Timothy McVeigh’s lawyer Stephen Jones, in his book Others Unknown: The Oklahoma City Bombing Case and Conspiracy, raised a suspicion that McVeigh’s collaborator Terry Nichols served as an intermediary to Islamic terrorist Ramzi Yousef in the Philippines. In a nutshell, Nichols and Yousef were both in the Philippines during a period from November 22, 1994, until about January 18, 1995, so maybe Yousef somehow contributed to the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995.
| That'd jerk my head up if I was working the problem. It's a fairly long coincidence. But if it's not coincidence, there should be some other sort of evidence to flesh it out... |
Jones wanted to develop this suspicion at McVeigh’s trial as part of a legal defense that McVeigh had been manipulated by foreign terrorists and was therefore culpable to a reduced extent. Jones was not able to present that defense to the jury, but his argument has influenced many people’s thinking about the Oklahoma City bombing. McVeigh himself disapproved of Jones’ argument and criticized it through his interviews with Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, the authors of American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing. McVeigh insisted that he, basically alone, had planned and accomplished the bombing. Nichols did help him mix the explosive materials the day before the bombing, but only reluctantly, because McVeigh had threatened Nichols and his family.
| It didn't take an al-Qaeda network to put together the boom. I'd be interested in learning where McVeigh's money came from, though... |
This book’s account of McVeigh’s preparations for the bombing is entirely plausible. These preparations were well underway before Nichols traveled to the Philippines and were not altered significantly after Nichols returned. Nichols' enthusiasm for McVeigh’s plan dissipated during and after the trip to the Philippines, which is why McVeigh eventually had to threaten Nichols on the eve of the bombing.
| That doesn't suggest Ramzi was the controller, and probably implies he wasn't... |
The book’s account is compellingly supported by the testimony of another collaborator, Michael Fortier, who was involved with McVeigh’s preparations for several months before the bombing. Michael and his wife Lori Fortier accepted plea bargains to testify fully about their own detailed knowledge of McVeigh’s preparations. The Fortiers were well informed about those preparations and were ignorant of any participation of foreign terrorists.
| Another hint there might not have been any, at least not directly... |
The relationship between McVeigh and Nichols during the period when Nichols traveled to the Philippines is illustrated by Nichols’ robbery of gun collector Roger Moore on November 5, 1994. Basically, McVeigh told Nichols that Nichols could make a lot of money by robbing Moore, and so Nichols robbed Moore. McVeigh explained to Michel and Herbeck that he himself had no monetary interest in the robbery but rather was interested primarily revenging Moore for various perceived insults.
| Did he finance the operation using Moore's money? That implies no shadowy princes or intel agents in the background, unless the robbery was used as cover — they took $1000 from Moore, for instance, and spent $10,000... |
Fortier, who later discussed the robbery with McVeigh and Nichols, explained the robbery as an arrangement in which McVeigh helped Nichols make a lot of money as a rough compensation for lodging, food and other assistance that Nichols had previously provided to McVeigh. Nichols considered the loot to be entirely his own. After Nichols returned from the Philippines and learned that McVeigh had given some of the loot to Fortier, Nichols rebuked McVeigh. McVeigh apparently accepted that rebuke as somewhat justified. When Nichols traveled to the Philippines, he might have intended to similarly profit from his association with McVeigh. At about the beginning of October, the two had burglarized a quarry business in Marion, Kansas, and stolen a large number of explosive materials, including more than 500 electric blasting caps and 80 spools of shock tube. I speculate that Nichols took some of this loot with him to the Philippines in order to sell for money and to demonstrate his resources.
| I'd have been reluctant to go through customs with such things, even prior to 9-11. I wouldn't have been too happy flying with a suitcase full of blasting caps, either... |
Nichols could have used his foreknowledge of the Oklahoma City bombing to establish himself as a valuable contact for terrorists he met in the Philippines. After the bombing occurred as predicted, Nichols would be able to solicit contributions and sell his own expertise and materials to those contacts. His financial future would be assured.
To be continued.
| BTW, there's no link given... |
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