The Oklahoma City Bombing And The Politics Of Terror Part 44

558. (433) Margaret Hohmann and Ann Domin, interviews with author.

559. (434) Debra Burd.i.c.k, interview with author.

560. (435) Jayna Davis, KFOR, shadow interview with Kay H., 6/17/95.

561. (436) David Snider, interview with author.

562. (437) OKPD Dispatch of 4/19/95.

563. (438) David Hall, interview with author.

564. (*) A source in the Sheriff's Office interviewed by Jayna Davis said the FBI refused to explain why it had cancelled the APB. David Hall said the APB was canceled by an FBI agent named Webster. Yet according to OCPD officer Don Browning, the FBI later "admitted" to "fabricating" the APB.

565. (**) Both Ernie Cranfield and neighbors saw the brown pick-up at Sahara Properties.

566. (439) Ernie Cranfield, interview with author.

567. (*) Heather Khalid also told Cranfield in a secretly-taped interview that she had not been able to find any time record on Hussaini for April 19, so she made one up and gave it to Dave Balut, a reporter for KWTV. Khalid employee Terry Holliday, told a reporter at KOCO-TV that Hussaini had been painting the house at NW 31st Street on April 19, then later told Cranfield that Hussaini had not actually been there on the 19th. Heather claimed that she had taken some supplies to Hussaini that morning, but Holliday claimed she had never been there. Khalid worker Barnaby Machuca also repeatedly changed his story regarding Hussaini's whereabouts.

568. (*) Numerous FBI and law enforcement sources Davis contacted agreed that Hussaini resembled the sketch of John Doe 2, and believed there was a Middle Eastern connection to the bombing, possibly connected to the World Trade Center bombing. (KFOR's Response to Plaintiff's Interrogatories, Hussaini vs. KFOR).

569. (440) OCPD D.U.I. report, copy in author's possession.

570. (* FBI spokesman Steve Mullins wouldn't confirm or deny whether Hussaini was a suspect; FBI agent James Strickland, who would later investigate Khalid's alleged shooting of his secretary, Sharon Twilley, also declined to comment on whether Hussaini was a suspect.

571. (441) George Lang, "Out on a Limb," date unknown.

572. (442) Dave Balut reporting, KWTV, 10:00 p.m. newscast, 6/16/95.

573. (443) Sam Khalid, interview with author.

574. (*) William Northrop is an ex-Isreali intelligence officer who was indicted by former U.S. Attorney Rudolph Gulianni, and testified against Israel's role in Iran-Contra. A friend of the late CIA Director William Casey, Northrop's name was reportedly found in Casey's diary upon his death.

575. (*( Khalid, speaking on behalf of Hussaini, claimed his INS records were "stolen."

576. (*) Yousef arrived in New York on September 1, 1992. Many New York law enforcement officials reportedly believe that Iraq was involved [in the Trade Center bombing], although they can not prove it. (Laurie Mylroie, "World Trade Center Bombing - The Case of Secret Cyanide," The Wall Street Journal, July 26, 1994, p. A16.), quoted in James Phillips, The Changing Face of Middle Eastern Terrorism," The Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder, #1005, 10/6/94.

577. (444) Mylroie, Op Cit. Yousef, who grew up in Kuwait, was also identified by Kuwaiti Interior Minister Sheik Ali al Sabah al Salim as an Iraqi collaborator during Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. (Charles Wallace, "Weaving a Wide Web of Terror," Los Angeles Times, 5/28/95.) 578. (*) Hussain al-Hussaini moved to Houston after going public and suing KFOR.

579. (445) Louis Champon, interview with author. According to Champon, who is suing the federal government, Peter Kawaja, who was head of security for Champon's plant, hired Wackenhut. Kawaja was later given immunity to act as an informant. Said Robert Bickel, a Customs informant and investigator familiar with the case: "h.e.l.l, Barbouti was treated more like a d.a.m.n state bird than a terrorist."

580. (*) Louis Champon said he saw Barbouti meet with Secord at the Fountain Blue Hotel in Miami in 1988.

581. (446) Mike Johnston, interview with author. John Conally, "Inside the Shadow CIA," Spy magazine, September, 1992; Said Louis Champon, "They are so well-protected by an ent.i.ty in our own government, that they have put up a wall...."

582. (*) Yet according to Champon's former head of security Peter Kawaja, and Iraqgate investigator Robert Bickel, Champon himself isn't so innocent. "Champon had to know about the cyanide leaving the plant," said Bickel. "He was there every day, while the plant was being built and operated." Nevertheless, Champon went public, and was threatened and shut down by U.S. Customs and the I.R.S.

583. (447) TK-7 is a chemical company in Oklahoma City owned by Moshe Tal, an Israeli. Barbouti had attempted to purchase a formula from them that could extend the range of rocket fuel for the Iraqi SCUD missiles.

584. (*) While Ishan Barbouti allegedly "died" of heart failure in London in July of 1990, he was reportedly seen afterwards alive and well flying between Aman, Jordan and Tripoli, Libya. Other accounts indicate that he is living safe and well in Florida.

585. (448) Clark, Op Cit, 586. (449) Ibid., pp. 70-72, Quoted in William Blum, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II (Common Courage Press, 1996), p. 335; "The Gulf War and its Aftermath," The 1992 Information Please Almanac (Boston, 1992), p. 974, Quoted in Blum, p. 335.

587. (450) Laurie Garrett (medical writer for Newsday), "The Dead," Columbia Journalism Review, May/June, 1991, p. 32, quoted in Blum, p. 335.

588. (451) Needless Deaths Op. Cit., p. 135, quoted in Blum, p.335.

589. (452) Ibid., pp. 201-24; Clark, pp. 72-4; Los Angeles Times, 1/31/91; 2/3/91, quoted in Blum, p. 336.

590. (453) Bill Moyers, PBS Special Report: After the War, Spring, 1991, quoted in Clark, p. 53.

591. (454) "Biography: McVeigh, Part Two, Media Bypa.s.s, March, 1995.

592. (*) World Trade Center bomber Mahmud Abouhalima told Egyptian intelligence that the World Trade Center bombing had been approved by Iranian intelligence.

593. (455) Yossef Bodansky, Terror: The Inside Story of the Terrorist Conspiracy in America (New York, NY: SPI Books, 1994), quoted in Keith, Op Cit., p. 154.

594. (456) Ibid., p. 153.

595. (457) Indeed, a major terrorism summit sponsored by Tehran in June of 1996 saw delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other Mid-East and African states, as well as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, and the U.S. come together to form a joint working committee under the command of the new HizbAllah International - transforming that group into "the vanguard of the revolution" of the Muslim world.

596. (458) Defense & Foreign Affairs, Op Cit.

597. (459) Ibid.

598. (460) Ronald W. Lewis, "Uncivil Air War" (The Shootdown of TWA Flight 800)," Air Forces Monthly, No. 104, November 1996, posted by S.A.F.A.N. Internet Newsletter, No. 213, December 21, 1996.

599. (461) Dr. Laurie Mylroie, Ph.D., "Terrorism in Our Face," American Spectator, April, 1997.

600. (*) This will be explored more fully in Volume Two.

601. (462) Phillips, Op Cit. It is reported that hundreds of them are also being trained by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Sudanese training camps.

602. (463) See Edward Gargan, "Where Arab Militants Train and Wait," New York Times, 8/ 11/93; Tim Weiner, "Blowback From the Afghan Battlefield," New York Times Magazine, 3/13/94; Daniel Klaidman and Gregory L. Vistica, "In Search of a Killer," Newsweek, 8/11/97.

603. (464) "The New Era of Global Terrorism," MSA News, date unknown, posted on Internet. The leaders of Abu Sayyaf are: Abdurajak Abubakr Janjalani, Amilhussin Jumaani, Edwin Angeles, Asmad Abdul.

604. (465) "U.S. Forces in Gulf on High Security Alert," Reuter, 4/7/97.

605. (466) Patrick c.o.c.kburn, "Defector exposes Saddam's Lies on Chemical Weapons," The Independent, 5/7/96. "General Sammara'i says that the committee in charge of sabotage on which he served, and which uses a special 600-strong military unit called 888 to carry out operations, still exists and he suspects it was involved in giving support to the bombers.

606. (*) Abdul Rahman Ya.s.sin, an Iraqi indicted for his part in the World Trade Center bombing fled to Baghdad. His brother, Musab Yasin, provided a safehouse for the later plots. While the New York office of the FBI wanted to arrest him, curiously, the Was.h.i.+ngton office objected. Another Iraqi with a Ph.D. in microbiology, currently living in New Jersey, is Walied Samarrai.

607. (467) Charles Wallace, "Weaving a Wide Web of Terror," Los Angeles Times, 5/28/95; Robert D. McFadden, "Nine Suspected of Terrorism are Arrested in Manila," New York Times, 12/30/96.

608. (*) The nine suspects are: Yousef's brother, Adel Anonn (alias Adel Bani); Abdul Kareem Ja.s.sim Bidawi; Haleem Ja.s.sim Bidawi; Jamaal Jaloud; Ibrahim Abid; and Najim Na.s.ser (Iraqis); Emad Almubarak (Sudanese); Saleh Al Quuwaye, and Zaid Al Amer (Saudis).

609. (**) Angeles told Jones that there are links to Philippine mail-order-bride businesses and criminal/terrorist activity. It was not clear from Jones' brief exactly what this entailed.

610. (468) Ibid., p.3.

611. (469) Lana Padilla, interview with author.

612. (**) Referring to the place in Davao, Angeles said, "It was also the place where Muslims were taught in bomb making."

613. (470) 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.

614. (471) Lana Padilla, interview with author.

615. (472) "Pet.i.tion For Writ of Mandamus of Pet.i.tioner-Defendant, Timothy James McVeigh and Brief in Support", Case No. 96-CR-68-M, 3/25/97.

616. (*) A source close to Jones said that attorney Jim Hankins actually prepared the Writ.

617. (*) Northrop claims that when he tried to run the information down in Kingman he came up empty. His source in the U.S. Marshals Service, who was looking into the matter, received a call from the Justice Department, and was promptly stonewalled, he said.

618. (*) Casinos have been used to launder money. A drug dealer or other criminal enters the casino with dirty money, buys large quant.i.ties of chips, gambles a bit, then cashes in the chips for clean money. Russbacher told Stich that the process also works in reverse. He explained in one case how the CIA, through Shamrock Overseas Disburs.e.m.e.nt Corporation, gave money to the casino, who in turn would give gambling chips to the recipients when they arrived, then the chips were cashed in. Russbacher named three Las Vegas casinos allegedly involved in the operation, including the Frontier, Stardust, and Binyon's Horseshoe.

619. ( Considering the reports from dancers at two stripper bars - one in Tulsa and one in Junction City - McVeigh and Nichols had a penchant for these types of places.

620. (473) As interrogatory answers filed by KFOR in its defense against al-Hussaini state: [Lana] Padilla said that her son, Josh, went to Las Vegas about once a month, where he was with Tim McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and Middle-Eastern men. Padilla expressed the opinion that there was a Middle-Eastern connection to the Oklahoma City bombing.

621. (474) "Omar Khalif was one of the aliases listed on Khalid's 1990 federal indictment.

622. (475) Melissa Klinzing, former KFOR news director, interview with author.

623. (**) After Davis questioned several employees at the MGM, two were fired.

624. (476) Louis Crousette and Jayna Davis, transcript in author's possession.

625. (477) Gordon Novel, interview with author.

626. (*) Gagan recognized Abraham Ahmed being with Khalid. Gagan said he saw Ahmed (by another name) in Las Vegas with Omar-Khalid in the Summer or Fall of 1994. He said he also saw Hussain al-Hussaini in Oklahoma City when he was here in April.

627. (**) Al Saiidi, incidentally, was the man who's wife who had a miscarriage after stones were thrown through his window. When Al Saiidi went before news cameras to complain about the incident, Khalid fired him.

628. (478) Ernie Cranfield, interview with author.

629. (*) The State Tax Commission also wanted Cranfield to testify against Khalid. Instead, Khalid paid a fine. "That covered up for his ex-wife getting killed," said Cranfield.

630. ( At the same time, interestingly, two Middle Eastern residents of the Woodscape apartments skipped out without paying their rent. It should also be noted that two heavy-set Arabs work for Sam Khalid.

631. (479) Keith, Op Cit, p. 148.

632. (480) Joe Royer, interview with author. The FBI agent who interviewed the couple told them that one VIN number was left intact, and fingerprints were found.

633. (481) Rex Carmichael, interview with author.

634. (*) Was the brown pick-up painted at Route 66, or elsewhere? According to information obtained by Will Northrop, Haider al-Saiidi was hired by Ali Khoddami at International Auto works, a body shop located at 16th and Blackwielder, after he was fired by Khalid. An Iranian, Khoddami is reportedly a friend of Khalid's. Sharbat Khan, a Pakistani and Rizwan A. Shaikh were reportedly going to buy International Auto Works from Khoddami.

635. (482) Tom's is run by Tom Breske, who Carmichael described as "bad news."

636. (483) Confidential interview with author.

637. (484) Michael Reed, interview with author.

638. (**) Don Browning, interview with author. Kamal had been working with the FBI to track Khalid and others who were involved in insurance fraud scams. Although he definitely knew Khalid, he disputed that he said "This is the Mossad" to Browning. Browning swears he did. Yet Jayna Davis said Browning told her that Kamal said that Khalid was a member of "Hamas," a far cry from the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. Another possible explanation is that there were Mossad agents posing as members of Hamas, but it seems unlikely that Kamal would know that.

639. (485) Bob Jerlow, interview with author.

640. (486) OCPD detective, confidential interview with author.

641. (*) When Jerlow asked an FBI source if KFOR was on the right track, he was told "Keep doing what you're doing." Curiously, an OCPD contact of Davis' was told by his FBI source, "stay away."

642. (*) Macy and State Attorney General Drew Edmondson had also pushed certain aspects of the Anti-Terrorism Bill, using the bombing as a platform.

643. (**) This is doubly interesting, since Richardson was the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Khalid for insurance fraud in 1990. Richardson "committed suicide" in July of 1997 over "work-related" matters.

644. (*) While Khalid's attorney claimed that only $15,000 dollars or so was involved in the scams, the U.S. Attorney's report is more incriminating. Khalid was also accused during his arson case of employing false Social Security numbers. One of them is registered to a woman in Oklahoma City; the other to a woman in Miami.

645. (**) One of the agents, James Strickland, would later be a.s.signed to the Twilley a.s.sault case.

646. ( He later told investigative journalist William Jasper he emigrated from Libya.

647. (487) U.S. vs. Sam Khalid, Response to Presentence Report; Sam Khalid, interview with author.

648. (*) According to a local HUD representative I checked with, Khalid paid cash for most of his properties, avoiding the scrupulous background checks and the typical paper trail which accompanies them. Additionally, none of Khalid's three companies, which employ numerous employees, are registered with the State or have Federal Tax I.D. numbers.

649. (*) Emphasis in original.

650. (488) FBI spokesman Charles Steinmetz said the information he gave Burnes came from former FBI Deputy a.s.sistant Director Bob Ricks.

651. (489) Karen Burnes, "Palestinians: Dirty Business," CBS West 57 Street News magazine, 5/2/89, Citd in Howard Rosenberg, "'Palestinian Network': A Full Report?, Los Angeles Times, 6/1/89.

652. (*) "Before the bombing, we couldn't get the U.S. Attorney's office interested," said private investigator Ben Jacobson. "After the bombing, they just wanted us to keep our mouths shut."

653. (490) Northrop, Op Cit.

654. (491) In federal court filings, WISE was described as "a front used to bring international terrorists to the United States."

655. (*) It seems the reference to "Iranians" as used by this CID officer is a generic term meant to refer to Middle-Easterners in general, although some Iranians were definitely involved.

656. (**) According to Mike Johnston, the head of security for 777 Post Oak Corporation (a high-rise office complex in Houston affiliated with IBI, Ishan Barbouti's company) had a son in the U.S. military intelligence. The father, who was later wanted for impersonating a CIA agent, would call his son at the Major Command a.s.signments Center at Bolling Air Force in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C. around August 1990, just prior to the Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Some of the calls apparently involved the use of a modem to tap into the command center's computers.

657. (492) Retired U.S. Army CID investigator, Interview with author.

658. (493) General Robert L. Moore (Ret.), interview with author.

659. (*) Tom Weisman was the FBI SAC of the Huntsville office.