between Murad and a U.S. prison guard after the Oklahoma City bombing. Murad told his jailer that the Filipino Liberation Army was responsible for that attack. The memo also cites a note Murad gave his guard, reiterating this claim.

Another exhibit from the defense motion is an affidavit filed by Edwin Angeles, a founder of Abu Sayyaf, a Filipino terrorist group. Angeles, who was assassinated by former comrades, wrote in 1996 that he was at a 1991 meeting in Davao City, attended by Yousef, Murad and Nichols, at which, they discussed "bombing activities, providing firearms and ammo" to terrorists and "training in bomb making and handling" of explosives. Nichols, he claimed, was introduced to him as "the farmer."

In February 1995 -- months before the Oklahoma City blast -- the House Task Force on Terrorism issued a warning that Middle Eastern Islamists, under the leadership of Iran, were preparing a series of terrorist attacks against the U.S. An update, issued in March 1995 -- just a month before the bombing -- stated the target list had shifted from Washington, D.C., to government installations and buildings in America's heartland. The task force distributed these alerts to federal intelligence and law-enforcement agencies. In 1996, terrorism-task-force director Bodansky gave a copy of the original warning and update to Davis. Reportedly Bodansky, recently passed on Davis' affidavits and taped interviews to the U.S. House Government Reform Committee, about which he refuses to comment. "I work for the government, and I can't talk about Oklahoma City," he said.

IN THE NINE MONTHS SINCE THE Weekly first published details of Davis' story, new information has emerged that raises more questions about the FBI's investigation into the bombing:

On April 19, 1995 -- immediately after the bombing -- the FBI sent an urgent request to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency requesting 10 Arabic linguists to help in its Oklahoma City bombing investigation. Linguists, serving on a 30-day loan, would not be permitted to monitor electronic surveillance.

After McVeigh's arrest, the FBI was contacted by the Defense Department to see if they still needed the linguists. According to an April 22, 1995 memo from the Department of the Army, an FBI agent said the linguists were being used to "monitor wiretaps of radical fundamentalist Islamists to protect the President from possible attack" during his upcoming appearance at an Oklahoma City memorial service.

On August 2, 1995, Federal Protective Services special agent Thomas Williams sent a memo to his branch chief, John Crowe, detailing his communication with terrorism task-force director Yossef Bodansky. In it, he states Bodansky told him that a lot of names that came up in NBC reports (by TV journalist Jayna Davis) overlapped with the names of suspects Bodansky had compiled.

In a taped conversation between Bodansky and Davis on May 18, 1996, Bodansky tells the reporter that by mid-April, intelligence information suggested that government buildings had been specifically targeted. He said the intelligence had been accumulated over 18 months. He also said he had gotten another warning from Israeli intelligence, a week before the bombing, that an attack would be launched in America's heartland.

Also on May 18, Bodansky faxed two notes to Davis in which he provides more details about the task force's intelligence analysis. Bodansky writes that after the bombing, it was determined that Oklahoma City had been "on the list of potential targets." The second note states that "The initial forensic investigation of the explosion in Oklahoma suggested strong similarities to bombing techniques used by Iran-sponsored Islamist terrorists, including the car bomb that destroyed [a] building in Buenos Aires on 18 July 1994."

An undated intelligence report by Bodansky discusses alleged terrorist training inside the U.S. that included some "Lilly Whites," people whose background would not tie them to terrorism. Bodansky states the training was ordered by Iran and conducted by Hamas operatives. His intelligence sources told him that the training occurred at a camp near Chicago. The first camp was allegedly held in 1990 and included about 25 trainees, who used code names. One group, he states, was reportedly given instructions on building car bombs from available materials. The second training occurred in 1993. It was specifically for Lilly Whites. They also used code names and were given state-of-the-art car-bomb training. Bodansky's sources also report that at least two of the 1993 participants came from Oklahoma City.

During a legal dispute with her former employer Bodansky wrote Davis a letter of support stating, "Having studied the material provided by Ms. Davis very closely, I consider it most sensitive, reliable and important evidence for the Task Force investigation." Bodansky also wrote, "Having carefully studied these tapes, as well as other work of Ms. Davis, I'm convinced that the witnesses she had interviewed provide credible testimony."

During a civil suit for defamation against Davis and KFOR-TV, Hussain Alhussaini, a former Iraqi soldier, submitted psychiatric reports from 1997, in which he states that he worked for a while at Boston's Logan Airport (where two of the planes were hijacked on September 11). Alhussaini first told his psychiatrist that he quit his airport job because "If anything happens there, I will be a suspect." Then he later contradicts himself, saying that he wants to look for another job "because he feels unsafe in the environment he works in, in the airport, given the recent events involving his being previously suspected of involvement in the Oklahoma bombing." In a 1998 deposition, Alhussaini states he is still working at the airport and has fears of losing his job. Alhussaini's specific job was never identified. Alhussaini still appears to be living in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Port Authority, which oversees Logan's operations, declined comment on Alhussaini's current work status or his airport duties.

How about a stroll down Memory Lane just so we won't forget? Here are some chronological excerpts that give a picture of just how fast Bill Clinton decided to hide the Middle Eastern connection.

(I tried to highlight the most interesting information with bold text. It also includes sidebar info on those 10 Arabic interpreters in red, and my own comments are in blue. Sorry; I couldn't help it.)

Porter Goss and Bob Graham -- Are you listening?

Nita

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
ABC World News Tonight 6:30 pm ET
April 19, 1995 (Wednesday)

Bomb Rips Apart Federal Building in Oklahoma City

(snip -- I'm including this first segment so we can all reminisce on what Peter Jennings was reporting on April 19th...)

PETER JENNINGS: The police are very interested in finding three [Middle Eastern] men who were allegedly seen speeding north out of Oklahoma City. [Poor Peter just couldn't bring himself to say the "M.E." words, could he?] The FBI has put out an all-points bulletin - an APB, you'll hear it referred to. That's a message to police departments all across the region with details of what the three men look like and, in this case, what they may be driving.

Here's ABC's John McWethy.

JOHN McWETHY: [voice-over] Within hours of the explosion, local police and the FBI had issued the all-points bulletin looking for three men believed to be of Middle Eastern origin, driving in a brown pickup truck registered in Dallas. National Car Rental Company confirmed that the FBI had been talking to them about a rental truck fitting that description.

The fact that it was such a powerful bomb in Oklahoma City immediately drew investigators to consider deadly parallels that all have roots in the Middle East. The car bomb has been a weapon of choice in the region for decades. And in recent years, the skillful bomb makers of the region have exported their skills and often their extremist hatreds all over the world.

The first horrible evidence of that in the United States was the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Officials estimate the charge that ripped into the federal building in Oklahoma City was the equivalent of more than 1,000 pounds of dynamite, similar to the blast that terrorists used at the World Trade Center.

VINCE CANNISTRARO, ABC News Consultant: This is something professional. And it really implies that the person who constructed the explosive device had experience, was trained in the use of explosives, knew what they were doing.

JOHN McWETHY: [voice-over] The FBI and other federal agencies are setting up a massive task force in Oklahoma City. Sources say the FBI has been watching dozens of suspicious Islamic groups in cities throughout the American southwest and several right in Oklahoma City.

[on camera] As a further indication of where the investigation is headed, ABC News has learned that the FBI has asked the U.S. military to provide up to 10 Arabic speakers to help in the investigation. The FBI says all options continue to be open, though on this first day at least, it appears that much of the FBI's energy is focused in just one direction.

John McWethy, ABC News, the Pentagon.

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
APRIL 20, 1995, Thursday
Defense Dept. Briefing

Defense Department Special Briefing Re: U.S. Military Support for Oklahoma City
BRIEFER: Major General Robert H. Scales, Jr, Director, Military Support, Dept. of Defense
(First, Kenneth Bacon on the hot seat:)
KENNETH BACON: Welcome. Major General Robert Scales, the director of Military Support, will be the primary briefer today. He'll give you a rundown of Defense Department assistance in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing. If you have any questions on other topics, I'll respond to them after General Scales completes his briefing.

Before he starts, I'd like to make just one point here. The 36 people who died in the bombing include an Army sergeant who worked in the recruiting station in the federal building, and a child of a soldier. Two soldiers are in critical condition. Four Marines and one civilian were sent to the hospital. Thirteen DOD personnel remain unaccounted for. We send our heartfelt sympathy out to the families of these and the other victims of the bombing, and we, of course, join the president in condemning this murderous event. [Ri-i-i-i-ght, Kenneth.]
Yes, Charlie?

Q Can I ask you one quick question?

MR. BACON: Sure.

Q Have you anything on this suspect or reported suspect who is being returned from London?

MR. BACON: I just saw the report, and I -- the president addressed that question. We have nothing we can say about that. The investigation is going on vigorously, but I have nothing I can give you on that particular report that someone has been picked up in the UK and returned to the U.S.

Q No request for a U.S. military transport or --

MR. BACON: I can't go beyond what I've said. We have nothing more to say about that right now. When we have more information on the investigation -- which is being conducted by the FBI not here -- the information will be forthcoming.

Q So you're not confirming or denying whether this suspect might be being returned on a military plane or --

MR. BACON: No, I'm telling you I'm not saying anything about the suspect or what's happening to the suspect. Okay. General Scales?

GEN. SCALES: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Major General Bob Scales. I'm the director of Military Support in DOD, and as such, I'm the central point of contact for coordinating military support to the civilian authority.

(snip)

GEN. SCALES: And my office essentially handles the tactical side of that in that we coordinate the execution of that support.

Two points I'd like to make, probably both of which you already know.

We in DOD are not the lead agency. We respond to direct requests. And in this case the requests have come for DOD support primarily from FEMA, but also from the FBI. And even though the process I have just described to you was -- sounded lengthy, I must tell you that in this case, particularly when time is of the essence, approval and orders for dispatch are measured in minutes rather than hours. And I think we lived up to that reputation yesterday and today.

(snip)

Q General, just a couple of quick questions. Number one, when did the C-5 leave and arrive, and how many vans were on it?

GEN. SCALES: I don't know the number of vans. The FBI -- the FBI could probably tell you that. Let's see, I think they arrived, if I'm not mistaken, early in the morning at Tinker.

Q And the secretary said this morning that DOD had offered Arabic speakers.

GEN. SCALES: Yes.

Q And that he expected that they already had been accepted by Justice or would be. Have they been? Are they being --

GEN. SCALES: We received a request late yesterday to provide eight to 10 Arabic speakers, and we passed that requirement on to Forces Command. And usually it doesn't take long to assemble those Arabic speakers, and they should be available probably tomorrow for dispatch.

Q What about speakers of other languages?

Q To be used where?

GEN. SCALES: I'm sorry?

Q What about speakers of other languages?

GEN. SCALES: Not to my knowledge. Arabic was the only one.

Q To be used where?

GEN. SCALES: Well, they would normally be used as interpreters.

Q But I mean, in Oklahoma City or --

GEN. SCALES: Frankly, I don't know. I don't have that information. All we were told was to assemble the Arabic speakers, and more to follow. Yes?

Q So then they are true linguists? It's not a request for Middle East terrorist experts, anything like that?

GEN. SCALES: No, no, no. The Army has -- as you know, the Army has foreign area specialists in our military intelligence battalions, and these are young soldiers that are trained in the language, and so these are truly interpreters and linguists.

Q So presumably they would be used for interrogation?

GEN. SCALES: No. No, no, no. They're interpreters. They'd just be used to translate.

Q In Oklahoma City?

GEN. SCALES: Again, I don't know where they'd be used.

(snip)

Q Perhaps to flog a horse here, why Arabic speakers? Were you told why?

GEN. SCALES: Well, the information I have from the FBI is that the -- of the different groups that have claimed responsibility, I think it's eight groups claimed responsibility for this incident and seven of them claim to be from the Middle Eastern countries, so it would just be logical to me that they would ask for Arabic-speaking translators.

(snip)

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.

The Times
April 20, 1995, Thursday
SECTION: Business

Up to 250 missing in US bombing
Martin Fletcher in Washington and Tom Rhodes in Oklahoma City

(snip)

Trembling with anger last night [Barf.], President Clinton denounced the bombing as an act of cowardice and evil against innocent children and defenceless citizens. He vowed that the bombers would be brought to justice, and ordered scores of explosives experts, secret service and military personnel to join the FBI on a special investigation team.

Mr Clinton also declared a state of emergency in Oklahoma and rushed disaster and medical aid workers to the state. The Pentagon sent medical-evacuation helicopters, search and rescue workers, bomb-sniffing dogs and ordnance experts, assisted by a robot, to help in the rescue effort.

Although the FBI said last night that it had no idea who was responsible for the explosion, it is believed to be concentrating its inquiries on the Middle East. The FBI is reported to have been closely watching several Middle East groups in recent months and yesterday it asked the Pentagon to lend it ten Arabic speakers.

The bureau also issued an alert for three men seen driving away in a hired brown Chevrolet pick-up truck with darkened windows just before the explosion. The passengers were described as Middle Eastern with dark hair and beards; one was in his early twenties and the other aged between 35 and 38.

(snip)

As Oklahoma was reeling from the blast yesterday, government buildings in seven other cities were evacuated after bomb scares and President Clinton ordered that security be tightened at all federal buildings, saying he was determined that government employees would be protected.

''I will not allow the people of this country to be intimidated by evil cowards,'' he declared. ''Let there be no doubt. We will find the people responsible who did this. When we do justice will be swift, certain and severe. These people are killers and must be treated like killers.''

Janet Reno, the Attorney-General, confirmed that the Administration would seek the death penalty when the bombers were caught and promised: ''The FBI will pursue every lead and use every resource to bring those responsible to justice.'' [There goes my lunch!]

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.

The Washington Times
April 21, 1995, Friday

Clinton says borders won't block justice
Paul Bedard; THE WASHINGTON TIMES

President Clinton, angry and bitter about the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City, yesterday said U.S. lawmen will fan out around the nation and the globe to hunt down those responsible for the deadly blast.

Flashing frustration that terrorists could strike in America's heartland, the president also made a veiled threat to order a military strike against any nation tied to the bombing.

"Whoever did it, we will find out, and there will be justice that will be swift and certain and severe," he said at a joint Rose Garden news conference with Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. "Nobody can hide anyplace in this country, nobody can hide anyplace in this world from the terrible consequences of what has been done. . . . Make no mistake about it: This was an attack on the United States, our way of life and everything we believe in."

While refusing to detail military contingency plans, the president said: "Whoever did it, we'll get to the bottom of it, and then we'll take the appropriate action."

White House spokesman Michael McCurry said the president won't let any suspects in the bombing hide in rogue nations, as two suspects in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, have done in Libya.

"The president is determined it won't happen again," Mr. McCurry said last night.

While urging Americans not to stereotype Arabs as terrorists, the president leveled his toughest threat since making good on a warning to attack Baghdad in June 1993 for plotting to kill former President George Bush.

The Pentagon has dispatched at least eight Arabic translators to the FBI for use in the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing.

"We received a request [from the Justice Department] late yesterday to provide eight to 10 Arabic speakers, and we passed that requirement along to Forces Command" in Atlanta, said Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales. He said the translators will be in Oklahoma City today.

Meanwhile, the FBI issued composite drawings of two suspects, both white men - one with a crew cut.

Administration officials said that although the bombing could have been orchestrated by foreign nations, it was more likely the work of a separate group.

That would make it like the February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City, which was conducted by followers of a radical Egyptian sheik whose organization spread over New York and New Jersey. It was not state-sponsored terrorism.

The president is considering traveling to Oklahoma City on Sunday to attend a memorial service for the bombing victims.

He took several actions related to the bombing yesterday:

* He ordered flags lowered to half-staff until Monday.

* He released $5 million in federal disaster aid.

* He called in the Small Business Administration to help uninsured businesses hurt by the blast.

* He gave the hundreds of federal workers displaced by the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building an "excused absence," allowing them to stay away from work without losing pay.

* He said the federal government has increased security around its establishments.

"This is a law-abiding country, and neither the leaders nor the citizens of this country will permit it to be paralyzed by this kind of behavior," Mr. Clinton said.

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
The Guardian (London)
April 21, 1995 (Friday)
Pg. 1

ARMED BOMBERS ON THE RUN;
FBI puts up $ 2m reward in search for 'extremely dangerous' white suspects
Martin Walker In Washington, Ian Katz In Oklahoma City, And Sally Weale
(By Friday, Bill Clinton has started trying to steer everyone away from the Middle Eastern connection.)

A HUGE international manhunt was under way last night for two men, described as "armed and extremely dangerous", in connection with the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing.

FBI officials said the two white men (pictured above) had rented the truck which was traced through forensic evidence as the vehicle which contained the crude bomb of "thousands of pounds" of fertiliser and fuel oil used in Wednesday's attack.

The FBI issued descriptions and sketches of the two men and offered a $ 2 million reward for information leading to their capture.

Another man, described as a Jordanian-American, was detained at Heathrow where he had arrived on a flight from Chicago. He was sent back under escort to Washington by British immigration authorities. The US attorney-general, Janet Reno, said last night he was considered "a possible witness" rather than a suspect. But the FBI officials in Oklahoma City denied a television report that three Arab men arrested by local police had any connection with the bombing. The focus of the inquiry appears to have shifted away from international terrorism to domestic suspects.

(snip)

The man detained at Heathrow's Terminal 4 yesterday morning had travelled alone on a British Airways flight from Chicago. He was said to be in his early to mid-20s, with jet black hair and moustache. He was stopped by immigration officials as he tried to board a flight to Rome. The man was held for several hours before being put on a flight back to the US arriving early today. He was expected to be taken to Andrews air force base, near Washington, for questioning.

Airport authorities in Rome working with the FBI seized three bags yesterday. Officials said the bags arrived unaccompanied on an Alitalia flight from Chicago en route to Amman, Jordan, and were checked in by the man stopped at Heathrow. The duffle bags contained no explosives, but material useful in bomb-making, authorities said. Among the items found were electrical tape, silicone, a hammer, tweezers and a photo album with pictures of missiles and weapons.

(snip)

Declaring "there is no place to hide" for the terrorists responsible for the bombing, President Clinton yesterday warned the American people they faced "an attack on the United States, against our way of life, against everything we believe in".

He announced a stepping up of security throughout the the US and at its embassies and offices abroad, and an aggressive deployment of police, intelligence and forensic resources to identify those responsible.

But with death threats pouring in against Arab-American organisations, Mr Clinton cautioned Americans not to jump to conclusions or succumb to racial or religious prejudices.

"This is not a question of anyone's country of origin. This is not a question of anyone's religion. This was murder. This was evil, this was wrong," he said.

While the priority in Oklahoma City remained the search and rescue operation looking for survivors at the devastated federal office building, the US government marshalled a team of its top anti-terrorist experts, including Arabic speakers from the Pentagon, to run the inquiry. A total of 300 federal agents, from the FBI and Treasury and customs, have been deployed on the case.

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.

The Guardian (London)
April 22, 1995 (Saturday)
Pg. 1

FBI ARREST BOMB SUSPECTS;
Oklahoma manhunt focuses on rightwing white extremists [Gasp!]
Martin Walker In Washington And Ian Katz In Oklahoma City

THE two men wanted by the FBI in connection with the Oklahoma bombing were being held last night as the hunt for the bombers homed in on a rightwing US paramilitary group.

The attorney-general, Janet Reno, announced that Timothy McVeigh, aged 27 - the man with a crewcut shown in sketches of two white suspects issued on Thursday - had been arrested for a traffic offence shortly after the bombing on Wednesday in Perry, 60 miles north of Oklahoma City. Found to be carrying a gun, he had been held since then.

And late last night the justice department said Terry Lynn Nichols - the second man shown in police sketches - had given himself up in Herington, Kansas. Officials said Mr Nichols was co-operating with detectives. Mr McVeigh's interrogation and subsequent inquiries led the FBI to the Michigan Militia headquarters, where arrest warrants were to be served on Terry Nichols and his brother James Douglas Nichols for involvement in the bombing of a government building in Oklahoma City in which more than 65 people are now confirmed dead. There is little hope that any of the 159 listed as missing will be found alive.

Armed FBI agents in black combat gear and body armour late yesterday searched the headquarters of the Michigan Militia, a rightwing group of gun enthusiasts which believes the federal government is conspiring to rob Americans of their liberties. The building, in Decker, Michigan, is the home of James Nichols who officials said was present and was co-operating.

Led by Norman Olson, aged 48, a gun shop owner and pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Alanson, Michigan, the Militia is based around a conspiracy theory which sees the US government as the arm of a sinister world government, which will shortly see United Nations and Russian troops take over the United States.

It was reported yesterday that the two men thought to have been responsible for the bombing were demolition experts who had deserted from a Kansas army base near the body shop where they are believed to have rented the truck used in the bombing.

It emerged last night that April 19, the day of the bombing was a key date for members of the militia as well as the second anniversary of the ending of the Waco siege. The date was last year declared by leaders of the Michigan group as a National Militia Day.

Kenneth Adams, the president of the Michigan Militia, denied last night that his group was involved in the Oklahoma attack. "Our group is pro-government," he said. There were suggestions that the men being questioned were members of a splinter group called the Patriots.

It is understood that one of the two men who hired the truck used in the explosion gave April 19 as a false date of birth.

Initial assumptions of Middle Eastern involvement had faded earlier in the day as the Jordanian-American returned to the US from Heathrow airport on Thursday was released with thanks after questioning, and the Pentagon stood down its teams of Arabic speakers who had been on standby to help.

More than 1,600 leads had been phoned in to telephone hotlines, responding to the publication of two sketches of the suspects, who had rented a van in which the bomb was placed. It was enormous, estimated by the FBI to contain 4,000lbs of crude explosive, manufactured from ammonium nitrate fertiliser and fuel oil.

(snip)

The investigation was proceeding apace last night. "Searches are being made on several locations around the country," Ms Reno said. "Other arrest warrants are being served . . . There is a strong likelihood that other persons are involved in this tragedy."

President Clinton praised the rapid progress of the investigation. Of the bombers, he said: "We will find them, we will convict them and we will seek the death penalty for them."

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.

CNN
SHOW: NEWS 3:43 am ET
April 22, 1995 (Saturday)

Arabs Prematurely Suspected by Media in Bomb Case (Clinton News Network to the rescue!)
RALPH BEGLEITER

Early media reports that officials suspected a Middle Eastern connection in the Oklahoma City bombing and subsequent revelation that Americans are likely responsible raise concerns about a rush to judgement.

LINDEN SOLES, Anchor: Well, overnight it appears that our- the object of America's wrath has shift- shifted form the image of a potential religious fanatic from another country to a home-grown bomber with a made-in-America grievance. But as CNN's world affairs correspondent Ralph Begleiter reports, that has caused serious damage to some of the people who were part of that early speculation.

RALPH BEGLEITER, International Affairs Correspondent: Within minutes of the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal building, news reports published and broadcast worldwide began implicating as suspects, Middle Easterners, Arabs and Islamic groups.

??: The suspect information backup on the screen for everyone that- if you haven't seen it or didn't have a chance to jot it down.

RALPH BEGLEITER: Unedited, live television reports got the ball rolling, but authorities including some elected officials quickly reinforced the idea that non-Americans could be responsible for the crime.

??: There was a convention in Oklahoma City at the Cowboy Hall of Fame of fundamentalists that had, as their speakers, members of Islamic groups such as Islamic Jihad or the radical group Hamas, which is involved in terrorism.

RALPH BEGLEITER: Globally respected news media including newspapers and television were quick to seize on suggestions from officials that well-known Middle Eastern terrorist groups were suspects. The British government's announcement that a, quote, 'Possible suspect, ' unquote, had been detained in London, and later disclosures that he was a Jordanian-American on a flight to Amman [sp] fueled reporting about international suspects. Defense Secretary William Perry was peppered by reporters assuming Middle East connection, an disclosed the Pentagon had offered Arabic language interpreters to investigators. Top U.S. officials said publicly there was no evidence of an international connection.

Pres. BILL CLINTON: There have been lots of twists and turns in this investigation, but I would say to the American people, we should not assume, as I said yesterday, that we should not assume that any people from beyond our borders are involved, and that we should not assume anything except- except what we know.

RALPH BEGLEITER: But privately, officials said they were leaning toward Middle Eastern terrorism explanations for the Oklahoma blast. Arab groups who have used car bombs before were listed for reporters, but those groups quickly and plainly denied any involvement.

??: This is not our style [inaudible]. The American people are not our enemy. Even to make them [inaudible], we are not considering them our enemy, regardless of the attitude and the support of the government.

RALPH BEGLEITER: Iran's president, too, issued an unequivocal disavowal of the Oklahoma bomb, but as Americans grieved and grew angrier over the tragedy, they refused to believe that the root of the blast might be domestic. One U.S. official told CNN this week, 'Americans don't do car bombs, ' and the damage had already been done. Arab-Americans, again, became objects of hate.

NIHAD AWAD, Council on American-Islamic Relation: Ever since the news went- that Middle-Easterners or Muslims could be suspects, that thing just took off, and all over the country, especially those mosques or centers or cities that had been shown on TV as, you know, safe haven for potential suspects. They had received threats.

RALPH BEGLEITER: It has become commonplace for journalists to rush to publish tidbits of major investigations as they unfold. Months of conflicting reports about the O.J. Simpson murder case make the point, and the blast investigation is no exception.

Pres. BILL CLINTON: I understand why you want to do it. It's perfectly understandable and appropriate, but it- it's not ripe yet.

RALPH BEGLEITER: The advent of instantaneous transmission of news reports has shortened the time journalists take to report a story, and pressures officials to draw conclusions. Ralph Begleiter, CNN, Washington.

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