The Oklahoma City Bombing And The Politics Of Terror Part 18

In April of 1991, Ahmed Rami, European correspondent for Al Shaab newspaper, urged a "Western Intifada" against alleged Jewish dominance. Rami's call was duplicated in several Right-wing German publications, including Deutsche Rundschall, Remer Depesche, and Recht Und Wahrheit, which wrote: One can say that the only winner of WWII was the organized World Jewry... attained through Auschwitz, a never-before existing freedom to unrestricted development of power. Today, Jews control all important positions of power in the U.S.A.

Similar twisted sentiments were echoed by the Islamic a.s.sociation of Palestine, which published a communique urging Muslims to die in a holy war against Jews, who they call "enemies of humanity, the bloodsuckers, and the killers of prophets." The principle American support group of Hamas, is the IAP in Dallas, Texas.

According to ABC 20/20 reporter Tom Jarriel, law-enforcement sources said that Iranians had emigrated to the U.S. for the purpose of "recruiting" Americans for homegrown terrorism. The January, 1996 episode focused on David Belfield (AKA Daoud Salahuddin), a young black man who became disenchanted with American social and economic life and was drawn to the militant Islamic movement.

In 1980, Salahuddin a.s.sa.s.sinated a former Iranian Emba.s.sy official, Ali Tabatabai, who had advocated the overthrow of the Ayatollah Khomani. Like Cary Gagan's "Iranian" friends who had planned to bomb a federal building using a postal truck packed with explosives, Salahuddin used a postal jeep to gain entry into the official's home. He then fled the U.S. and a.s.similated himself into the Arab terrorist underground. According to the report, Salahuddin was typical of many young black males indoctrinated into the Islamic faith by Iranian agents, who convinced them that terrorism was a legitimate means of protest.

With the help of Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C. private investigator Carl Schoffler, ABC 20/20 investigators were able to obtain police intelligence reports which established that "the Ayatollah had established a recruiting and training program within the U.S. for home-grown terrorists."

Calling themselves the Islamic Guerrillas in America (IGA), the group, originally comprised of approximately a dozen young black men, became involved in murder, bank robbery, and threats on the lives of judges and prosecutors.

Regarding the a.s.sa.s.sination of Tabatabai, Salahuddin told 20/20, "I a.s.sume that the decision came from what was the Revolutionary Council in Iran, in Tehran. That's my a.s.sumption."

Another of Salahuddin's close pals was Cleven Holt, who under his Islamic name, Isa Abdullah, fought against the Israelis in Lebanon and was seen extensively outside the Marine Corps compound in Beirut just before it was bombed in 1983. Shoffler recalls that Abdullah was once arrested while casing Air Force One, the Presidential jet....

According to Schoffler, "There are clear signs that constant recruitment's going on...."[674]

Some of this recruitment was for a group known as al-Fuqua, which claims between 200 and 300 operational members. A splinter from the Da'ar al-Islam sect, al-Fuqra was founded in Brooklyn in 1980 by a Pakistani cleric named Shaykh Mubarik Ali Gilani. Al-Fuqra's international headquarters is in Lah.o.r.e, Pakistan, and they maintain strong ties to both Pakistani intelligence and the Mujahadeen.[675]

The group, which is based on the cla.s.sical terrorist cell structure, is thought to have at least five operational cells in the U.S., and is suspected of 17 bombings and a.s.sa.s.sinations throughout the country, including the murder of at least 12 people.[676]

In September of 1989, the FBI confiscated the contents of a storage locker in Colorado Springs owned by al-Fuqra members, including 30 pounds of explosives (three pipe-bombs, homemade plastic explosives, hand-grenades, mines, fuses, mercury switches and timing devices), weapons (10 handguns and silencers), military manuals, bomb-making instructions, a photo of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, target-practice silhouettes with such headings as "FBI Anti-Terrorist Team" and "Zionist Pig." Also included in the lot were plans to attack Colorado military installations, and Colorado utilities and aviation infrastructures.[677]

Cary Gagan was already familiar with Al Fuqra from his time in prison. Omar had asked Gagan to "take care of" an al-Fuqra member named "Eddie," should he call. Gagan believes the man was Edward Flinton, a Colorado-based al-Fuqra member charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the August 1984 firebombing of a Hare Krishna temple, and the February 1993 murder of Ras.h.i.+d Khalifa, an Iman of a Tucson mosque.[678]

In August of 1995, six months after the bombing in Oklahoma City, "Eddie" called. Gagan met the al-Fuqra member, and the two allegedly discussed plans to detonate car bombs outside the Governor's Mansion, the Attorney General's office, the Department of Labor and Employment, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI).[679]

The plan included not only blowing up buildings - but a.s.sa.s.sinating a federal judge - Lewis Babc.o.c.k. Babc.o.c.k was one of several judges and federal agents on the terrorists' hit list.

"He was my guy up here," said Gagan. "I was to take him out."

The idea was to take Babc.o.c.k's upstairs neighbor, John Strader, hostage, tie him up, then plant a bomb in his apartment. Apparently, this time the U.S. Marshals took Gagan's warning seriously. A call to Babc.o.c.k and Strader confirmed that the judge had extra security around him during this time. Nevertheless, Gagan said Agent James Tafoya didn't want to follow up.[680]

On October 20, 1995, Gagan returned to Denver at the behest of his "Hizbollah" contact, where he met two Americans named "Paul" and "Daniel" at the Broadway Plaza Motel. "I had just come back from Kingman, where I dropped off money to a militia-looking dude," said Gagan. The men discussed bombing targets in Denver and Phoenix. "Daniel deals with these dudes (al-Fuqra)," said Gagan. "They were connected to Hizbollah."[681]

Although the agencies targeted for the attacks stepped up security at these facilities, the FBI began a concerted effort to discredit Gagan.

Then in early February, Gagan says he met at the Tomahawk Truck Stop in Watkins, Colorado, where he helped load approximately 300 pounds of high-grade explosives allegedly stolen from Explosives Fabricators. Also loaded into a van were anti-tank weapons stolen from the Army, electronic circuitry, and boxes of chemicals marked Ammonium Silicate. Gagan says he drove the van to Denver, whereupon he contacted Agent Matt Traver of the ATF.

Gagan said he informed FBI Agents Johnson and Holtslaw and U.S. Attorneys Allison and Solano. Gagan told Holtslaw he would take a Polygraph test, requested that he confirm the status of his Immunity Letter, and meet with his family to a.s.sure them that precautions would be taken for their safety. Gagan alleges that Holtslaw refused, and ceased all contact with him. The FBI claims that Gagan refused to take a Polygraph, and was therefore unreliable.

Yet Gagan's involvement with al-Fuqra is significant in light of several factors. First, Clement Rodney Hampton-El and Earl Gant, both al-Fuqra members, were indicted in the World Trade Center bombing and the subsequent plot to blow up four New York City landmarks by Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman's Jama a Islamiya. Hampton had fought with Gulbaddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-I-Islami (Islamic Party) during the Afghan War, and a.s.sisted in the testing of explosives for the New York City bombings, although he didn't actually take part in the final plot.[682]

Second, al-Fuqra is aligned, not only with Pakistani intelligence, which supports the Mujahadeen (World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef is a Pakistani who reportedly fought alongside the Mujahadeen), but to the HizbAllah International through leaders such as Gulbaddin Hekmatyar. Al-Fuqra's contacts also include Hamas, and the Moro Liberation Front, based in the Philippines, where Terry Nichols and Ramzi Yousef allegedly rendezvoused.

Third, an individual claiming to be the brother of the friend of a man involved in the plot called Oklahoma State Representative Key to provide him with information after the bombing. According to the anonymous caller, one of the bombers was a black Muslim. He spoke of a man named "Colonel Hardin" from Arizona, whose "supposed to be deeply involved in this, along with some with some Middle Eastern and some black Muslims."

The reader should take note that this conversation occurred before any discussion of Middle Eastern involvement became public as a result of Stephen Jones' Writ or other investigations: Caller: So, according to him there was nine people that he knows of that was supposedly involved in this. Now there was... there was two white guys and a black dude. And he said that he thought one of the white guys could possibly be a short-haired girl that she looked like she might be from the Middle East or something.

But the second time that he saw the car, he said it was about ten minutes before the bombing, he said they drove up to him and told him to get the h.e.l.l out, that there was gonna' be a bomb. And he said it was the same car only that it had the white guy and the black dude in it. The other person, he said thought might be a female wasn't in the car at that time. Now this about ten minutes before....

And this black dude-he's a member of the Nation of Islam, but he's also prior service military. And this stupid a.s.shole, he supposedly called Channel Four after the bombing, claiming credit for it.

Key: Well I heard that... I forget who called in to where but somebody called in and said, you know, it was the Nation of Islam.

Caller: Well, he was supposed to have been the one. And another thing... Channel Four said late last night that this leg was supposed to have had some PVC embedded it. And, you know, you use PVC pipe to pack plastic explosives in. It greatly increases the detonation of it and the shear power of it, and it's also a tidy way of handling it.[683]

Finally, there is the unidentified leg found in the rubble of the Murrah Building. The severed leg, allegedly belonging to a black female, was clothed in combat boots, two pairs of socks, and an olive military-issue blousing strap.

Authorities eventually claimed the leg belonged to 21-year-old Air Force Airman Lakesha Levy, who was in the Social Security office at the time of the blast.[684]

What is strange is that there were eight bodies with missing or severed limbs. If the leg was clothed in military garb, it should have been a simple task to match it with Levy, who likewise would have been wearing a military uniform. Eventhough Levy was buried before this leg was found, it should have been a simple task to go back and see which of the bodies with severed limbs belonged to military personnel wearing military uniforms. Yet authorities originally buried a different leg with Levy before finding this one on May 30.

The State Medical Examiner's Office originally claimed the leg belonged to a white or light-skinned male, most likely under 30 year of age. This finding was later recanted by the FBI, who "decided" that it belonged to Levy. Of course, By stating the leg belonged to Levy, the FBI conveniently removed all speculation as to whom the leg really belonged to. As Stephen Jones stated, "[Perhaps] the experts are more interested in proving the non-existence of a different bomber at the scene than validating the Oklahoma Medical Examiner."[685]

Could the unidentified leg have actually belonged to the real bomber - a black Muslim prepared to sacrifice himself or herself for the cause? Perhaps this explains why authorities allegedly recovered no bodies that matched this leg. It is possible the leg belonged to an additional bomber who was disintegrated by the blast. This could also explain the confused look Daina Bradley witnessed on John Doe 2's face after he walked to the back of the Ryder truck. Perhaps upon opening the door, he was confronted with a comrade who ordered him away, then set off the device, neatly severing himself or herself in the process.

While the Nation of Islam (NOI) are supposedly enemies of Al Fuqra, it should be pointed out that the NOI has forged links with the KKK, the American n.a.z.i Party, and Tom Metzger's White Aryan Resistance (WAR).

The Tulsa, Oklahoma leader of WAR, Dennis Mahon, freely admitted to William Jasper and other journalists that the Iraqis paid him $100-a-month - $4800 total - between 1991 and 1995, to stir up dissent among the neo-n.a.z.i/White Supremacist community against the Gulf War sanctions. (At least Mahon believes the money came from the Iraqi emba.s.sy.)[686]

A former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, Mahon had visited Germany in an effort to recruit young Germans into the KKK. Also recall that during the Gulf War, the Anti-Zionist League's Michael Kuhnen, working with his old mercenary friend Michel Faci, negotiated a contract to provide 200 German, American and British neo-n.a.z.i volunteers to fight alongside Iraqi troops.

As previously discussed, Kuhnen was succeeded by a man named Hubner, who has spoken with Kirk Lyons at meetings of the group "Deutsche Alternative." Lyons' client was Michael Brescia's roommate Andreas Stra.s.smeir, a good friend of Dennis Mahon's. A frequent visitor to Elohim City, Mahon was close friends with Brescia. He almost certainly knew Brescia's friend, Timothy McVeigh.

Again, the question must be asked: Were McVeigh, Nichols, and their comrades in fact plotting with Arab extremists and their black Muslims counterparts to blow up the Federal Building, and was Iraq behind it?

As the Was.h.i.+ngton Post's Jack Anderson stated: "A preferable revenge for Iraq would involve having a 'surrogate terrorist' carry out a domestic attack that Hussein could privately take credit for..."

Anderson's a.n.a.lysis may be rather prescient. States and their intelligence agencies have being using terrorist groups as "cut-outs" for years in order to maintain deniability. Defense & Foreign Affairs, stated it thusly: ...despite the important evolution in the role of the terrorist organizations and other ent.i.ties through the HizbAllah International, the actual control over the operations themselves remains firmly in the hands of, and under the tight control of, the sponsoring states, being perpetrated by operatives of intelligence services....

It is through these "organizations" that the sponsoring states in effect take credit for their terrorist operations and have their message clear and explicit. Given the marked escalation of international terrorism and the higher stakes involved, the importance of the front groups "speaking" for the sponsoring states - particularly Iran and the global Islamic Revolution it is running - is of growing importance and centrality to international terrorism.[687]

Another example of such methodology was the World Trade Center bombing. As Ramzi Yousef's accomplice Mahmud Abu Halima put it, "The planned act was not as big as what subsequently occurred.... Yousef showed up on the scene... and escalated the initial plot.... Yousef used [Salameh and the others]... as p.a.w.ns and then immediately after the blast left the country."[688] Some terrorism experts think Yousef was working for Iraq.

Stephen Jones believes a similar plan unfolded in Oklahoma City. As he stated in his March 25th Writ of Mandamus: The plan was arranged for a Middle Eastern bombing engineer to engineer the bomb in such a way that it could be carefully transported and successfully detonated. There is no reported incident of neo-n.a.z.is or extreme Right-wing militants in this country exploding any bomb of any significant size, let alone one to bring down a nine (9) story federal building and kill 168 persons.... This terrorist attack was "contracted out" to persons whose organization and ideology was friendly to policies of the foreign power and included dislike and hatred of the United States government itself, and possibly included was a desire for revenge against the United States....[689]

In November of 1994, Gagan said he made a trip to Mexico City with Omar, where he ran into a familiar face amongst the terrorist crowd - Frank Terpil. "I saw him down in Mexico City... with Omar," recalled Gagan. "We met him in the Zona Rosa area."

A retired CIA communications specialist, Terpil had been convicted, along with rogue CIA agent Edwin Wilson, of selling 20 tons of C-4 plastic explosives and 50,000 electronic timers to the Libyan government.

Terpil had also lined his pockets by supplying torture devices to Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin, and sophisticated detonators and communications equipment to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He and Wilson had also set up a terrorist training camp in Libya, and had recruited U.S. Green Berets to train Arab terrorists in bombing and a.s.sa.s.sination techniques.

After being indicted, Terpil fled the country, and was last seen hiding out in Cuba, until he showed up in Mexico City... with Omar. "They met at the bar," said Gagan. "Terpil and Omar spoke for about fifteen minutes, alone."

"Who's that dude?" Gagan asked Omar as they left the bar.

"An ex-CIA agent named Terpil," came the answer. "He lives in Cuba."

"Frank Terpil? I thought he was dead? What's up with him?"

"He lives in Cuba. He's hands-off...."

Considering Terpil's well-doc.u.mented relations.h.i.+p with Arab terrorists, and his "wanted" status in the U.S., it is understandable why he would choose to meet Omar in Mexico City.

Gagan himself was no stranger to Mexico City. As previously discussed, the Soviets had solicited Gagan's help in 1980 to procure military secrets from his friend at Martin Marietta. They requested his help again in 1986 to a.s.sist illegal Iranian immigrants who needed false IDs.

While in Mexico Gagan had also met an Austrian, Eduard Bodenzayer, a Soviet spy, and had been to the Russian emba.s.sy repeatedly. As he told Stephen Jones, "My contacts there were a guy named Vallery and Elyia."

Did Omar, Sam Khalid, or their a.s.sociates have contact with the Russians? Considering Khalid's reported ties to the PLO and Hamas, and the long history of Soviet-Arab cooperation, it is highly likely.

Like n.a.z.is and neo-n.a.z.is who've forged links with Arab terrorists, the Soviets have provided wide-ranging support to Arab terrorist groups throughout the years. As James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation writes: During the 1970s the Soviet Union and its satellites greatly expanded their support for terrorist groups. Moscow often used Middle Eastern client states such as Iraq, Libya, Syria, and the former People's Democratic Republic of South Yemen as intermediaries to mask Soviet arms, training, intelligence, and logistical support for a wide variety of terrorist groups.[690]

If the Russians were sponsoring their Arab friends in terrorism, it is likely the Arabs may have wished to maintain further deniability by engaging the a.s.sistance of American neo-n.a.z.is. This possibility became more apparent as connections were drawn, not only between Dennis Mahon and Iraqi emba.s.sy officials, but between Terry Nichols and Iraqi terrorist Ramzi Yousef, and between Timothy McVeigh and former Iraqi soldier Hussain al-Hussaini.

This likelihood became clearer after interviewing Michele Torres, the daughter of a former Communist Party official (P.R.T. Party) in Mexico City. An intelligent young woman, Michele had been raised under the harsh regimentation of a person destined for a position in the Communist Party, but had rebelled, and at age 17, fled to the United States.

Torres recalled the numerous and strange faces that would often pa.s.s through her home and her father's office. Arab men from Jordan, Palestine, Iraq... she was not allowed to ask them their names or their business.[691]

Torres also claimed to have overheard conversations between her father and PLO representatives some years earlier. The meetings, she said, involved discussions of a bombing plot to be carried out in the U.S.

It was the winter of 1992, and Michele's father, Hirram Torres, was working in the office of the PLO in Mexico City. He was speaking with a man from Palestine, and another from Jordan or possibly Iraq. In broken English, Torres recounts the conversation: Torres: They were saying: "What do you think about the new plan?" And the other man says: "Well, we can... the Russian officers told us we can probably blame the fascists." You know what I mean? "Americans - the American Patriots, and all the stupid stuff with the white supremacists and the neo-n.a.z.is. So we can give two strikes at once."

Hoffman: Did he explain what he meant by two strikes?

Torres: They didn't explain it but I understood it.

Hoffman: Did they say anything about the Patriot Movement or the Militia Movement?

Torres: They don't say anything about militia. When they want to talk about militia, they say fascists or neo-n.a.z.is. And when they speak about Patriots, or Yankees... the way they say. They used to speak about white supremacists... all Americans... white Americans are white supremacists. Yankees and fascists.

Hoffman: Tell me what they meant by the two strikes at once.

Torres: They wanted... the Arab people wanted... to make a terrorist act. They needed to make a terrorist act. There was like, some of the Arab leaders - wanted to make - wanted to give a strike to the United States. They didn't even understand why. But at the same time, the Communist Party tells them that it was a great idea to...

Hoffman: Now are you relating the actual conversation?

Torres: Yes. They were saying that it was... all the time they were talking about... what the Russian officers told them to do. So that man who was talking was the Palestinian man - my father told him that it was very good, and that they would probably find an easy way - an easy way to blame that kind of people. That he was trying... that he had tried to contact neo-n.a.z.i people to help him...

Hoffman: Did he say who?

Torres: Yes. He tried to contact any kind of National Socialist people (American n.a.z.i Party)... I tell you the way I heard it: "We can probably use those neo-n.a.z.i b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. I tried to contact them, but they refused to do it, and they don't want to get involved in that kind of stuff with Communists. And I don't think anyone can get those f.u.c.king idiots, but I don't care." He said something like, "I don't care. We are anyway going to blame them."

Hoffman: We don't want to get involved with Communists and that kind of stuff and what...

Torres: "But anyway can blame them. No matter if they want to cooperate with us or not." Then he told me... he told that guy that... he was going to hire a white man.

Hoffman: To act as a neo-n.a.z.i? You mean to play the part of a neo-n.a.z.i?

Torres: To play the part of a neo-n.a.z.i. And... and to partic.i.p.ate with his comrades... he spoke about his Arab comrades.

Hoffman: In what respect?

Torres: His Arab comrades... and he used to call them brothers or some kind of thing...

Hoffman: Your father spoke of them this way?

Torres: Yes. But, well, he told it in Russian, that he was - that boy who they were going to hire, was going to work together with the Tobarich (Russian for comrade). With the Tobarich.

Hoffman: Do you remember any names - any specific names of any people - anybody?

Torres: No. That time, they were just going to plan it. That was the plan...

Hoffman: This was in the winter of '92?

Torres: Yes. They were just discussing the plan. They didn't even know the names. My father was... by that time my father was... deciding.

Hoffman: Now why do you think so long ago? That's four years between now and then.

Torres: They always plan it in that way. They take their time, and always a very long time. They always take a very long time...

Hoffman: Is there anything else about what they discussed that you haven't told me that you think is important?

Torres: They said they were going to do it in the middle of the country. And they were going to do it in a business office.

Hoffman: Did they say how big?

Torres: Yes, big. And they wanted... children to be victims of it. There must be children there - it must be an office where children were somehow. They had to kill children. Because it was a very important part of the emotional part of the strike....

Hoffman: Did they ever mention Pan Am 103 or the World Trade Center bombings in reference?

Torres: They talked something about... trade centers. Anyway they spoke about trade centers - about places where business were made, because Americans regard so much their money and their business. That was the explanation my father gave to the Palestinian guy. They spoke about places where business were made, and that it was not the only strike they were going to make.

You know one of the reasons I am not scared of this conversation (this interview) is because I heard - I listen to this kind of conversation all of my life. My father - he has killed a lot of people - he has done a lot of wrong things. He was involved...

While Torres' mention of Russian intelligence seems to have all the makings of a Claire Sterling novel, it should be mentioned that Mexico City is home to one of the largest Soviet consulates in the Western hemisphere, with its attendant Soviet intelligence apparatus.

It appears that what Torres was describing was more than a loose-knit group of terrorists, but a sophisticated centrally-controlled state-sponsored terrorist apparatus. As Defense & Foreign Affairs stated: Despite the unprecedented role of the HizbAllah International in the decision making process, all major terrorist operations remain state- controlled. These operations are conducted by agencies of states and in pursuit of the long-term and strategic interests of the controlling and sponsoring states. The "names" and "profiles" of the organizations and groups issuing the communiques and claims const.i.tute an integral component of the state sponsors.h.i.+p mechanism. These named ent.i.ties serve a specific function: stating the ident.i.ty of the interests involved in, and the outlining of the logic and objectives behind, these operations without having the sponsoring states a.s.sume formal responsibility....

Incredible as it sounds, Torres' story may be the key piece of the puzzle linking the Arab and neo-n.a.z.i contingents. Her story is significant in light of the fact that Dennis Mahon was being paid by the Iraqis to stir up dissent amongst the white supremacist community.

Her story also ties into the fact that Omar allegedly met with Frank Terpil in Mexico City; and Terry Nichols reportedly met with Ramzi Yousef in the Philippines.

Finally, Timothy McVeigh, an alleged white supremacist, was seen with Hussain al-Hussaini, an Iraqi.[692]

Interestingly, within hours of the blast in Oklahoma City, Radio Tehran in Iraq had the answer. "...the perpetrators were Christian extremist militias from Montana and Oklahoma observing the two-year anniversary of the U.S. government killing of 86 men, women, and children in the Branch Davidian Waco ma.s.sacre."[693]

Was Timothy McVeigh the "neo-n.a.z.i b.a.s.t.a.r.d" that Michele's father talked about hiring?[694]*