Why Didn't We Hear About This Sooner? Wall St. Journal Picks Up Crogan's Story on OKC/911 Link

Wall St. Journal Online Opinion Journal ^ | 7/31/02

[glorygirl]

The motel owner said that Moussaoui and a man who appeared to be Marwan al-Shehhi --who helped crash a jetliner into the south tower of the World Trade Center--were friendly and said a few things, but Atta was clearly the leader. "He did most of the talking and seemed very serious," said the owner, adding, "I was standing face to face, about two feet away from Atta, and talked to the three of them for about 10 minutes. . . .

[doug from upland]

I don't disagree and hope they stay on the story. I was simply giving an assessment of the rag in general.

[honway]

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/01/45/9-11-crogan.php

Employees and guests at a motel near downtown Oklahoma City reported seeing McVeigh with several Middle Eastern men in the months before the bombing. One of those men was identified from KFOR's surveillance photos of Samara Properties as possibly being Al-Hussaini. The others were identified as fellow employees of Al-Hussaini.

McVeigh reportedly stayed at the motel, under the name of Bob Kling, an alias he had used before, according to the FBI. The witnesses said they had often seen several of the men moving large barrels around in the back of an old white truck that frequently broke down on the lot. The barrels smelled of diesel, they said, an ingredient in the bomb that destroyed the federal building. According to an FBI report, an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent confiscated the motel's registration records and logs.

A man using the name Bob Kling rented the Ryder truck from Elliot's Body Shop

[ForGod'sSake]

These papers sometimes carry important stories which the more respectable PC won't touch.

Now. This underground rumbling has been going on ever since the OKC bombing. I don't have a clue if there's anything to it, but I have little trust in the integrity of our Federal caretakers and less trust in the integrity of our "news" agencies. The fact that it was picked up by the WSJ is interesting and a little surprising. I'm not sure what to make of it; where there's smoke, there's fire???

FGS

[ForGod'sSake]

I'm sure this free alternative newspaper has a team of investigative journalists who fan out over the country and get these stories.

I gather from your statement you give more credence to the major fishwraps? I wouldn't. Most of their drivel is taken from wire stories, particularly the AP, which is neither a bastion of conservativism nor a wellspring of truth. Their liberal slips are showing and they continue to hemorrhage from loss of readership. Goodie!

FGS

[TeleStraightShooter]

The two most heinous terrorists in history just happened to pull into the same motel for lodging several years apart? The odds against that---well, is there a statistician here who would venture a number?

I'd classify it as a statistcal aberration

When the sports books in Vegas see a statistcal aberration on $$$ bet in college BB, Red Flags go up.
Another statistcal aberration would be the Judical Scoring @ the SLC Olympic for the Ice Skating events........

[Red Jones]

I am very skeptical about the story, but I would be skeptical if it was in most newspapers because as you said very few newspapers gather news any more. They get it from wire services like you said. But this alternative free paper in LA is not going to send investigators to OK City to get anything. They were given this story by someone.

There is a huge amount of evidence showing that our government has lied massively on the OK City bombing episode. They want to create the image that OK City and 911 are linked to discredit those who point out how our government has lied about OK City and to draw attention away from the lies they told.

[VOA]

These papers sometimes carry important stories which the more respectable won't touch.

As a transplant to West Los Angeles from Oklahoma, I've found that if I really want to
read decent investigative reporting in the press, here is how I rank the local rags:
1. NewTimesLA, a free weekly "rag". They've been all over Cardinal Mahoney and the
cover-up of predatory priests long and hard...put that real rag called The Los Angeles
Times to shame. NewTimesLA might be infested with adverts with scantily-clad models and
lots of the different lifestyles of Los Angeles, but the investigative reportage is
pretty hard-edge and fair, whether they are tracking down the pecadillos of priests,
looking behind the mask of Scientology, or reporting on LAPD hijinks (as well as
praising LAPD officers who've done the right thing, to the displeasure of supervisors).

2. LA Weekly is a distant second to NewTimesLA, but does have a shining moments now and then.

3. Third place is for just about any other Los Angeles-area newspaper, except for
The Los Angeles Times, which I give:

4. Last Place.

But for coincidences...
I wonder if this OKC motel was also popular with some of the Jihad conventioneers
that Steven (Jihad In America) Emerson stumbled onto in downtown OKC on Christmas Day, 1993?

Now that would be a hoot...finding out that one motel in OKC had been a favored haunt
for a band of Jihadists, McVeigh, Nichols, and Iraqui agents...let alone Moussouai,
yet for Atta and his buddy "there was no room at the inn".

[glorygirl]

"They want to create the image that OK City and 911 are linked to discredit those who point out how our government has lied about OK City and to draw attention away from the lies they told."

What?

[Lancey Howard]

...the owner of a motel near Oklahoma City claims honcho hijacker Mohamed Atta showed up at his establishment last August in the company of another hijacker and Zacarias Moussaoui.

1. Did the owner know the names of these people at the time they came to his motel? If so, how? Or did he only remember, after 9/11, meeting the terrorists back in August and now he's really, really sure it was them awrighty, yessiree?
2. Was this "ten minute" conversation the first, last, and only time that this motel owner came into contact with these people?
3. Does this motel owner often get into conversations like this with people who he is telling he has no rooms for?
4. Why does some minor tabloid, the LA Weekly, come up with this story, and nobody else does?

I think that this story may be legit, but I need a lot more information. I have very little confidence in the FBI at this point, given their heavy-handed coverup attempts with regard to the Terry Nichols / Philippine terrorists connection, and their "McVeigh and Nichols done it all by themselves - case closed" demeanor in the OKC bombing.

[ForGod'sSake]

They were given this story by someone.

That'd be my guess. The story is the story! Where'd it come from; who, what, why... The piece rings too true to have been cut from whole cloth, but I've been fooled a time or two. Motivation? Who stands to gain most from these apparent revelations? I don't know, but there's probably some conspiracy types that could come up with something.

FGS

[ForGod'sSake]

What?

I chose to leave that one alone. I think I would have ended up chasing my tail...

FGS

[Jeff Chandler]

Where'd it come from; who, what, why... The piece rings too true to have been cut from whole cloth... motivation?

This looks like a White House shot across the Rat's bow. Let's see if there is a diminuation of the Rat's smear campaigns.

[rwfromkansas]

I wonder if the hotel has security cameras.......

[ForGod'sSake]

Have you read the complete article? There are some interesting points towards the end.

FGS

[rwfromkansas]

In a local Christian newspaper there was an article about Arlene Blanchard talking about her experience with her faith after the OKC bombing. I thought the name sounded familiar from FR posts on the bombing, so I went online and did a search and sure enough, she is one of the interesting people involved in the bombing. Take a look at this from the New American:

"Arlene Blanchard also suspects a hidden agenda. She was a sergeant in the Army recruiting office of the Murrah Building when the bomb went off. Interviewed briefly for ABC’s Nightline program two days later, she mentioned that the suspect depicted in the sketches of John Doe No. 2 looked "very familiar" and that her colleague, Sgt. Marilyn Travis, had seen and conversed with Timothy McVeigh inside the building. The next day she was called in by the battalion commander and, in spite of her serious injuries, subjected to a hostile grilling by the commander and agents of the FBI, ATF and Army CID. Moreover, she says, she was given a direct order not to speak to any members of the press and threatened with court-martial if she mentioned the sightings of McVeigh or John Doe 2 again. Sgt. Travis and other recruiting office personnel were likewise ordered by the commander not to speak to the press, or even to the official investigators, about information that may be material to the case. It is only since her recent retirement from the military that Mrs. Blanchard has been able to speak up. Says her husband, Stan Blanchard, a former member of the Army Special Forces: "Having been involved in covert operations, I am well aware of the need for secrecy, at times, in the interests of national security, but the treatment of my wife and others and the suppression of important evidence in this case has been outrageous."

She has a website and I am going to e-mail her. She has an interesting story.

[BiffSchneider]

LA Weekly is a scummy POS. Not that I'm opposed to, say, transsexual outcall services. What gets me more is all the ads for the "good life" LA style: plastic surgery, Diode Laser Hair Removal, Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation, etc. And, nearly everything is written from a HyperPC, trendoid, gay perspective.

But, they have printed, shall we say, Oliver Stone type stuff in the past, like an article about the RFK assassination that almost won a Pulitzer.

They've been around for a long time, it's not like they're a fly-by-night. I don't think they're going to willy-nilly make things up.

Scanning the article, it just looks like the reporter made a few phone calls and connected a few dots. It doesn't look there was extensive travel or legwork involved.

As far as the motel owner getting into conversations with people, c'mon, hasn't that ever happened to you? You meet an inquisitive shopowner who wants to know everything. Happens to me all the time, especially when you're dealing with the proprietor himself rather than with a flunky.

[ForGod'sSake]

This looks like a White House shot across the Rat's bow.

Possibility. This did happen on the bent one's watch, ably assisted by Janet "Dancing Queen" Reno. I wonder if the stench is still there?

FGS

[Jeff Chandler]

Dubya's been silent about all the Clinton crap, and the Rats have been getting pretty noisey lately. I wonder if this will shut them up?

[Lancey Howard]

As far as the motel owner getting into conversations with people, c'mon, hasn't that ever happened to you?

I can't say I ever found myself sauntering into a casual conversation with terrorists who happen to mention with brutal frankness their plans to go to "flight school".

[ForGod'sSake]

...the Rats have been getting pretty noisey lately. I wonder if this will shut them up?

I kinda doubt it. They lack a moral compass and have nothing to lose at this point.... a lethal combination. They will stop at nothing to find a silver bullet to derail the "W" express. Hoping his coattails are very long this November.

Gotta get some shuteye; will check in on this development tomorrow.

FGS