The Oklahoma City Bombing And The Politics Of Terror Part 42

352. (287) Barbara Whittenberg, interview with author.

353. (288) Was.h.i.+ngton Post, 7/3/95.

354. (289) Denver Post, date unknown.

355. (290) Kovaleski, Op Cit..

356. (291) Padilla and Delpit, Op Cit., p.3.

357. (*) When I questioned her about this apparent contradiction, she told me her later statement was correct, and the book's account was wrong.

358. (292) Lana Padilla, interview with author.

359. (**) Nichols became interested in selling military surplus in December of 93' to April of 94' according to Padilla.

360. (293) Padilla and Delpit, Op Cit., p. 6; interview with author.

361. (294) KFOR interview with Lana Padilla. Interview with author.

362. (295) Padilla, Op Cit., p.5, 9.

363. (296) Lana Padilla, interview with author.

364. (297) Padilla, Op Cit., p. 12.

365. (298) Lana Padilla, interview with author.

366. (299) Lou Kilzer and Kevin Floyd, "McVeigh Team Tries Again for Delay," Rocky Mountain News, 3/26/97; Timothy McVeigh's Pet.i.tion for Writ of Mandamus, 3/25/97.

367. (300) Telephone records of Terry Nichols, copy in author's possession.

368. (*) Earlier, McVeigh had told Padilla, "I'll write to him (Nichols), but I guess I'd better do it in code, because there are a lot of nosy people."

369. (301) David Jackson, Linnet Myers, Flynn McRoberts, Chicago Tribune, 5/11/95.

370. (302) Padilla and Delpit, Op Cit., p. 201.

371. (*) Nichols' attorney Michael Tigar claimed his client's use of aliases while renting the storage lockers was to prevent the credit card companies from coming after him.

372. (*) McVeigh Defense attorney Christopher Tritico questioned the a.n.a.lysis, noting the FBI laboratory isn't accredited by any agency for such a test. Tritico also used photographs of a test hole drilled into lead by the bit to argue that grooves and scratches didn't resemble those in the hole closely enough to call them a match.

373. (303) J.D. Cash, McCurtain Gazette, date unknown.

374. (304) "McVeigh Appeals Conviction, Sentence," Reuters, 1/16/98.

375. (305) Barbara Whittenberg, interview with author.

376. (306) Nolan Clay, Robby Trammell, Diana Baldwin and Randy Ellis, "Nichols, Bomb Materials Linked," Daily Oklahoman, date unknown.

377. (307) Jerri-Lynn Backhous, interview with author.

378. (308) Dorinda J. "Wendy" Hermes, interview with author.

379. (*) Butler and Snell also reportedly had connections to Jack Oliphant of Kingman, Arizona.

380. (309) New York Times, 5/20/95.

381. (310) Edward Zehr, "Oklahoma City Cover-up Exposed: But the Mainstream Media are Still in Denial," Was.h.i.+ngton Weekly, 2/17/97.

382. (311) "The Company They Keep," Transcript of the Canadian Broadcasting Company "Fifth Estate" piece on Oklahoma City, originally broadcast on 22 October 1996, Host, Bob Oxley, Voice-Over Announcer, Trish Wood, Francine Pelletier; Guest, Robert Millar, Leader, Elohim City; Kerry n.o.ble, Formerly Of CSA; Steven Jones, Timothy McVeigh's Lawyer; Joe Adams, Bailiff; Ross Mcleod, Security Agency Owner.

383. (312) Warren Gotcher, interview with author.

384. (313) Anthony Thornton, "Bomb Plans Found in Defendant's Home, FBI Agent Testifies," The Daily Oklahoman, 4/3/96. "Anthony Thornton, "Three Defendants Found Guilty in Bomb Plot, The Daily Oklahoman. date unknown.

385. (314) Judy Thomas, "We Are Not Dangerous, Leader of Separatists Says" Kansas City Star, 3/17/96.

386. (315) Mark Fazlollah, Michael Matza, Maureen Graham and Larry King, "FBI: Heist Trail Led to White Supremacists," Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/30/96.

387. (*) Mathews himself was the Northwest representative of William Pierce's National Alliance.

388. (316) "Bank Bandits Tied to Rightists," a.s.sociated Press, 1/21/96; J.D. Cash with Jeff Holladay, "Rebels With a Cause, Part 3: The Aryan Republican Army, McCurtain Daily Gazette, 12/29/96.

389. (317) Bill Morlin, "Devoted to Making Nation 'Ungovernable': Group Patterns its Organization After Irish Republican Army," Spokesman-Review, 12/29/96.

390. (318) J.D. Cash, "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," McCurtain Daily Gazette, 2/11/97.

391. (319) J.D. Cash with Jeff Holladay, "Rebels With a Cause, Part Four: An Ex-Wife's Suspicions In The OKBOMB Case," McCurtain Daily Gazette, 12/31/96.

392. (320) Andreas Stra.s.smeir, interview with author.

393. (321) Judy L. Thomas, "Man Target of Bank Robbery Inquiry," Kansas City Star, 1/29/97.

394. (322) Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories (Was.h.i.+ngton, DC: Regnery), p. 80.

395. (*) It may be telling that part of Stra.s.smeir's training involved feeding people disinformation.

396. (323) Pritchard, Op Cit.; William Jasper, "More Pieces to the OKC Puzzle," The New American, 6/24/96.

397. (324) February, 1996 press release from the Cause Foundation, quoted in The New American.

398. (*) Around the same time, the caller telephoned the National Alliance office in Arizona. The National Alliance is the organization formed by William Pierce, who wrote The Turner Diaries.

399. (325) Laura Frank, "Oklahoma City Probe May Touch Tennessee," The Tennessean, 6/30/96.

400. (326) J.D. Cash, "Is a Videotape From a Tulsa Topless Bar the 'Smoking Gun' in Oklahoma City Bombing?" McCurtain Daily Gazette, 9/25/96.

401. (327) Judy Thomas, Kansas City Star, 3/17/96.

402. (328) Dennis Mahon, interview with William Jasper.

403. (329) Timothy McVeigh's Pet.i.tion for Writ of Mandamus, 3/25/97, pp. 44-45.

404. (330) Jeff Steinberg, interview with author.

405. (331) The members, Gene Schroder, Alvin Jenkins, and Ed Petruski, met with Iraqi Amba.s.sador Mohammed Mashat before the start of Desert Storm. The Iraqis took notice of the group's patriotic activities, and invited them to Was.h.i.+ngton. "They were hoping to open up negotiations with America," explained Schroder, a farmer and veterinarian from Campo, Colorado. "They knew that we'd meet with them and push the issue some with our Representatives and Congressmen." The entire affair was completely legitimate and well-publicized, having been reported in at least one local newspaper in Colorado. The Const.i.tutionalists and anti-war activists also had the support of Senators Hank Brown and Bob Dole. "We called the State Department and everything was cleared," they explained. Yet it seemed Jones' was trying to portray the meeting as part of a broader conspiracy between Iraqis and American dissidents. The attorney referred to the three men as Posse Comitatus members - a tax-protest organization of the mid-'80s with anti-Semitic overtones and connections to white supremacist groups. All three denied belonging to the group. Jones then mentioned that Petruski lived an hour's drive from bombing defendant Terry Nichols' house. Petruski denied knowing Nichols. (Eugene Schroder, Alvin Jenkins, and Ed Petruskie, interviews with author; Timothy McVeigh's Pet.i.tion for Writ of Mandamus, 3/25/97.) 406. (*) Although Jones only refers to "Suspect I," it is well-known that he is referring to Nichols, because he says he was "A subject of the FBI and Grand Jury investigation...." There were only two people investigated by the Federal Grand Jury: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

407. (332) Pritchard, Op Cit., 3/30/97.

408. (333) Ingo Ha.s.selbach with Tom Reiss, Fuhrer-Ex: Memoirs of a Former Neo-n.a.z.i (New York, NY: Random House, 1996), p. 215; John Michael Johnston, "Investigative Report Concerning Fact-Finding Trip to Germany," 5/15/96, copy in author's possession.

409. (*) The El Rukn case is doc.u.mented in the Federal Reporter in Unites States v. McAnderson, 914 F. 2d 934 (7th Cir. 1990). "The El Rukns sought to impress the Libyans and to demonstrate the depth of their commitment by discussing specific terrorist acts, among them destroying a government building, planting a bomb, blowing up an airplane, and simply committing a wanton 'killing here and a killing there' to get the Libyans' attention. Eventually, the leader of the El Rukns decided that the Libyans would only be impressed by the use of powerful explosives." (Jones, Writ of Mandamus, p. 85) 410. (334) "Black History and the Cla.s.s Struggle," The Separatist League, No. 11, August, 1994. In a letter to his followers concerning his strange alliance with the NOI, Rockwell wrote: "I was amazed to learn how much they and I agree on things: they think that blacks should get out of this country and go back to Africa or to some other place and so do we. They want to get black men to leave white women alone, and white men to leave black women alone, and so do we. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and I have worked out an agreement of mutual a.s.sistance in which they will help us on some things and we will help them on others.("

411. (335) Was.h.i.+ngton Times, 9/30/85.

412. (336) Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, "IRA supplied detonator for Oklahoma terror bomb," London Sunday Telegraph, 3/30/97.

413. (*) British officials no doubt took the implications seriously. Jones had spent considerable time consulting with British explosives experts who planned to testify on behalf of the defense, as well as officials from MI5, Britain's domestic intelligence service and even an unnamed IRA member.( (a.s.sociate Press, 3/30/97.) 414. (337) Tom Conlon and Helen Curtin, Dublin Sunday Times, 7/13/97, quoted in McCurtain Daily Gazette, 7/15/97.

415. (338) Rita Cosby reporting, KOKH, FOX, 4/2/97; Andreas Stra.s.smeir, interview with author.

416. (*) Information obtained from the Military Records Center by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reveals that Petruski served in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), retiring in 1975. His dalliance with the military included a stint as a Foreign Intelligence Officer in Vietnam, then Special Projects Officer, Special Activities Branch, Counterintelligence Division in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C. He was reactivated with a "sensitive" a.s.signment during the Gulf War.

417. (339) "Stra.s.smeir, OKC, And The CIA," The New American, 7/22/96.

418. (340) Phil Bacharach, "Casting Doubts: Were Others Involved in the Federal Building Bombing?" Oklahoma Gazette, 2/13/97.

419. (*) Curiously, when the FBI queried various federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies to determine if Stra.s.smeir was a cooperating witness or a confidential informant, only the CIA reported that it held any records on him. These records were turned over to prosecutors, but not made available to McVeigh's defense team, despite a court order compelling their disclosure.

420. (341) J.D. Cash, with Jeff Holladay "Weeks Before OKC Bombing, ATF Had 'Wanted' Posters On Stra.s.smeir," McCurtain County Gazette, 7/28/96.

421. (342) J.D. Cash, "Agents Probe OKC Bombing Links To Bank Robberies," McCurtain Daily Gazette, 7/16/96.

422. (*) Interestingly, cases involving violence or planned violence by militias from around the U.S. show a recurring theme of government penetration and infiltration of militia groups. For example, testimony in the Muskogee bombing case showed that the FBI was literally paying the operating expenses, including the phone bills for the Tri-State Militia.

423. (*) OHP pilot Ken Stafford, ATF technician Pat McKinley, and acting ATF SAC Tommy Wittman flew over Elohim City on February 7, 1995, and reported to Finley-Graham.

424. (*) BATF regional director Lester Martz denies that the BOLO was put out by the ATF.

425. (343) Tulsa Police Intelligence, confidential interview with author.

426. (344) An INS memo of January 10 stated: "Per your note, I talked to Angela Finely, ATF. It may be awhile before the subject is contacted or arrested, but we will probably be called to a.s.sist."

427. (*) It seems the ATF and FBI were also concerned about the possiblity of an "intramural fire fight" between their respective agencies at Elohim City.

428. (345) Cash, Op Cit.

429. (*) Howe's allegations of federal malfeasance dovetailed with those of federal informant Cary Gagan, who was inside the Middle Eastern cell tied to the bombing.

430. (346) Pritchard, Op Cit.

431. (347) Ibid.; The OHP officer who made the arrest was Vernon Phillips.

432. (348) J.D. Cash, McCurtain Daily Gazette, 7/14/96. Dennis Mahon also admitted that Stra.s.smeir worked for the GSG-9.

433. (*) The FBI didn't go to any great lengths to question Stra.s.smeir, nor his roommate Michael Brescia. Months after the bombing, the FBI places a leisurely call to Stra.s.smeir's home in Berlin. They made no attempt to question or arrest Brescia.

434. (**) When Middle Eastern suspect Hussain al-Hussaini came under scrutiny by KFOR and other investigators for his role in the bombing, the FBI "debunked" the "rumors" about him, too. Was he also an agent? (See Chapter 6) 435. (349) J.D. Cash and Jeff Holliday, "Weeks Before Bombing, ATF Had Out "Wanted" Posters, McCurtain Gazette, 7/29/96, quoted in American Freedom, September, 1996.

436. (*) The ostensible purpose of the raid was to recover bomb-making materials - materials which had been obtained by Howe at the request of her ATF handler - Finley-Graham!

437. (350) J.D. Cash, "Controversy Over Howe's True Loyalties Become Focus of Her Trial," McCurtain Daily Gazette, 7/30/97.

438. (351) J.D. Cash, McCurtain Gazette, 7/14/96. The source claimed that cla.s.sified computer records of the ATF contained evidence that Stra.s.smeir was indeed a key component in the agency's espionage operation at Elohim City, and numerous neo-n.a.z.i groups throughout the country.

439. (352) London Sunday Telegraph. date unknown.

440. (353) "Hate and the Law: Kirk Lyons, Esq." Anti-Defamation League, Special Edition, June, 1991.

441. (354) Lyons had this to say about Mahon in an interview with Volkstreue, a German Neo-n.a.z.i magazine: "I have great respect for the Klan historically but sadly, the Klan today is ineffective and sometimes even destructive. There are many spies in it and most of its best leaders have left the Klan to do more effective work within the movement. It would be good if the Klan followed the advice of former Klansman Robert Miles: 'Become invisible. Hang the robes and hoods in the cupboard and become an underground organization.' This would make the Klan stronger than ever before."

442. (355) Ambrose Evans-Pritchard & Andrew Gimson, "Did Agents Bungle US Terror Bomb?", date unknown. Some of the dialogue was added from Pritchard's 1997 release, The Secret Life of Bill Clinton(Washongton, DC: Regnery), p. 90.

443. (*) "When The New American asked Evans-Pritchard if he believed Stra.s.smeir was referring to himself when speaking in the third person of the 'informant,' he replied, 'Of course, there's no doubt that is exactly what he meant to convey. He was stating it as plainly as he could' without admitting criminal culpability on his own part." (William Jasper, "Elohim, Terror and Truth," The New American, 3/31/97.) 444. (356) Andreas Stra.s.smeir, interview with author.

445. (357) Alex Constantine, "The n.a.z.ification of the Citizen's Militias and the Transformation of Timothy McVeigh from Hyper-Military 'Robot' to Mad Bomber," 12/9/95.

446. (358) Pet.i.tion for Writ of Mandamus of Timothy McVeigh, 3/25/97, p. 44.

447. (359) Constantine, Op Cit.

448. (360) Ibid.

449. (361) William Jasper, "Elohim, Terror, and Truth," New American, 3/31/97.

450. (362) Charles, Op Cit. In her report of September 26, 1994, Finley-Graham indicates that Mahon "gave 183 approximately 2 feet of green safety fuse, a can of gun powder and a plastic funnel," and said he would "instruct 183 how to a.s.semble hand grenades."

451. (363) James Ridgeway, "Lone a.s.sa.s.sins?: A Series of Arrests May Link the Oklahoma City Bombing Suspects to a Larger Plot," Village Voice, 2/5/97; Mark Eddy, "Others Eyed in Bomb Probe?" Denver Post, 1/29/97.

452. (364) Cash, Op Cit.

453. (365) Zehr, Op Cit.

454. (*) According to reports, it was Cash who "persuaded" Mahon to make the recording.

455. (366) ATF ROI 53270-94-0124-B, 1/11/95.

456. (367) Ibid.