The Oklahoma City Bombing And The Politics Of Terror Part 30

As the fateful day drew closer, the warnings began pouring in. Judge Wayne Alley, whose office sits across from the Murrah Building, was warned several weeks prior to the blast by "security officials" to take "extra precautions." The federal judge, who was not in his office at the time, but whose clerks were injured in the blast, told the Portland Oregonian, "Of all the days for this to happen, it's absolutely an amazing coincidence." When asked to discuss the nature of the warnings, Alley said, "Let me just say that within the past two or three weeks, information has been disseminated... that indicated concerns on the part of people who ought to be a little bit more careful."

This is not surprising. Gagan had warned the FBI as far back as September that federal agents and judges were targeted for a.s.sa.s.sination. As previously noted, Gagan had been deep inside the Middle Eastern cell involved in the bombing. Gagan informed the feds on September 21, 1994 that his Arab comrades had been cruising Denver in a white Mercury photographing federal agents. Gagan told the author that he was instructed to a.s.sa.s.sinate Judge Lewis Babc.o.c.k.[1052]

Had the feds warned Judge Alley? "My subjective impression," said Alley, "was there was a reason for the dissemination of these concerns, strongly suggesting an impending proximate event."[1053]

The Oklahoma City Fire Department, unlike Judge Alley, had the benefit of more specific warnings. On Friday, April 14, the FBI placed a call to a.s.sistant Chief Charles Gaines to warn him of a potential terrorist threat within the next few days.

When Glenn Wilburn confronted Gaines, he was met with a blanket of denial. Wilburn then walked down the hall and confronted Chief Dispatcher Harvey Weathers, who unhesitatingly replied that they had in fact received a warning. Wilburn told him, "Well, you're going to be surprised to learn that Chief Gaines' memory is failing. He says it never happened." Weathers replied, "Well, you asked me and I told you. I'm not going to lie for anybody. A lot of people don't want to get involved in this."[1054]

When a.s.sistant Chief Jon Hansen was later interviewed by KFOR's Jayna Davis, he said he could no longer recall just exactly who had called the Department, but convincingly rea.s.sured skeptics, "The FBI came in yesterday and told me it wasn't them."

Yet two reserve Sheriff's deputies on duty at the Murrah Building the night of the bombing, Don Hammons and David Kachendofer, signed sworn affidavits that Representative Ernest Istook (R-OK) told them of the government's prior knowledge. Kachendofer was guarding the northwest corner of the building when Istook approached and chated with him. Kachendofer relates the conversation: "[Istook] made the comment to me, he says, 'Yeah, we knew this was going to happen.'

"And I said, 'Excuse me?'

"And he says, 'Yeah, we knew this was going to happen. We got word through our sources that there is a radical fundamental Islamic group in Oklahoma City and that they were going to bomb the Federal Building.'"[1055]

The day after the bombing, Oklahoma City FBI SAC Bob Ricks (of Waco infamy), managed to keep a straight face while announcing to reporters: "The FBI and Oklahoma City has not received any threats that indicated that a bombing was about to take place."

Like the fox a.s.suring the farmer that he hadn't made off with any chickens, the FBI's claims proved of little solace. Fortunately for the FBI, the audio logs of the Fire Department's incoming calls were mysteriously "erased."[1056]

As The Daily Oklahoman reported on August 14, 1997: ...Vance DeWoody, owner of Opal's Answering Service, and his employee, Pat Houser... received an anonymous telephone call saying that a bomb was going to go off in the office of the U.S. Secret Service on the ninth floor of the Murrah Building....

Opal's... takes calls for the Secret Service. The call came four days before the bombing. Then, on the morning of April 19, the Executive Secretariat's Office of the Justice Department received a mysterious call from someone claiming the Murrah Building had just been blown up... 24 minutes before the blast! ABC 20/20 quoted the official government doc.u.ment: The Department of Justice... received a telephone call... twenty-four minutes prior to the bombing... The caller said, "The Federal Building in Oklahoma City has just been bombed."[1057]

ABC anchor Tom Jarriel noted that "no action was apparently taken" by the Justice Department in response to that strange emergency call minutes before the blast.[1058]

Not long after Bob Rick's announcement, Carol Howe and Cary Gagan would make their presence known - informing the public that the government did indeed have prior knowledge of the attack. To cover themselves, the government only admitted that they had vague, unspecified warnings of the impending plot. As Stephen Jones wrote in his brief of March 25, 1997: Soon the government's position will revert to the ridiculous and it will only deny any knowledge that the Murrah Building was specifically targeted at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, to be destroyed by a bomb delivered in a Ryder rental truck by Timothy McVeigh.... That is the Federal Government playing word games in order to avoid what is potentially the single most embarra.s.sing and humiliating situation since the public found out that the FBI had an informant inside the terrorist group that bombed the World Trade Center in New York - an informant that actually helped make the bomb - but they bungled the entire situation and did not prevent that tragedy.

Nevertheless, it wouldn't be long before a significant percentage of the population would learn about the suspicious activites in Oklahoma City the morning of April 19. Attorney Daniel J. Adomitis was driving downtown around 7:30 a.m. that morning when he noticed a white bomb squad truck parked on the west side of the courthouse, close to the Murrah Building. Adomitis told the Fort Worth Star/Telegram, "I remember thinking as I pa.s.sed that, 'Gee, I wonder if they had a bomb threat at the County Courthouse?'"

Norma Smith, who worked at the Federal Courthouse across from the Murrah Building, saw, along with numerous others, the Bomb Squad congregated in the parking lot. Smith recounted her story for her hometown Texas newspaper, the Panola Watchman: The day was fine, everything was normal when I arrived at 7:45 to begin my day at 8 a.m., but as I walked through my building's parking lot, I remember seeing a bomb squad. I really did not think about it - especially when we did not hear more about it....

There was some talk about the bomb squad among employees in our office. We did wonder what it was doing in our parking lot. Jokingly, I said, "Well I guess we'll find out soon enough"....[1059]

Renee Cooper, whose infant son was killed in the day-care center, was driving down Robinson Street when she saw several men in dark jackets standing in front of the Federal Courthouse. The men's jackets were inscribed with the words "Bomb Squad."

Reporter J.D. Cash spoke with a woman whose brother worked in the Federal Building. "Frantic with worry, Jackie Stiles said she talked to an FBI agent at the scene who told her there had been a bomb threat made against the Murrah Building the previous week."

This fact was also confirmed by Michael Hinton, a former police officer who was staying across the street at the YMCA. Hinton witnessed what appeared to be a bomb threat evacuation of the Murrah Building two weeks earlier.[1060]

Naturally, the Bomb Squad denied being there. In an interview with Jayna Davis, Sheriff J.D. Sharp claimed that the Bomb Squad truck was ten miles away at the time. "I can a.s.sure you from the testimony of witnesses and the bomb commander that our bomb unit was not anywhere near the Murrah Building the morning of the blast," said Sharp.

When the author attempted to interview two members of the Bomb Squad, one of them became visibly nervous, and demanded that I speak to his superior. He denied removing additional bombs, or being at the Federal Building early that morning.

The Sheriff's Department later told NBC Extra's Brad Goode that the Bomb Squad was in fact deployed downtown for "training purposes," but claimed they were not in bomb attire. At the same time, the OCPD told Extra the Bomb Squad was not there at all.[1061]

Reporter J.D. Cash received a similar response from Bomb Squad Captain Robert Heady. When confronted with the fact that at least two eye-witnesses saw the Bomb Squad members in their black t-s.h.i.+rts with the words "BOMB SQUAD" emblazoned across their chests in silver-white letters, the captain said, "We don't wear those type s.h.i.+rts."

Interestingly, a videotape made by Deputy Sheriff Melvin Sumter at the scene of the blast shows the Bomb Squad members, along with the captain, in t-s.h.i.+rts with words "BOMB SQUAD" in large silver-white letters written across their chests!

Still, the Bomb Squad would attempt to maintain this duplicitous charade. When he was summoned before the County Grand Jury reinvestigating the blast, Deputy Bill Grimsley claimed that the bomb squad was indeed downtown that morning. Grimsley claimed that he had left the county jail at 7:00 a.m., stopped at the nearby courthouse for a few minutes to take care of an errand, went to McDonald's for breakfast, then drove to the bomb training site ten miles away.

Yet Norma Smith saw the Bomb Squad truck downtown at 7:45 a.m. Renee Cooper saw it five minutes after eight - hardly in keeping with Grimsley's story.

Others, like Oklahoma Private investigator Claude Criss and County Appraiser J.D. Reed saw the Bomb Squad downtown in full gear. "The presence of law enforcement was in the air," said Criss. "It was everywhere downtown that morning."

As previously discussed, Debra Burd.i.c.k was sitting at a red light at 10th and Robinson, five blocks from the Murrah Building. "...as the light changed, we started through the intersection," recalled Burd.i.c.k, "and [that's when] the bomb went off... And right after that, here comes the Bomb Squad, before the ambulances and the Fire Department." As Burd.i.c.k's husband remarked, "they would have had to have had some kind of warning to respond that quick, because they would have had to get in their gear and everything."

J.D. Reed, who rushed out of the County Office Building when the bomb went off, later wrote in a company newsletter: "The paramedics and firemen were already at work. How could they move so quickly? They were there by the time we got down to the street!"[1062]

The testimony of Burd.i.c.k and Reed dovetails with that of Criss, who arrived at his office at 8:58 a.m. "I heard a lot of sirens at that time," he said. "A lot of sirens, coming from the west, approaching downtown. There was approximately seven trucks that were traveling at a high rate of speed. When they reached the top of that hill right there, the explosion went off."[1063]

When ABC's Extra contacted the Oklahoma City Fire Department to inquire about Criss's claim, they replied, "We can't really confirm or deny that claim."[1064]

As Sergeant Yeakey, one of the first rescue workers at the scene later wrote to bombing survivor Ramona McDonald: Everyone was behind you until you started asking questions as I did, as to how so many federal agents arrived at the scene at the same time.... For those who ran from the scene to change their attire to hide the fact that they were there, should be judged as cowards.

Rodney Johnson, who almost hit McVeigh and John Doe 2 as they ran from the scene minutes before the blast, didn't miss the presence of law-enforcement officers who seemed to materialize out of thin air. Where had they come from?

a.s.sociated Press photographer Pat Carter, who was at the scene within one hour of the blast, said that ATF agents were wearing full combat gear. Had they been preparing for a bust?[1065]

HUD worker V.Z. Lawton was on the eighth floor of the Murrah Building when the bomb(s) went off. Lawton described four men who gave him a ride home that afternoon. They told him they were General Services Administration (GSA) employees out of Fort Worth, and were there doing a "routine" security check on the Federal Building. The men told Lawton this "security check" was conducted in the wee hours of the morning.[1066]

Two of the men, Dude Goodun and Brent Mossbarger, later told the Daily Oklahoman they did not take Lawton home that day.[1067]

Even more interestingly, it was alleged that no ATF agents (as opposed to clerical workers) were in the Murrah Building at the time of the blast. Word of this quickly spread when Bruce Shaw, whose wife worked in the third-floor credit union, ran up to an ATF agent anxiously asking of her whereabouts. Shaw told KFOR's Brad Edwards that the agent "started getting a little bit nervous. He tried reaching someone on a two-way radio. [But] couldn't get anybody. I told him I wanted an answer right then. He said they were in debriefing, that none of the agents had been in there. They'd been tipped by their pagers not to come to work that day. Plain as day out of his mouth. Those were the words he said."[1068]

The second witness, Shaw's boss Tony Brasier, was present when the agent made those comments, and confirmed to KFOR the accuracy of Shaw's testimony.[1069]

The third witness was Tiffany Bible, a paramedic. When she asked an ATF agent on the scene (dressed in a black "Ninja" suit) if any of his fellow agents were still in the building, she was told they "weren't here" at the office that morning. When she asked, "who would want to bomb a building in Oklahoma?" he replied that it was in retribution for the ma.s.sacre at Waco. How did he know?

"It's clear to me that the ATF knew in advance something was about to happen," says a man whose wife was seriously injured that morning.[1070]

In an attempt to steer suspicious eyes away from ATF culpability, Lester Martz, regional head of the ATF, put out a press release stating that several agents - Vernon Buster, Luke Franey, and Alex McCauley - had been trapped inside the building during the bombing: ATF's Resident Agent in Charge Alex McCauley was with a DEA agent (David Schickedanz) in the elevator when the bomb exploded. The elevator dropped in a free fall from the eighth floor to the third. The two men were trapped in the smoke-filled elevator. The emergency b.u.t.tons and the phone were inoperable. On their fourth attempt they managed to break through the doors and escape from the elevator.[1071]

Yet according to elevator repairman Duane James, who, along with several co-workers was checking equipment across the street that morning, Martz's statement is "pure fantasy." James, who was interviewed by J.D. Cash and ABC's 20/20, said five of the building's six elevators had frozen in place when the blast occurred, their doors blown inward. "Once that occurs, the doors cannot be opened - period," said James. "What I and some others did was kick in the ceilings on each of those elevators and determined that no one was in them."

James claims the remaining elevator was sitting at the third or fourth floor level and had no one in it. "Certainly it had not 'free fallen,' nor had any of the others." James explained that modern elevators cannot 'free fall' due to counterbalancing weights on them which prevent such occurrences. The elevators are also equipped with automatic safety switches that cut speed and power if the elevator starts accelerating too fast.[1072]

"None of those switches were tripped on any of the elevators in that building," said James. "I, along with other men with our company, checked the equipment several times. Absolutely no elevators dropped that morning."

Oscar Johnson, James' boss, told the Daily Oklahoman that when the elevator was found, a wall was pushed against the top of it "and there is no way you could have gotten the doors open. Our guys were the first ones there to open the top emergency access, and there was no one in it."[1073]

Federal elevator inspector Dude Goodun told the Daily Oklahoman that he agreed with Johnson.[1074]

So does former ATF agent Rick Sherrow. "This elevator business was garbage - about Franey being trapped in the elevator - because it didn't happen" said Sherrow. "Franey I pretty much believe was there, [but] this free-fall business, it just didn't happen."[1075]

Naturally, Martz insisted five ATF employees were inside the Murrah Building. Valerie Rowden, the office manager, was cut all over. Jim Staggs was hospitalized with head wounds. Vernon Buster, they claimed, had a nail driven through his arm, and his name showed up on a list of the injured. But according to David Hall, owner and manager of KPOC-TV in Ponca City, who checked with local hospitals, both Buster and Martz are lying.[1076]

According to a reporter who interviewed Joe Gordon, an ATF agent from Colorado Springs, there was at least one ATF agent from out-of-town (believed to have been Dallas) who was injured in the blast, that the ATF hasn't admitted to. While Buster's name showed up on the list of the injured, his name didn't.[1077]

Another reporter from New York developed information that the Dallas ATF office - Martz's office - was also suspiciously vacant that morning. Was the ATF running a combined operation out of Dallas and Oklahoma City? This would make sense, since Martz is the regional director.[1078]

DEA a.s.sistant Agent in Charge Don Webb called the allegations against the ATF "bull-s.h.i.+t." Webb told the author that McCauley and Schickedanz were indeed in the elevator when the bomb went off. He also said that "Luke Franey was on the phone" at the time of the bombing (although Webb admitted to me that he himself was at a golf tournament that morning).[1079]

According to Sergeant Yeakey, Franey was not in the building: Luke Franey was not in the building at the time of the blast, I know this for a fact, I saw him! I also saw full riot gear worn with rifles in hand, why?[1080]

Yeakey also wrote that Franey ran into the building. While news footage showed Franey standing in a blown-out window on the 9th floor shortly after the blast, he appeared surprisingly neat and clean. His appearance contrasted sharply with other survivors who were covered in dust and debris. In the photos, Franey is holding a box in one hand, and a walkie-talkie in the other.

Interestingly, Franey later showed up at Glenn Wilburn's house with a bandaged arm. Was Franey one of the agents who Dr. Chumley refused to bandage? According to a federal law-enforcement supervisor who works in the Federal Protective Services, Franey "was a b.l.o.o.d.y mess. He had a big gash on his forehead."[1081]

Whatever the true story, it is generally agreed that the Federal Building was suspiciously empty that morning. Wendy Greer, the Sister-in-Law of senior FBI Agent Jim Volz (retired), told me her brother said that the FBI's offices at 50 Penn Place (several miles from the Murrah Building) also appeared to be suspiciously vacant that morning.

If these agents weren't in their offices, just where were they? Some FBI agents, it appeared, were at a Special Olympics golf tournament in Shawnee (Webb told me he saw no ATF agents at the tournament). Yet this still wouldn't account for the strange activities on April 19.[1082]

In the early morning of April 19, Bob Flanders and his wife were driving east on I-44 at approximately 3:30 a.m., when they saw a strange team of men near the State Fairgrounds. The men, dressed in government black and driving black cars, were in the gra.s.s alongside the road, operating "hoops" - circular-shaped, radio beacon directional finders. Flanders recalled that the devices were about the size of a car steering wheel, and the men held them over their heads, slowly rotating them in a circular pattern.[1083]

At around 4:00 a.m., a man who was driving home after work saw another team operating these unusual looking devices, this time by the Alfred P. Murrah Building. As he approached 5th Street, he was directed to one lane. The person directing traffic was not a police officer, and was standing next to a white vehicle with a yellow stripe. As the man drove by, he saw several men on the sidewalk holding these hoop-like devices above their heads, slowly turning them in different directions. As the man pa.s.sed through, a roadblock was set up behind him, and all traffic was diverted from the area.

The equipment these witnesses are describing matches that of RDF direction finding antennas that are used to home in on electronic transmitters. Was there a concealed radio transmitter on the one of the Ryder trucks, sending out a signal to these teams? It is likely, given the requirements of a successful sting operation, that they were electronically tracking the Ryder truck. The location of the team at the fairgrounds, high on a hill overlooking the city, is a clue to its intended mission.

Yet why were they tracking the truck? Had their quarry eluded them? Is it possible that one of the bombers, perhaps one of their own trusted undercover agents, turned off the transmitter, resulting in the loss of the signal? If so, it seems that the agents would have had what's known in law-enforcement parlance as a "loose tail," and, it appeared, they were frantically trying to find the truck.

Andreas Stra.s.smeir, McVeigh's friend and alleged government operative, admitted that much in an interview with the London Sunday Telegraph's Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: The truck had a transmitter, so they could track it with a radio receiving device. I don't know how they could have lost contact. I think there was misinformation that the operation had been canceled.

According to KPOC's David Hall, the plan was to arrest the bombers at 3:30 in the morning. Given the ATF's past publicity stunts, it is likely that they were hoping to arrest the suspects at or near the Murrah Building to ensure a highly publicized bust. As Stra.s.smeir told Evans-Pritchard: "It's obvious that it was a government 'op' that went wrong, isn't it? The ATF had something going with McVeigh. They were watching him - of course they were," he a.s.serted, without qualification. "What they should have done is make an arrest while the bomb was still being made instead of waiting till the last moment for a publicity stunt. They had everything they needed to make the bust, and they screwed it up."[1084][1085]

Stra.s.smeir added that the ATF thought that the bomb was set to go off at 2 or 3 a.m., but somehow the plan was changed. "McVeigh made some changes in the plan," said Stra.s.smeir. "He is a very undisciplined soldier, you know... In retrospect, the ATF should have made the bust when the bomb was being built in Junction City."[1086]

The bombers, according to the former Elohim City security chief, were to be captured "during the night, when no one was there - that's why the ATF had the building staked out from midnight until 6:00 a.m. Later, the informant believed that the bombing was off for the day and reported that... the ATF lost control of the situation, and McVeigh and the others were able to bomb the building."[1087]

While Stra.s.smeir heaps most of the blame on the ATF, he does task the FBI for its failure: The different agencies weren't cooperating. In fact, they were working against each other. You even had a situation where one branch of the FBI was investigating and not sharing anything with another branch of the FBI.... Whoever thought this thing up is an idiot, in my opinion.[1088]

While Stra.s.smeir continually protested that he himself was not involved in the plot, as either a suspect or a provocateur, he did say that the plotters consisted of "four [men], plus the informant and McVeigh."

"They probably were going to entrap whoever was coming in," said Sherrow. "They had enough intelligence that they were going to set up an operation to pop this guy, whether it was McVeigh or whoever else, and something fell through the cracks....

"Talking from the perspective of a former ATF man, say they're going to buy explosives, or let somebody plant a bomb... they will let the deal go until the last second, before making the arrest."

Somehow, the deal went wrong.

While this startling evidence would soon make itself known to investigators, bombing victims, and a limited segment of the public - the "Justice" Department, federal prosecutors, and the ATF all rushed to refute the evidence.

"Can you imagine if we had known that... and let that happen?" said ATF agent Harry Eberhardt. "I had a lot of friends in that building - a lot of friends.... We never would have let that happen."[1089]

Dewy Webb, the current ATF RAC, concurred. "They had so many friends they lost in the bombing - they had to pick which funeral they could go to."[1090]

Athough Eberhardt's reasoning sounds valid, it is likely his concern is overrated. While it is doubtful the ATF, FBI, or local officials would purposefully allow such a catastrophic event to occur, it is likely - highly probable in fact - that through their stupidity and negligence, such an event did occur.[1091]

Said Sherrow, "I've got agents in their court testimony saying that they don't care about the public's safety. They don't consider it. They arranged to meet with a guy here in Phoenix who allegedly had hundreds of pounds of explosives, and they chose a crowded shopping center parking lot, running around with MP-5 [sub-machineguns] and handguns and everything else.

"This happened before Oklahoma, and it continues to happen. We had a case in Pennsylvania where a guy wanted to sell a small amount of explosives. He wanted to meet [the agents] way out in the country. Instead they decided to meet him on an Interstate rest stop that was jammed with people, and brought the media. They endanger the public right and left and they don't care about it."[1092]

Sherrow's a.n.a.lysis is based on more than historical precedent and informed opinion. While ATF agents refused to admit their involvement in the bungled operation, Martz met with local TV producers behind closed doors shortly after the bombing. His intent was to convince the journalists that what was underway was a sensitive undercover operation, and that they should take pains not to reveal it.

This is most interesting considering that ATF agent Angela Finley-Graham's report of August 30 stated that their investigation of Elohim City was cla.s.sified as "SENSITIVE" and "SIGNIFICANT" (as opposed to routine), and the investigation concerned "terrorist/extremist" organizations.

According to former ATF official Robert Sanders, such cla.s.sifications mean that all reports would automatically be sent to Was.h.i.+ngton, as well as being routinely routed to Martz at the Dallas Field Office, which in fact, it was.

Sanders, who held every possible supervisory position including that of ATF a.s.sistant Director, told The New Americanmagazine that the activities cited in the ATF reports have "such a high potential for affecting national security" that they would have most likely been sent to the heads of the Treasury and Justice Departments as well as the White House and National Security Council.[1093]

As if finally stating the obvious, Martz admitted to the incredulous reporters was that there was indeed a sting operation underway on the night of the 18th that was called off at 0600 hours (6:00 a.m.). When reporters asked Martz if the operation involved Timothy McVeigh, he replied "I can neither confirm or deny that."[1094][1095]

David Hall attended the closed-door meeting with Martz. "I don't believe that the ATF wired the building and blew it up. I do believe that they knew that there was going to be a possible bomb threat to the building, because they had set it up themselves, with their informants and different people they were working with. And somebody really slipped it to 'em."[1096]

Hall had also been long-time friends with Harry Eberhardt, and was one of the first to develop inside information regarding the ATF's activities that morning. While Martz held fast to his claim that three ATF agents were in the Murrah Building at the time of the blast, Hall insists, "that's an outright lie."[1097]

The seasoned investigative journalist contends that at least eight of the ATF's regular compliment of 13 agents were on a.s.signment away from the Federal Building that morning. "Three agents (Don Gillispie, Delbert Canopp and Tim Kelly) were in federal court in Newkirk, on an arson case that occurred in Ponca City.... Two agents (Karen Simpson and Harry Eberhardt) were in federal court in Oklahoma City. Three more were in Garfield County at a hearing. The other five were out on surveillance."[1098]

Just who were they surveilling?

"As far as can be determined," said Sherrow, "they had an undercover sting operation. They had a sting operation going that night, with about six agents involved, and they terminated it at six in the morning. Martz has admitted to this, then since backed off.... given the circ.u.mstances, it's reasonable to a.s.sume that the person they were surveilling was McVeigh."

Hall concurs. "We developed from our sources inside the ATF that five agents were up on surveillance all night long. We have to a.s.sume at that point, basically probably surveilling either McVeigh - and let me say this about McVeigh - there's a good chance that McVeigh could be the informant in this operation."

According to Glenn Wilburn, the ATF's plans changed at the last minute, and they stood down at 6:30 a.m. Then the Bomb Squad came on the scene at 6:30, checked the building for bombs, then stood down at 8:30. When the building blew up at 9:02 a.m., all the agents and police, who were already on the scene or nearby, quickly responded.

Yet it appears there is more to the story. Hall claims that on the night before the bombing, several witnesses saw McVeigh meet with ATF agent Alex McCauley and two other individuals of Middle Eastern descent in an Oklahoma City McDonalds at approximately 9:30 p.m. "He was a known ATF agent," said Hall. "[And] money changed hands."

Could this money have been the $2,000 that was discovered on McVeigh at the time of his arrest?

Terry Nichols was interviewed by Hall early on, and was told that McVeigh had met with "men" who had provided him with a $2,000 pay-off. Nichols left the restaurant at approximately 9:45 p.m. and drove back to his home in Herrington, Kansas. Hall interviewed Nichols' neighbors who claimed he arrived early that morning.[1099]

Another witness, an unidentified homeless man, contacted KTOK reporter Jerry Bonnen, and told him McVeigh drove past the McDonalds and yelled "Hey, want to have a few beers?" McVeigh then gave the man some cash, whereupon he purchased two quarts at the Total convenience store across the street. A Total employee, Ron Williams, reported that a Ryder truck was parked at the McDonalds.[1100]

An anonymous informant who contacted Representative Key, claiming to be a friend of the brother one of those involved in the bombing, said that McVeigh had indeed met federal agents at an unnamed restaurant in Oklahoma City, and had rendezvoused with at least four of them prior to the bombing. Key taped the conversation: "This guy here, he has a recording - a video recording - a camcorder recording that shows this same DEA agent and... McVeigh in the parking lot of a restaurant. And this is was shot about dusk. And two people in suits go over to the car, McVeigh and this DEA agent get out and they're standing back by the trunk. And the DEA agent's patting McVeigh on the shoulder, and then one of the two men in suits pa.s.ses McVeigh a white envelope and then they leave, And he has this on tape."[1101]

While Representative Key never did get the videotape, another source close to the investigation told him that McVeigh was indeed an informant.

What he didn't explain was the reason for the presence of the DEA.

KFOR's Brad Edwards developed similar information," said Hall, "from totally different sources. "So we have four different sources telling us this. He also has the same name of the agent (McCauley). "I think that when this is all said and done, that we're going to find out - and this is what I've said from the beginning - that this was a sting operation gone sour."

But do you really need two tons of explosive in order to set up a sting? Yes, according to Hall. Ammonium-nitrate isn't illegal in Oklahoma, and a few hundred pounds won't convince prosecutors there was a serious bomb threat in the works. "I think the intent there was to show that it was going to do some damage, rather than, you know, a pipe bomb. It wouldn't bring the intention here in Oklahoma."[1102]

Stra.s.smeir agrees. "I am told they thought it would be better to put a bigger bomb in there. The bigger the better. It would make them more guilty...."[1103]

While Martz would not confirm who the actual target of the sting was, one person who did confirm it was a man who spoke with bombing survivor and activist Ramona McDonald. McDonald had formed a group called Heroes of the Heart. Through her numerous meetings with paramedics and police, firefighters and even some federal agents, McDonald began learning the sickening truth about what really happened that day.