The
Federal Government amassed voluminous amounts of evidence showing
that many other individuals, in addition to Timothy McVeigh and
Terry Nichols, were involved in the implementation of the
bombing. Those individuals were named by the Federal Government
in indictments and in both Federal trials, as "Others
Unknown," but were conveniently culled out by Federal
prosecutors. The information in this chapter was obtained from
actual government documents, the findings of private
investigators hired by OKBIC, and from eyewitnesses. For purposes
of this summary, sources are not quoted herein and some
individuals are indicated by initials only.
Immediately after the bombing, reports surfaced of
Middle-Easterners in the area of the Murrah Building just prior
to, or after the explosion. [See Chapter, "The
Eyewitnesses"]. Fifteen hours after the bombing, the FBI
deployed Arab linguists throughout the country. Their aim was to
interpret wiretaps and eavesdrop on live conversations. After the
bombing, they remained on duty to monitor wiretaps of radical
fundamentalist Islamic groups in an effort to protect President
Clinton when he attended the Memorial Service in Oklahoma City on
23 April.
A downtown Oklahoma City business owner reported seeing FBI and
DEA agents retrieving documents that were flying out of the
Murrah Building immediately after the bombing. He also saw a man
wearing an FBI jacket talking on a pay phone in front of his
business, using a Middle-Eastern dialect. The following day, he
saw one or two other FBI agents using the phone and talking in
Arabic.
It is not known if there is actually a connection between the
bombing and this eavesdropping activity. However, the Government
released thousands of documents to Timothy McVeigh's defense team
which included references to a spying operation and to an
assassination plot by Islamic extremists.
Terry Nichols frequently visited the Philippines where he
possibly developed connections with Arabs.
From 1990 to 1995, Nichols visited the Philippines frequently,
ostensibly to visit his mail-order bride, who, at one point,
lived in a boarding house where Muslim students from the
Philippine island of Mindanao resided. The island is home to more
than 500 radical Muslim fighters. Even when she no longer lived
there, phone records show that Nichols made more than a dozen
phone calls to the boarding house. Her father reported that he
had seen Nichols in the possession of a book on the topic of
building bombs.
While it may seem inconceivable that "Others Unknown"
may include Middle Eastern extremists, white separatists, German,
Russian, and Japanese extremists, it is a fact that very often,
cooperation among these groups occurs. The one common thread
among them is their hatred for the United States Government and
for the Jews.
The Stockholm Revisionist Historian Conference, held in Sweden in
November 1992 is an example of how these diverse groups come
together for a common cause. The movement disputes many
historical facts, such as the existence of the Holocaust. The
Conference was attended by numerous Nazi and Neo-Nazi figures,
members of two Arab extremist groups, Japanese extremists, and a
Russian extremist group.
Nazi-Middle East collaborations date back to at least World War
II.
After the war, former Major General Ernest Rhemer fled Germany to
settle in the Middle East where he established intelligence
operations for several Arab emirates. Rhemer is prominent in the
revisionist movement.
A Swiss Nazi has masterminded several airplane hijackings by the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
A former Nazi was convicted in German in July 1994 for trading
nuclear and SCUD rocket detonation technology to Iraq.
A former Nazi scientist assisted in recruiting former Nazi and
East German
scientists to work on Libyan and Iraqi chemical weapons projects.
In the 1980's, a Neo-Nazi, financed by a terrorist organization
founded by
Yassir Arafat, attacked several U.S. military installations in
Germany
with bombs.
There are numerous documented instances where militant Neo-Nazi
members are also members of the PLO or the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
U.S. involvement in the Gulf War generated great hostility among
Neo-Nazis. For example, the head of the Anti-Zionist Legion in
Germany organized campaigns for Saddam Hussein during the war;
this individual has connections with the attorney for Andrew
Strassmeir and numerous other militant individuals and
organizations.
After the Gulf War, Iraqi prisoners were resettled in the U.S.,
and there
are scores of Middle-Eastern students attending U.S. colleges and
universities. The University of Oklahoma has one of the largest
Arab
populations. While many of these Middle-Easterners are
law-abiding
citizens and visitors, it is likely that some are
"plants" from
government-sanctioned extremist organizations and are prepared to
participate in any terrorist act that their respective countries
order.
Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and Michael Fortier often
traveled throughout the country to gun shows where they mixed
with white extremists, and they also made contact with various
paramilitary groups. One resident of Elohim City was a long-time
personal friend of McVeigh's.
It is possible that there were ties to Russia and the Philippines
with regard to the bombing. In late May 1994, CG, an FBI
informant, met with two Arabs and several others, one of whom
looked like Terry Nichols. He noted that the group represented a
variety of backgrounds: Iran, Iraq, Columbia, Ireland and
Neo-Nazis, and seemed to have unlimited monetary resources and an
elaborate network for smuggling and gathering information on
judges and federal buildings.
From January to April 1995, CG reported the activities of the
group to the FBI, including a meeting at which terrorists
presented architectural drawings of the Murrah Building. CG was
assigned to obtain the names and addresses of federal judges. He
went to Oklahoma City to assess security and check out the fifth
floor of the Murrah Building and a few weeks later, a terrorist
informed CG that a federal building would be bombed within the
next few weeks. Mexico City is home to one of the largest Soviet
consulates in the Western Hemisphere. The Russians are still a
viable presence there and continue to employ intelligence
officers.
In 1992, MT overheard a conversation between her father, a former
Communist official in Mexico City who worked for the PLO, a
Palestinian, and a Middle-Easterner in which they discussed a
bombing plot to be carried out in the United States. One of the
men stated that "Russian officers told us we can probably
blame 'American Patriots' and all the stupid stuff with the white
supremacists and the neo-Nazis. So we can give two strikes at
once." MT explained that "two strikes" was
sanctioned by the Communist Party and by certain Arab leaders.
MT's father offered to hire a white male to pose as a neo-Nazi to
participate with his Arab comrades. MT reported that the plan
involved
bombing a building in mid-America; it had to be an office
building and
children had to be involved because "it was a very important
part of the
emotional part of the strike."
Audio tapes made of MT's testimony were stress-analyzed and
indicated that she was truthful.
An all-points bulletin (APB) is the initial announcement made on
radio frequencies to law enforcement agencies to identify
suspects who need to be apprehended.
Immediately after the bombing, an APB was broadcast to be on the
alert for a brown Chevrolet pickup truck containing suspects of
apparent Middle-Eastern origin. The source of the APB was a woman
who, immediately after the bombing, observed two men of
Middle-Eastern extraction running from the vicinity of the Murrah
Building to a late model Chevrolet pickup truck. Later the same
day, the FBI rescinded the APB with no explanation.Why did the
FBI rescind the APB if they were still wanting information about
John Doe #2 almost a month after the bombing?
Several Mid-Easterners were reported to governmental agencies
because of suspicious actions.
AAA, a Jordanian national, departed Oklahoma City on American
Airlines two hours after the bombing. Airline employees reported
his suspicious behavior to security who notified the Chicago
office of the FBI. Upon his arrival in Chicago, AAA was detained
and questioned by the FBI and then released and allowed to fly to
London, since he had missed his connection to Rome. In London, he
was deemed ineligible for re-entry and returned to the United
States where he was again interrogated and released.
His luggage continued on the original flight to Rome where
Italian
officials searched it and found multiple car radios; a
substantial quantity
of shielded and unshielded wire; a small toolkit and other tools
consistent
with use for both explosive devices and also for general
electronic repair;
blue jogging pants with floral pattern around the neck; black
sweatpants;
video cassette recorder; and a solder iron. It is interesting to
note that the
jogging suit matched the description given by the original APB
witness.
Dr. K has amassed millions of dollars in real estate, and the
brown pickup truck described in APBs was seen parked in front of
his business. He traveled frequently to Las Vegas, where sources
report that he laundered funds for the PLO. Dr. K was introduced
to a "couple of white guys" in Las Vegas. Terry Nichols
visited his son there on numerous trips and he and McVeigh also
occasionally frequented the city. Is it possible they met with
Dr. K there?
Dr. K's ex-wife was killed in the Murrah Building bombing. By her
death, Dr. K stood to regain a considerable amount of property
that he lost in their divorce and which would now go to their
daughter, a minor.
HAH, an employee of Dr. K. was identified by an eyewitness as
being the driver of the brown pickup truck that had almost hit
her in downtown Oklahoma City immediately after the bombing. HAH
and AAA were good friends.
On the Saturday before the bombing, HAH was seen with McVeigh
drinking beer in a bar in Oklahoma City. HAH denied being in the
bar or drinking alcohol because alcohol is forbidden by Muslim
law.. However, a police report dated 03 June 1995, shows that he
was passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle still in
"drive" when officers arrived. He was given a
blood-alcohol showing a .21 blood-alcohol concentration. The
incident occurred only several hundred yards from the bar HAH
claims never to have been in.
A waitress in a bar in downtown Oklahoma City saw McVeigh buying
drinks for a man strongly resembling John Doe #2. When shown
photos of HAH, she positively identified him as McVeighíís
"drinking buddy."
A pickup truck was abandoned in the parking lot of an apartment
complex which was identified by an FBI agent as being the brown
pickup truck sought in the APB issued on the day of the bombing.
Mr. and Mrs. R lived in an apartment complex where they reported
seeing a
yellow pickup truck in the parking lot. It was later determined
by the FBI
that it had originally been brown but repainted yellow.
Mrs. R told the FBI that she had seen the driver and he appeared
to be "Middle Eastern or whatever." She asked a friend,
an art teacher, to sketch a likeness of the man based on her
description. The sketch was not of the same individual appearing
in the John Doe #2 sketch. Mr. and Mrs. R contacted the FBI to
inform them of the sketch but the FBI did not return their call.
When the FBI did not contact them, Mr. and Mrs. R contacted the
CBS affiliate in Oklahoma City and their story was aired. The
broadcaster was subsequently fired, allegedly for using an
audiotape from NBC regarding the APB.
From 19 April until 25 April 1995, Mr. and Mrs. R., separately
and together, saw the truck numerous times. On 26 July 1995, Mrs.
R saw a man driving a car who was the same man she had seen
driving the pickup. She wrote down the license plate and had it
checked. The car that the tag was on was not the car it was
registered to. On the evening of the 25th, it was impounded by
the FBI.
In the Writ of Mandamus for Timothy McVeigh's trial, his
attorney, Stephen Jones, stated that FBI sources in Washington DC
indicated that three males of Middle Eastern origin rented a
brown Chevrolet pickup truck at the Dallas/Ft. Worth
International Airport. Witnesses have reported seeing three men
speed away in a brown pickup truck following the bombing.
Following the bombing, a search was initiated for white
supremacist conspirators. Twenty days after the bombing, two
older men were questioned by the FBI in Carthage, Missouri.
Robert Jacks suspects the two men, identified as Gary Allen Land
and Robert Jacks had lived across the street from McVeigh in
Kingman, Arizona.
McVeigh and Nichols were in the company of a man identifying
himself as Robert "Jacks" when they visited the real
estate office of WM in Cassville, Missouri. Another realtor in
the office, JLD, reported that "Jacks" was the trio's
spokesman. The land that WM showed the group on maps was only
half a mile from the Branch Davidian compound, a sister
organization of the group in Waco, Texas. WM saw photos of Land
and Jacks on television and contacted the FBI to report that
neither of them were the man who had accompanied Nichols and
McVeigh to his office. WM assisted an FBI sketch artist in
creating a drawing of the man who had been with McVeigh and
Nichols and noted that the man was a young man, rather than an
older man, as Lane and Jacks were described. JLD confirmed WM's
description, saying that the individual might be "a little
bit Hawaiian."
Nichols owned property with an airstrip in Cassville which he
leased to a man in Wichita, Kansas. In October 1999, a piece of
property across the lake from Nichols' property was sold by a
Robert A. Jacques from Wichita.
BW owns a diner in Nichols' hometown, Herington, Kansas. One
morning, Nichols, McVeigh, and another man in a Ryder truck came
in and ordered coffee. She asked where they were going and the
third man answered, "Oklahoma." Since they immediately
left without breakfast, she felt that the man had said something
that he should not have said. When shown a sketch of a suspect,
BW said it was a near resemblance to the third man, who appeared
to her to be Hawaiian.
An Odessa, Texas resident, Robert Jacquez died from injuries
sustained in an industrial accident. Reportedly, he had been
friends with a neighbor of Michael Fortier. The neighbor had
lived in Odessa for 18 months following the bombing and he and
Jacquez had shared a post office box. Reportedly, a third person
shared the post office box. Fortier's neighbor claimed that he
never knew Jacquez and does not know the identity of the third
person. The neighbor was also a friend of McVeigh's and McVeigh
had asked him to drive a getaway car but he declined.
Jacquez had been employed as a roustabout in Odessa; he quit in
September 1994. From then until Christmas Eve, his whereabouts
could not be corroborated through any public records. That period
of time encompasses the timeframe in which Robert
"Jacks" was in the realtor's office in Cassville,
Missouri. When Jacquez returned to Odessa, he told friends that
he had been working as a DEA narcotics informant.
Another Robert Jacks was driving an armored car that made a
delivery to the Murrah Building moments before the bombing.
It is believed that the FBI has not shown their sketch of Robert
Jacks to any of the eyewitnesses in Kansas or Oklahoma City. The
FBI chief investigator of the bombing mandated that all leads
regarding Gary Land and Robert Jacques were to be forwarded
directly to him and not be filtered by subordinates.
SCG, a former research associate in DNA studies at Cedars-Sinai
Research Institute in Los Angeles with a degree in chemistry was
arrested on weapons charges on 13 May 1995 in Oatman, Arizona.
The site of the arrest was located 20 miles from Kingman, the
home of Michael Fortier. When his property was searched, cases of
weapons were found, along with stolen medical supplies. He had a
laboratory for the manufacture of methamphetamine on his property
as well.
SGC claimed to have known McVeigh, under his alias, "Tim
Tuttle." An
associate of SCG described him as having anti-government and
pro-Nazi
sympathies.
A brown pickup truck with a white camper shell had been parked at
SCG's residence. Terry Nichols had parked a similar truck at a
storage space in Las Vegas from November 1994 to 18 January 1995.
Sightings of a brown pickup truck occurred in Oklahoma City
before and after the bombing. A witness saw a brown pickup truck
pull over, then pull away, as McVeigh was stopped and arrested by
the Highway Patrol.
There were witnesses who stated that SGC was out of town for two
or three weeks prior to the bombing. However, SGC's roommate,
PSH, stated that he was with him in Oatman, Arizona when the
bombing occurred. SGC's employer reported that he was in Los
Angeles at the time of the bombing where he was visiting his
mother, who had had a stroke.
Elohim City is located near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border
consisting of 240 acres of largely undeveloped land; 25 to 30
families live there. Robert Millar is the leader and founder of
the white supremacist group, which advocates polygamy and the
overthrow of the U.S. government.
Elohim City supposedly has close ties with other extremist groups
such as The Covenant, Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), a
Christian identity movement. Prior to Millar becoming involved
with the CSA, Elohim City did not have weapons. Once the two
organizations merged, however, the CSA provided Elohim City with
weapons training.
The CSA's second-in-command, Terry Noble, stated that in 1983,
the CSA planned to bomb the Murrah Building when their leaders
determined it would be the perfect target since it housed many
governmental agencies, had little security, and would cause a
significant impact because it would not be an expected target.
They had planned to use a rocket launcher for the attack.
Exactly 10 years to the day before the actual bombing, the
Government raided the CSA at its compound in Arkansas. Millar
visited the site to lend moral support, but the compound
ultimately surrendered three members, Jim Ellison, Terry Noble,
and Richard Snell.
Snell was later convicted of murdering a pawnbroker, whom he
thought was Jewish, and a black highway patrolman in Arkansas. He
was sentenced to death and later executed on 19 April 1995.
Millar urged the government to delay the execution because of the
significance of the date. Snell stated that the Governor would
regret not changing the date and he warned of a bomb.
The Bridges calling card phone records show that a call was made
from a motel in Kingman, Arizona to Elohim City. Millar initially
denied that such a call was received; however, when confronted
with phone records, he admitted that a call may have been placed
to "Andy," a nickname for Andrew Strassmier. Strassmier
admitted that he met McVeigh at a gun show . He possibly gave a
business card to McVeigh with the phone number for Elohim City on
it. The Bridges card shows a call from a motel in Kingman to the
Ryder truck rental in Lake Havasu, Arizona on 05 April 1995.
Three minutes later the call was made to Elohim City. Later that
evening, a call was made to the National Alliance in Mohave
Valley, Arizona, followed by six more calls there in the next two
days. The National Alliance is an extremist group led by William
Pierce, the author of The Turner Diaries, the book characterized
by the government as the "blueprint" for the Oklahoma
City bombing.
McVeigh has denied ever being in Elohim City. However, in 1993,
he
received a traffic ticket 20 miles from the compound on the only
road that
leads there. In 1994, he stayed in a motel one-half hour west of
Elohim City.
Elohim City has been a temporary home to six individuals charged
in a series of bank robberies. Allegedly, the funds derived from
the robberies were used to fund activities of the Aryan
Revolutionary Army. There has been some speculation that the
robberies helped finance the Oklahoma City bombing.
Dennis Mahon, a former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and
the third person in authority in the White Aryan Resistance
Movement, has also resided at Elohim City and was a friend of ATF
informant, Carol Howe. Robert Millar became aware that the ATF
planned a possible raid of the compound. Reportedly, members
within the compound vowed that Elohim City would not become
another Waco and that they would strike first in a "Holy
War." It became known that the FBI and ATF each had their
own informants placed at Elohim City. Because of this duplication
of efforts, any planned sting operation was canceled.
The bombing in Oklahoma City proved the validity of Howe's
information, and immediately after the explosion, she returned to
Elohim City at the behest of the FBI. Howe's usefulness as an
informant was terminated once it was learned that she would
testify for the defense in McVeigh's trial. Her handler testified
later that Howe had warned her of the bombing.
Dennis Mahon, former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and
leader with the White Aryan Resistance (WAR), referred to the
Oklahoma City bombing as, "a fine thing," and has
openly proclaimed his hatred for the federal government.
ATF informant Carol Howe reported Mahon discussing the targeting
of federal installations and that when she was a guest in Mahon's
home in Tulsa, that he received a phone call from Tim Tuttle
(McVeigh's alias). Howe saw McVeigh at Elohim City in the company
of Peter Ward and Strassmier in July 1994. Mahon and Strassmier
visited Oklahoma City in November and December 1994 and again in
February 1995. Howe accompanied them on the December 1994 trip.
Howe thought the sketches of John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 looked
like brothers, Tony and Peter Ward, both residents of Elohim
City. According to Howe, Strassmier was in charge of security and
weapons training there.
Mahon made a tape to be delivered through an intermediary to
McVeigh after his arrest. The intermediary, however, relinquished
the tape to McVeigh's attorney, Stephen Jones. On the tape, Mahon
told McVeigh that he was "innocent by reason of
entrapment," and that he should accept the sacrifice for the
sake of justice. Jones stated that he is not certain how Mahon's
message should be interpreted. He does not know if Mahon was
telling McVeigh to sacrifice himself for justice, or if the
message was a veiled threat against McVeigh's family that if he
talked, his family was vulnerable.
Mahon produced several videotapes opposing U.S. policy in Iraq,
for which he received monthly allotments from Iraq. He also made
several trips to Germany to assist in establishing a chapter of
WAR in Stockholm Sweden with the aim of smuggling terrorist
information into Germany.
Andrew "Andy" Strassmier is a German national and the
grandson of a founder of the Nazi party. His father was the
Secretary of State for West Germany and member of the Christian
Democratic Coalition. Strassmier was a former lieutenant in
Germany's Panzer Grenadiers (similar to the U.S. Special Forces)
and trained in military intelligence.
In 1992, Strassmeir went to Elohim City where he assumed the
position of Chief of Security in weapons training. His knowledge
of weaponry was the most lethal of any other resident of the
compound because of his military training.
In late 1993, FBI Director Louis Freeh went to Germany to meet
with German internal security officials who told Freeh that
Strassmier had been "nation hopping" between Germany
and the U.S. They expressed concerns about Strassmier's
involvement with the neo-Nazi movement.
Prior to January 1994, 22 banks and armored cars were robbed in
seven states; seven of the robberies occurred after the Oklahoma
City bombing. An estimated total of $250,000 was stolen over a
period of two years. Some people believe that these robberies
funded McVeigh's actions pertaining to the bombing.
McVeigh's sister claims that, in December 1994, he asked her to
launder an amount of one-dollar bills. Furthermore, he told her
that he had been involved in planning a bank robbery, but did not
actually participate in it and the money was his share of the
proceeds.
The original leaders of the "Bank Bandits," as they
were dubbed by the press, were Richard L. "Wild Bill"
Guthrie, Jr. and Peter "Commander Pedro" Langan, the
son of a CIA employee. Guthrie was arrested on 15 January 1996
with the help of a Government source and with Guthrie's
assistance, Langan was arrested three day later. On 11 August,
1996, Langan's attorneys requested that Guthrie be transferred
from the Kentucky jail where he was being held, to Ohio, where
Langan would be tried. The following day, Guthrie was found
hanged in his prison cell.
Mark Thomas, a Pennsylvania native, was a part-time truck driver
with an eighth grade education. For over 25 years, he was
involved in organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan
Nation, and the Aryan Republican Army. He was the leader of an
extremist organization, the "Posse Comitatus" in
Pennsylvania, and he was in Elohim City on Thursday before the
bombing. He was arrested in January 1997 for conspiracy and for
receiving proceeds from the Midwest bank robberies. The next
month he changed his plea from innocent to guilty in exchange for
a reduced sentence for his cooperation.
When Mahon learned of Thomas' cooperation with authorities, he
publicly stated that he was disappointed that Thomas had
"cracked so quickly," and that he had possibly ruined
25 years of development in the Aryan movement. Mahon admitted to
sending funds to Thomas' pregnant wife and child.
In February 1997, Kevin McCarthy pled guilty to robbing a
Missouri bank and participating in the planning of five other
robberies. He cooperated with prosecutors to help convict at
least two of his fellow bank robbers: Scott Stedeford and Peter
Langan. Stedeford was convicted of bank robbery in an Iowa bank
heist.
Michael Brescia was involved in a Wisconsin robbery. His
co-conspirators were all arrested and convicted. Brescia has not
been arrested or indicted for any crime. He dropped out of
college in his third year and left for Oklahoma where he told
friends he had a job waiting. Actually, he moved to Elohim City
where he married Robert Millar's granddaughter.
The day after the bombing, CL, a college student and close friend
of McVeigh, informed the FBI that she identified John Doe #2 as
Brescia. CL had attended the same parties in Kansas that McVeigh
attended. CL's mother recognized Brescia in the sketch and
notified the FBI, who ignored her information.
At the time of the bombing, Strassmier claims that Brescia was in
Little Rock, Arkansas attending a clemency hearing for Richard
Snell. On the day the Ryder truck was rented, Brescia was in
Elohim City preparing Snell's grave, according to Robert Millar's
daughter.
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