Clarke Says Terry Nichols Might Have Learned Bombmaking From al-Qaida!

[KittyWampus]

From the excepts that Slate has on their site in the section discussing what Clinton did Right regarding Terrorism:

Page 129: Declared "a war on terror before the term became fashionable."
This was back in 1996, after the first World Trade Center attack, the
Bush assassination attempt, the Khobar Towers attack, and the Oklahoma
City bombing. (On Page 127, Clarke notes that it's possible that al-Qaida
operatives in the Philippines "taught Terry Nichols how to blow up the
Oklahoma Federal Building." Intelligence places Nichols there on the same
days as Ramzi Yousef, and "we do know that Nichols's bombs did not
work before his Philippines stay and were deadly when he returned.")


I am completely shocked that this is no longer Tinfoil... that Terry Nichols (Timothy McVeigh) might have worked with al-Qaida.

How the HELL did they make those contacts?

Anyone?

It's not like al-Qaida is listed in the phone book.

[xray s]

1. Well, now that McVeigh is dead I guess he won't be telling us

[pacifictiger]

8. another good reason

to question a hasty death penalty in cases such as this. Dead men tell no secrets. I always wondered what the rush was for - don't death penalty guys usually sit on death row for YEARS?
Living life behind bars would be a far harsher penalty than death - death over in just a couple of minutes is the easy way out.

[shekina]

2. I'm skeptical

I'd have to have a bit more information about it. Just because Nichols and Yousef were in the same country on the same days doesn't prove anything.

[PATRICK]

25. Uh, how close do they have to get?

Does he have relatives or business in the Philippines? Oswald visited Cuba and lived in Russia. That meant something at least, depending on how far the evidence lets you go.

The ignored issue of homegrown terrorists is still off the radar at least for the uninformed public.

And yes we should have more information. And yes, you won't get any.

[goclark]

3. Nothing would suprise me

at this point. I have always believed that Tim Mc Veight had lots and lots of help. If I am not mistaken, McVeight is from Michigan.
There is a huge Middle Eastern population in that area.

[Bozita]

24. McVeigh is from western NY, Buffalo area IIRC

Nichols is from Michigan's thumb area. Michigan's Middle Eastern residents are concentrated in the Metro Detroit area.

[Momof1]

4. WAIT

In the book he said that this was the only "Conspiracy Theory" that he couldn't find evidence to discredit.

He was visiting wife/girlfriend in Cabu Phillipines. There were 2 terrorists there at the time.

They have no evidence that they met, or knew each other.

The only thing was that before he went to the Phillipines he couldn't make a bomb, and when he came back he could.

[keithyboy]

5. Now prepare for the link of Terry to Saddam

Will these folks ever give up?

[Florida_Geek]

6. His wife

from pg 127
Another conspiracy theory intrigued me because I could never disprove it.

<cut>

I had been to Cebu years earlier; it is on an island in the central Philippines. Ir was a town in which word could have spread that a local girls was bring her American boy friend home and that the American hated the U.S. government.

<cut>

We also know that Nichols continued to call Cebu long after his wife returned to the United States. The final coincidence is that several al Qaeda operatives had attended a radical Islamic conference a few years earlier in, of all places, Oklahoma City.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

7. LOL..yeah, I read that ...

...a real :wtf: moment in a book peppered with them.

Clarke does say he was never able to really prove this, though......

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

9. but Aum Shinrikio was ..

...Manhattan phonbook. Great little anecdote in the book....

[Florida_Geek]

10. I love that story and posted it here before

subtitle: While serious this is funny... Did you check the telephone book John

Clarke Book pg 156-157

They are talking about the sarin gas attack by Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo

From Clarke's Book

By now I had enough experience with the CIA and FBI to doubt that they would ever have even heard of Aum

<cut>

I had come to respect the new FBI representative on the CSG, John O'Neill

<cut>

How can you be so sure there are no Aum here, John, just because you don't have an FBI file on them? Did you look them up in the Manhattan phone book to see if they're there?

"You serious?" O'Neill asked, not sure whether I was being funny.

<cut>

A while later the FBI agent returned to the room and handed O'Neill a note.

O'Neil glanced at it and said, "Fuck. They're in the phone book on East 48 Street at Fifth"..

<end of part from his book>..

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

11. Lotsa good stuff like that in the book....

.....This is actually an entertaining book. Lot of good anecdotes.

[KittyWampus]

23. OK, Now I HAVE To Read The Book... You Just Sold It To Me

:D

[Momof1]

12. I couldn't believe that when I read it

The govn't isn't even smart enough to use the phone book. Clarke had to tell them to look it up.

[jeanmarc]

13. Heh, perhaps it went the other direction...

Nichols, McVeigh, and all these wackos never do a good job of hiding their feelings.

Perhaps Al-Qaida found them.

[hang a left]

14. Perhaps they were introduced during their folies with the CIA

n/t

[jeanmarc]

19. No!!!!

That would be impossible! (sarcasm). I think the current version of the CIA causes more harm than good. I'd love to see a report of how they can justify themselves, but I would also like to weigh it against the blowback that we have suffered.

The entire WTC nightmare can be attributed to horrible, lousy, and plain stupid diplomacy with our boy in Iraq, Saddam, before he invaded Kuwait. I am fairly certain that the CIA favorite, Saddam, was as shocked at the retaliation against him after he heard a favorable review of his invasion as anyone who can't understand why we invaded Iraq for the 9/11 tragedy.

Murderous dictators are murderous and fairly stupid, but they are not that stupid. Bush I should bear full responsibility for 9/11. It's his fault. There IS a connection between 9/11 and Iraq, but it is not a favorable one to the BFEE.

[Gruenemann]

17. Y'know, I always found it ironic

that the first big terrorist attack on our country was made by an antigovernment right wing religious fanatic wacko, and our response was to let one of them become our president.

[jeanmarc]

18. BRAVO!!!!!

Yes, it is very strange that this attack came from the sicko freeper bastards living in their terrorist cells in this country.

I think the freeps have more in common with terrorists than they might think.

[Sugarbleus]

22. Your pic imbed is HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!! lol OMG! It's Baghdad Bob!

interesting thread here also. Will be interesting to see if anyone follows up on this "theory".

[newyawker99]

27. Hi Gruenemann!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[HydroAddict]

29. LOL! Well stated Gruenemann!

And welcome to DU! :toast:

[burythehatchet]

15. What's interesting to me is that the neo-cons were trying to link McVeigh

to Iraq

[goforit]

16. Hmmmm......Terry Nichols may know something about Poppy too.

I wonder.

[Minstrel Boy]

20. Amazing what opening one can of worms will do.

Suddenly, all kinds of cans start wriggling.

I recently picked up the book "Others Unknown: The Oklahoma City Bombing Case and Conspiracy" by McVeigh's counsel Stephen Jones. Haven't read it yet, so can't comment on it, but Terry Nichols' frequent trips to the Philippines warrant study. They were hardly for pleasure. He spoke about how dangerous the people were he was meeting, and left instructions in the event he didn't return.

And any story about Philippines, terrorism and bombs, should link to the story of Michael Miering, which strongly suggests that much Philippine "terrorism" is state-sponsored, with an American connection. Here's a snip, from Naomi Klein:


Besides, the soldiers were not the first to accuse the Philippine government of bombing its own people. Days before the mutiny, a coalition of church groups, lawyers and NGOs launched a "fact-finding mission" to investigate persistent rumours that the state was involved in the Davao explosions. It is also investigating the possible involvement of US intelligence agencies.

These suspicions stem from a bizarre incident on May 16 2002, in Davao. Michael Meiring, a US citizen, allegedly detonated explosives in his hotel room, injuring himself badly. While recovering in hospital, Meiring was whisked away by two men - who witnesses say identified themselves as FBI agents - and flown to the US. Local officials have demanded that Meiring return to face charges, to little effect. BusinessWorld, a leading Philippine newspaper, has published articles openly accusing Meiring of being a CIA agent involved in covert operations "to justify the stationing of American troops and bases in Mindanao".

Yet the Meiring affair has never been reported in the US press. And the mutinous soldiers' incredible allegations were no more than a one-day story. Maybe it just seemed too outlandish: an out-of-control government fanning the flames of terrorism to pump up its military budget, hold on to power and violate civil liberties. Why would Americans be interested in something like that?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1019246,00.html

[KTM]

26. Ummm.. wasn't Chandra Levy

Working in some capacity that allowed her insight into McVeigh/Nichols shortly before she died ?

[JCMach1]

21. Nichols wife was Phillipino... he may have met them there

by chance...

[ThomWV]

28. Go Back and Read The Section Again

If you'll read that section again a little more closely you'll see that he began the section by saying that this was one of the things that neither he no anyone else thought was true but was just one of those strange sets of coincidence which leads to the tin foil hat syndrome.