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Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.altpr.org/apr7/oklahoma.html";>Alternative
Press Review #7 - Finding Our Way O…</A>
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Adam Parfrey
Ken Stern of the American Jewish Committee faxes a special warning to
"members of the press, AJCers, legislators, prosecutors, attorneys general,
federal officials," regarding a possible terrorist attack that will strike
the U.S. on "April 19...the anniversary of Waco...The Key event for the
militias, and for the hard core April 20 is Hitler's birthday." The page-long
communique is received by federal Judge Redden of Portland, Oregon on April
10, '95, a prophetic week prior to the bombing of the Murrah building.
Judge Wayne Alley, whose office is located directly across the street from
the devastated Alfred P. Murrah building, tells a reporter that "security
officials" warned him to take "special precautions" several days prior to the
April 19 bomb blast. Reported April 20 in the Portland Oregonian, Judge
Alley's warning is never again mentioned even when it's reported that he has
been assigned the case.
Edye Smith, whose two children died in the Oklahoma City bombing, is
interviewed by CNN correspondent Gary Tuchman on May 23, '95, the day FEMA
officials bring down the ruins of the Murrah building. The childless mother
tells Tuchman she was told to "keep your mouth shut, don't talk about it,"
when she asked officials why BATF agents were "given the day off" on April
19. Although we're told that the BATF was the primary target of the bombing,
which kills and maims hundreds, no BATF officer suffers injury in the attack.
I am an American military man, and I can tell you categorically that if one
of you militia drones or one of your crackpot units started any kind of
half-witted shooting war, that I would unhesitatingly blow all of your asses
into the netherworld. Not even one split second of hesitation, because you're
goofy, dangerous examples of twisted delayed adolescence...."
[Post taken from the internet newsgroup "misc.activism.militia"]
Setting Minds against Terrorism
"Setting Minds Against Terrorism" was the headline of an article relegated to
the back pages of the April 24, 1995 "terrorism" issue of Advertising Age.
Though its placement would seem to indicate that news, advertising, and
public relations executives might consider its content filler-like or
possibly redundant, the article's implications are, to my mind, startling.
In the bloodless manner of the faceless hack, author Joe Mandese reveals how
propaganda, here called "public policy," and mind control, here called
"behavioral science."1 is cooked up by high-level "policy makers" in the
National Security Council, and then passed down to the CIA and FBI for
dissemination through Madison Avenue and onwards through print and electronic
media.
Mandese's bureaucratese is designed to lull the outsider to sleep, but
translate his article into plain language and one is left with a schematic
diagram of how the media juggernaut collaborates with the highest levels of
government intelligence to decide how and where the sheep are to be herded.
Notice that the executives Mandese interviews are not interested in relaying
or even cushioning the truth, but how to best tell a lie in order that U.S.
subjects will regard the government as a loving benevolent entity. It's not
1995, it's 1984. This isn't the New World Order, it's Brave New World.
"There used to be a day when Americans looked around and reported suspicious
things to the FBI, or the local police," says Bob Dilenschneider, president
of the Dilenschneider Group in the final paragraph of Mandese's article. He
continues, devoid of irony. "Of late, [turning in suspicious characters to
the FBI] has been regarded as Big Brother is watching, and carries the
overtones of a fascist state. We have to get back to the thinking that the
police are there to help us and the FBI is there to protect us."
Despite all the hoary lies told about our "free press" and "objective
journalism," the Advertising Age article reveals how the media "implements
strategies" instead of reporting the facts. Mandese's article asks "how shall
the government be served?" rather than "how shall citizens be served by their
public servants?" Mandese suggests that brain massage can best be
accomplished by ad hoc committees comprised of marketing experts and
intelligence agencies. The Persian Gulf War seemed like a dress rehearsal in
media's lockstep goosestep with the NSA [National Security Agency]. Oklahoma
City is further proof of capitalism's cooperative Total War against the
consumerist mind. For another precedent of media-approved or media-created
foreign escapades, see history books on the Spanish-American conflict, known
as Hearst's War.
When the Los Angeles Times building burned in 1910, killing dozens of
printers and other low-level workers, the nascent labor movement was buried
by agents provocateur from the Burns Detective Agency working
behind-the-scenes for Times' owner, General Otis. The day his building
exploded, General Otis and staff had previously fled the office. One day
earlier, General Otis made sure to raise his insurance premium. Though
workers complained of a bad gas smell, nothing was done to correct the
problem. Despite a sterling defense by Clarence Darrow and labor hero Job
Harriman, the blame fell to the McNamara brothers, declared guilty by the
best jury money could buy. Shedding crocodile tears for the victims of the
fire, General Otis had his pompous prose chiseled into a monument purchased
by insurance money, while he built himself a great new building on the
present site of the Times.2
Advertising Age's paradigm for creating the proper framing around events is
nothing new. Christopher Simpson's Science of Coercion (Oxford University
Press, 1994) tells us how private corporations, foundations, and universities
intermingle with government to create an interlocking network in which
capitalist propaganda could be disseminated.
Fifty years ago Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy established
"Psychological Warfare" as a "highly secret" branch of the War Department.
According to Simpson's book, McCloy is "probably better known today for his
later work as U.S. high commissioner in Germany, chairman of the Chase Bank,
member of the Warren Commission [my emphasis], and related posts." Though his
book stops short of John F. Kennedy's assassination, Science of Coercion
establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt that private think tanks and
University tenured social scientists advised policy-makers and police
agencies how to better deploy Psy War propaganda.
Not only do Psy War units inhabit the Pentagon, but they also perform
important roles in the NSA, FBI, CIA and NSC, as well as the ATF, Secret
Service, U.S. Marshal Department, et al. White House Press Corps journalist
Sarah McClendon has even received official confirmation that Psy War receives
a slice of a $3 billion/year domestic anti-terrorism program created in 1987
during the Reagan administration. Was this expensive program ever spoken of
in news media during the debate on the 1995 Anti-Terrorism Act? Not anyplace
I can find.3
The Psy War payroll extends to private corporations like Wackenhut, Rand and
TRW. Private corporations are even less subject to oversight than their
brethren the FLEAs--the all-too-appropriate acronym for Federal Law
Enforcement Agencies. A contractor that "takes care of business" without
dirtying the hands of the government, Wackenhut can be seen as the interstice
between the government and the mob; such connections were being drawn by
journalist/novelist Danny Casolaro before he died under suspicious
circumstances. Air Force contractor CalSpan plays a part in the evolving
Oklahoma City bombing, about which, more later.
Non-profit foundations also field their own intelligence organizations. The
Anti-Defamation League, knuckle-rapped with a $75,000 fine for illegal
possession of police files, bribed San Francisco police officer Tom Gerard to
gain extensive and sensitive information on not only racists, but
politicians, leftists, and anti-apartheid groups. Information on anti-racist
protesters would be of intense interest to the formerly apartheid South
African Republic, which supplied Israel, a direct ADL conduit, with nuclear
weapons.4 The Southern Poverty Law Center,5 presided over by the telegenic
Morris Dees, was exposed in a five-part Montgomery Advertiser investigation
as the second wealthiest non-profit organization in America. Its own wealth
and preoccupation with fundraising belies the SPLC's eponymous objective to
battle poverty. The Advertiser revealed that the organization's few
high-profile lawsuits have resulted in little or no compensation for the
"victims" defended in their legal crusades, but have in fact yielded millions
of dollars in fees paid to Morris Dees for television movies and a
ghostwritten autobiography that was criticized by Publishers Weekly for its
rampant self-aggrandizement.
The ADL and SPLC boast that they are the media's primary sources on
information regarding militias and patriot groups. Their information is
usually absorbed whole into establishment news stories as unimpeachable and
objective news sources. In truth, the coffers of the ADL and SPLC bulge when
constituents are led to believe they're fighting an enemy of enormous evil
and mounting strength. Despite their altruistic charters, the ADL and SPLC
profit directly off the sensationalism that acts as a spark plug for
Hollywood and the weekly tabloids. Their information ought to be regarded
with skepticism greeted a docu-drama or the National Enquirer.
Another non-profit organization media star, Political Research Associate's
John Foster "Chip" Berlet, has become something of a ubiquitous presence on
establishment news shows and so-called progressive magazines, as an expert on
the "extreme right-wing." Berlet stumps for the division of
anti-establishment rightists and leftists at a time when even Republicans see
the "Democratic" president as "Bush Lite." His pooh-poohing of "conspiracy
theories" serves to question government skeptics rather than the government
itself. Even though he's a prolific contributor to leftist magazines,
Berlet's passionate defenses of Janet Reno and Bill Clinton protect rather
than "question authority." Targets of Berlet's smears and criticism include
Daniel Sheehan of the Christic Institute, Daniel Brandt, whose NameBase
software is a leading resource for tracking government misdeeds, and Ace
Hayes, the prolific Portland-area researcher. Both Brandt and Hayes insist
that Berlet's past associations seem to render him a chip off of John Foster
Dulles' block. Hayes and Brandt contend that the true division in the country
is not between left and right, but between up and down, the haves vs. the
have-nots.
The wedge Berlet drives between left and right critics of the elite is
exemplified in the treatment of a book written about the Trilateral
Commission by leftist Holly Sklar. Acquiescing to Berlet's demands, Sklar
denounces all readers of her book if they do not subscribe to
crypto-Socialist theology. Berlet's ideological purification creates
divisions between individuals thoughtful enough to glean knowledge from a
book. A right-winger reading Sklar on Trilateralism might well empathize with
Third World victims of the New Order economy. Similarly, a leftist reader of
Carroll Quigley's Tragedy and Hope, purchased at a John Birch Society
bookstore, might open his eyes to the many so-called liberal politicians who
uphold Eastern Establishment elitism. Reading Quigley seems particularly
urgent in light of Bill Clinton's reference to Quigley as an ideological
mentor in his presidential acceptance speech.
A Berletian smear tactic against government critics was also taken up by
Michael Kelly in his "Road to Paranoia" article featured in the June 19, 1995
issue of The New Yorker: Kelly tells us about a dangerous new trend that
combines elements of both left and right into a variety of conspiracy theory
he calls "fusion paranoia." I can speak of this phenomenon with some degree
of depth, since Mr. Kelly includes Feral House in his short list of
publishers ratcheting up the millennial perversity of "fusion paranoia."
Kelly, like Berlet before him, implies that it is lunatic to come to the
conclusion that a powerful minority of elitists direct the economy and other
significant social trends to expand profits and power.
Imagine, Kelly sniffs, "fusion paranoids" say that Bush started the Gulf War
for his own gain. The writer should have consulted a back issue of The New
Yorker for a Seymour Hersh investigation that revealed the many millions of
dollars received by President Bush, his sons, and cabinet members as postwar
tribute form Kuwait. He should have also examined a transcript of pre-war
conversations between U.S. Iraqi ambassador April Glaspie and Saddam Hussein,
in which Glaspie declares that the U.S. would not involve itself in an Iraqi
border dispute with Kuwait.
The roots of "fusion paranoia" are firmly planted in the Iran-Contra affair,
says Kelly, where both leftists and rightist conspiracy theorists believed
the tale peddled by "liars" that a shadow government operated behind the
scenes to negotiate a bombs-for-hostages deal with Iran. Kelly contends
"fusion paranoids" are so deluded as to believe that George Bush personally
flew to Paris to negotiate with Iranian representatives months prior to
Reagan's inauguration.
Bush's itinerary for the days he allegedly spent in Paris are still missing
from his diaries. According to the erstwhile Israeli intelligence operative
Ari Ben-Manashe, who helped set up the Iran-Contra negotiations on behalf of
Israel, Bush was directly involved with the hostages-for-arms negotiations, a
charge backed by Richard Breneke, found innocent of charges brought against
him by the U.S. government for backing Menashe's allegations. The deal had
the Iranians holding the hostages until after Jimmy Carter lost re-election
and the Republicans assumed power. The hostages were released the very day of
Reagan's inauguration.
Will the Real Militiaman
Please Stand Up?
Militias are largely a white and middle-class movement, and though the
movement has been joined by Jews, blacks, Indians, and Asians, it is fair to
estimate that at least 60% of militias are Christian, of which a much smaller
percentage subscribe to Christian Identity beliefs, a minority sect of
racialist Christians who think Anglo-Saxons are the original Israelites. The
usurpation of Hebrew identity by the Christian right-wing is correctly
identified as a threat to Jews, since Identity types believe Jews to be
Satanic impostors. Unfortunately, the sensationalizing of Identity groups by
watchdog organizations and their persecution by government authorities, have
simply justified the Identity Christians' own persecutorial and millennial
beliefs. In my opinion, Identity Christians are best left alone in the same
way adherents of Nation of Islam ideology are allowed to practice their own
religion without the same level of harassment. Continued friction can only
increase the likelihood of causing a volatile reaction.
Militias continue to grow as a response to the creeping internationalization
of the economy, with the passage of international trade treaties such as GATT
and NAFTA, which reward multinational corporations at the expense of domestic
wages and employment. Squeezing the middle class with the highest per-capita
tax burden while large corporations, foreign and domestic, are granted tax
breaks and corporate welfare contributes to the perception that George Bush
and Bill Clinton's New World Order is rewarding the multinational elite while
giving the shaft to the working man.
Though it's been repeated a million times, there is no evidence that militias
were involved in the Oklahoma bombing. While Timothy McVeigh and Terry
Nichols have bene spotted at two militia functions as far apart as Florida
and Michigan, we don't know if their presence is due to government
infiltration, the use of doubles, or the result of two men's idle curiosity.
McVeigh and Nichols were said to have spouted off about bombing buildings at
a meeting of the Michigan militia, whereupon several militia members reported
the terrible two to the FBI! Either these militia members were hip to the
COINTELPRO tactic of agents provocateur, or became so nonplused by potential
violence that they ratted out supposed ideological allies to a government
agency bent on the destruction of militia organizations.
Although the establishment media has portrayed militia men as either paranoid
gun-toting geeks or the current incarnation of nazi-like evil, Militia
membership has sustained steady growth, even after the Oklahoma bombing.
According to a militia leader who wishes to remain anonymous, "The bad
publicity justifies all the bills they're trying to pass, but when the
average American listens to what we're saying on the tube, it doesn't sound
so unreasonable. To them, we look like their next door neighbor who helped
them fix a flat. As a matter of fact, we are the guys who helped them change
their tire. That makes an impression. And the phony politicians who come on
in with their Armani suits and say we're terrorists, it makes some people
think. Next week they might be the terrorists. TV brainwashes people, but no
matter how they edit the tape, we're still the friendly neighbor with the car
jack."
Charles Schumer (D-NY) would like to ban guns. Entirely. This has made him
unpopular with gun owners, militias particularly. On July 10, 1995 Schumer
held a press conference in which he put several government workers before
microphones to tell the world about the miserable and inhuman conduct of
militias. Much of the press conference consisted of recycled news about
judges threatened by Montana racists (not militia members). A female County
Tax Assessor told of being cut with a knife and threatened with a gun. Her
assailants were said to be "tax protesters"--with apparently no connection to
a militia organization. This distinction was lost on reporters, who dutifully
told of the terrible behavior below quailing headlines ("Workers Speak Out On
Militia Brutality"). The news articles chided Republicans for failing to
attend Schumer's show, suggesting their apparent appeasement of militia
criminals.6
The FBI now claims that it has successfully infiltrated the militia movement.
Militias are, in fact, rife with slippery individuals like Linda Thompson,
who, in Spring '94 sent an "Ultimatum" to every member of Congress, demanding
elimination of the IRS, Federal Reserve, Brady Gun law, several
constitutional amendments and so on, announcing that as "Adjutant General" of
the U.S. Militias she would come marching in with guns and lynching rope on
Washington, D.C. on September 7, 1994 if Congress did not comply with her
demands.
Thompson got a lot of attention for her efforts, but negligible support from
militias themselves despite Thompson's self-adopted title of "Adjutant
General." Frantic about Thompson's misleading stunt, militia men called up
Thompson's American Justice Federation computer bulletin board, posting
messages about the "suicidal" nature of such a march. Thompson used the
opportunity to divide the militia community, accusing nearly all extant
leaders as being government agents, and insulting and inciting militia men
who revealed they weren't thrilled with the armed march concept. "Dickless
coward" was a favorite comeback. Anyone who logged on to Thompson's bulletin
board was compelled to complete an on-line questionnaire. How would they help
the movement? With guns? Safe houses? Training? Though Thompson boasted that
the FBI constantly monitored her board, she insisted that bulletin board
users implicate themselves with possible charges of conspiracy or worse, by
simply filling out these incriminating questionnaires.
Thompson canceled her notorious armed march after returning home in August,
'94 from the Arizona high desert, where she assisted the bizarre William
Cooper7 with a seminar on the fine arts of propaganda and long-range rifle
sniping. In a public announcement, Thompson claimed the march was nothing
more than a publicity stunt, but people should realize that even though the
march was canceled, the "war is on."
Perhaps Michael Kelly's "fusion paranoia" theorem should not be disposed of
too quickly. The phrase seems to accurately fit an individual by the name of
Craig Hulet, aka K.C. DePlace. In the late '80s, Hulet made the rounds,
speaking on radio talk shows and appearing at seminars to disseminate
information on executive orders known as "Rex '84," that would, in time of
"emergency," turn the U.S. into a virtual police state and transform emptied
military bases into concentration camps. One leg of the "Rex '84" plan has
come to fruition: the closure of military bases. After his high-profile
presence in the late '80s Hulet dropped out of sight, particularly after
articles appeared linking him to past associations with far-right or racist
organizations. Hulet has again emerged, this time, supplying screeds to the
August, 1995 issue of Soldier of Fortune, in which he turns about-face from
his former position to insult "conspiracists" (a neologism derived from Chip
Berlet) and declaring there is no such thing as a "sinister" project
emanating from an imperial elite.
Cui Bono, Oklahoma City?
Does it really matter who blew up the building in Oklahoma City? Such
knowledge is only useful for purposes of punishment. History tells us to pay
attention to the aftermath, not to the puny distractions of trials and
culpability. What is in store for us?
At his first post-bomb press conference, Clinton swaggers to the podium,
radiating anger and confidence. Clinton's hate rant, invoking the
perpetrator's execution, is rewarded with the highest approval ratings of his
term.
For the first time in memory, Clinton drops his I-feel-for-you whine. His
righteous anger reflects Mussolini-like vitality rather than his usual wan,
comforting equivocations. Flying high in the polls, Clinton invokes a hostile
"love it or leave it" refrain when Diane Sawyer informs him citizens are con
cerned about Waco. Later, in a speech at Michigan University, Clinton
throttles non-establishment views of history as the "peddling of paranoia," a
sowing of distrust in the benevolent institutions known as federal
government. "You have the right to say what you please in this country,"
explains Clinton, "but that doesn't give people the right to tear down this
country."
News programs took Clinton's bait and started to report about "conspiracy
theorists." With clear astonishment in his voice, Dateline's Stone Philips
tells us "some of the conspiracy theorists actually believe the U.S.
government was responsible for the Oklahoma City explosion!" "Even worse,"
says Philips to the eye of the camera, "millions of Americans actually
believe them." To demolish these Establishment-Deniers, Dateline interviews
popularizers of three unlikely stories. Former FBI man Ted Gunderson says
that a four pound aerially dropped "pineapple bomb" invented by Michael
Riconosciuto of Iran-Contra fame is responsible for the blast. Another
scenario features a sharp-featured computer expert, Debra Von Trapp, who
tells us Oklahoma City was Japan's retribution for the subway gassings, which
were executed by the U.S. government as punishment for Japanese spies in the
White House. The final "kook factor" was supplied by jailbird Ron Jackson,
who produced an incoherent, typewritten document as "proof" of the
government's involvement.
By offering only the most unlikely scenarios, Dateline de-legitimizes every
alternative reading of Oklahoma City. Never mind Gunderson, Von Trapp, and
Jackson, the kookiest tale is currently being told by the FBI, and presented
to us in daily doses by the compliant corporate scabs employed in
establishment media. Why doesn't Dateline or any other news program ask the
following questions?
• If the bombing of the Murrah building was a terrorist reprisal for Waco,
why weren't ATF or FBI agents injured? How many ATF personnel took the day
off? Why were Judge Alley and others warned by special agents about impending
violence on April 19? Who were these special agents?
• By definition, a terrorist must take credit for his violence, or else there
is no compelling reason to commit a crime. The specific purpose of terrorism
is gaining leverage on a specific political objective through the ability of
threatening future terrorist acts. No one has claimed credit for the Oklahoma
City bombing. Militia groups produced particularly vehement public statements
condemning the crime.
• Did the Murrah building warehouse documents regarding the Branch Davidians?
Are these documents missing? Will the missing papers affect Ramsey Clark's
suit against the ATF and FBI on behalf of the remaining Branch Davidian
survivors?
• Why did the director of University of Oklahoma's Geological Survey, Dr.
Charles Mankin, say that according to two different seismographic records,
there were two blasts. Dr. Mankin reports that "the news media even reported
two bomb blasts initially, but later changed their story."
• A pre-Oklahoma City bombing issue of Soldier of Fortune featured a James
Pate article on Waco with a photograph of three BATF agents. One of the
agents, the only agent unidentified, looks like the spitting image of Timothy
McVeigh. Is this merely coincidental? Or was there a second "Timothy McVeigh"
roaming the country, appearing at militia meetings? (The use of doubles is
not a James Bond fantasy but an everyday aspect of intelligence work.)
• According to a New York Times chronology, Timothy McVeigh was said to have
worked as security for defense contractor CalSpan in Buffalo. CalSpan, owned
by the Fortune 500 company Arvin Industries, is actively involved in the
research and development of microwave technology and telemetric devices for
the Air Force. Telemetry can chart the location of individuals implanted with
a microchip, or, quite possibly, send the telemetric device further
information by satellite. An executive for CalSpan told the New York Times
that McVeigh was a model employee, that the company was disappointed that he
"dropped out of sight," because they were planning to promote him. After
McVeigh "dropped out of sight" from his security job at CalSpan he began
complaining that the government was "controlling his mind" through a
microchip implanted in his buttocks.
• Who is John Doe #2? Why did the FBI entertain the possibility that he was a
pre-pubescent relative of Terry Nichols, and yet they profess no interest in
a John Doe #2 photographed at the crime scene, and then rediscovered in
Oklahoma City by the local television station KFOR?
• Retired Air Force Brigadier General Benton K. Partin, former commander of
the Air Force Armament Technology Laboratory, a 25-year expert in the design
and development of bombs, urged Senators and Congressmen to delay destruction
of the Murrah building crime site. Partin disseminated information to the
John Birch magazine, the New American: "When I first saw the picture of the
truck bomb's asymmetrical damage to the federal building in Oklahoma, my
immediate reaction was that the pattern of damage would have been technically
impossible without supplementary demolition charges at some of the reinforced
concrete bases inside the building--a standard demolition technique." Partin
further explained that "reinforced concrete targets in large buildings are
hard targets to blast. I know of no way possible to reproduce the apparent
building damage through simply a truck bomb effort." General Partin's request
to examine the possibility of a second bomb in the concrete bases fell on
deaf ears. The building was brought down on May 23. Researcher Alex
Constantine tells me that Partin's information is suspect due to blaming the
bomb on a peculiar coalition of "international leftists." Perhaps more
troubling was Constantine's insistence that McVeigh's former employer,
CalSpan, subcontracted the development and construction of mind control
devices for the Air Force, where Partin was and perhaps still remains a major
player.
• Why was the bomb first reported as a car bomb, then reported as a bomb
similar to the one that struck the World Trade Center (a one half ton model)?
The FBI raised their estimate of the amount of explosive to 4,800 pounds, and
the truck size to the largest model rented by Ryder, Inc.
• FBI agents were said to have tracked down McVeigh's truck rental agency by
finding a vehicle identification number (VIN) on the truck's rear axle. This
axle was found either in the bomb crater, according to the mayor, or three
blocks away, if one is to believe the FBI. But there is another problem to
the tale. No rear axle is imprinted with a VIN, even after recent legislation
forcing manufacturers to place multiple VINs on the engine, firewall, and
frame to discourage chop shops. When queried, a spokesman for Ryder told me
that it does not imprint additional VINs on its trucks. The only conceivable
number available on a rear axle is a part number, but a part number couldn't
lead to the identification of a specific vehicle. Where did the VIN story
come from? And why?
• Did McVeigh use fake I.D. or real I.D. to rent the truck? The FBI tells us
both versions.
• If he committed such a heinous crime, why did Timothy McVeigh make the
mistake of driving 81 miles per hour without a license, and why didn't he
shoot the highway patrolman who stopped him?
• The story is told that Timothy McVeigh would have been released from jail
on the day of his capture if he had produced sufficient bail money. Why
couldn't he contact the Nichols brothers or other friends or family members
to obtain bail? Why did he choose to stick around long enough for the sketch
of John Doe #1 to reach his small town courthouse, resulting in his arrest
for the Oklahoma City explosion?
• The FBI claims that Michael Fortier, McVeigh's friend from Kingman,
revealed that he and McVeigh snooped around the Murrah building several days
before the bombing, asking many people where BATF agents could be found. Why,
then, did McVeigh bomb the building on the opposite side from the BATF
offices?
• Why did Fortier tell CNN news on May 8 that "I do not believe Tim McVeigh
blew up any building in Oklahoma"?
• U.S. government Technical Manual No. 9-1910 from the Departments of the
Army and Air Force titled Military Explosives, which specifies that ANFO, the
acronym for the Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil bomb said to be used on the
Murrah building, requires a greater than 99% purity of Ammonium Nitrate, as
well as a specific dryness before it can be mixed with diesel fuel to create
an explosive substance. The manual further spells out that even under ideal
conditions (not often reached, even by experts) 4,800 pounds of ANFO
explosive would create a much smaller crater than the one left in front of
the Murrah building, and its shockwave could not possibly wield the force
necessary to compromise the building's concrete supports.
• The FBI claimed the ANFO charge was made from 50 bags of fertilizer.
Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer comes in much weaker concentrations than the 99%
plus required for explosives. Creating concentrated amounts of Ammonium
Nitrate is quite complex, and would require many more than 50 bags of
fertilizer.
• Accredited explosives experts who wish to remain anonymous for fear of
retribution, agree that the explosion could have only been created with
professional explosive detonators and professional explosive. Such things are
highly regulated in non-military use. The military is supposedly even more
strict about its explosive inventory.
• If the explosion is too strong to have been created by 4,800 pounds of
ANFO, if the explosive could only have been detonated by professional
materials, what sort of explosive was used, and why is the FBI supplying
public statements that do not support the government's own manuals?
An American Reichstag?
Ridicule is an everyday event for researchers who have compared the Oklahoma
City event to the burning of the Reichstag. Researcher Ace Hayes believes the
Reichstag analogy is appropriate because its burning was the pivotal gambit
that permitted the nazis to unleash the emerging police state on political
enemies prior to their total seizure of power.
The Reichstag, much more than a simple federal building in Oklahoma, was
something of a sacred national symbol--though the current regime wants to
live down its nationalist mythology by allowing the Bulgarian artist Christo
to toilet-wrap the monument under mylar for his personal profit. The burning
of the nationally symbolic site spurred on the nazis to characterize the
attack as "terrorism." The communists, early on accused by the nazis of
perpetrating the attack, produced their own conspiracy theories, turning the
nazi's accusation back on them. A dim-witted Dutch anarchist named Marinus
Van Der Lubbe became the official "lone nut" terrorist, convicted of burning
the huge building with a gas-soaked jacket. Even the popular Ballantine
histories of the Second World War blame Van Der Lubbe for the attack,
supporting neither nazi nor communist conspiracy theories.
The U.S. government likewise blames the destruction of a federal building on
"terrorism" inspired by its most vocal opponents, the militias. American
dissidents, far fewer in number and much less active or powerful than the
nazis' communist opposition, generally believe that those in power had more
to gain by the blast.
Whoever or whatever burned down the Reichstag, the nazis seized the moment to
beat, kill or imprison their political enemies. Hitler induced Hindenburg to
sign a decree suspending German civil liberties. The Clinton administration
used the pretext of the blast to unleash SWAT teams against militias and
gun-owners in Michigan, Arizona, Montana and elsewhere, and in the process
arrest and seize assets from dozens of anti-government dissidents for various
crimes. Multi-Jurisdictional Task Force (MJTF) attack teams terrorized
communities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states in live-fire attacks
against imaginary urban dissidents in abandoned buildings. The most alarming
comparisons of Oklahoma City to the Reichstag fire can be found in
newly-passed and newly-proposed legislation. Recent anti-crime and
anti-terrorist bills have already eliminated or diminished portions of the
first, second and fourth amendments, and has dismantled the Posse Comitatus
Act, which was supposed to prevent the use of military forces against
American citizens. President Bush had already chipped away at Posse Comitatus
by allowing the use of military weapons for the "War on Drugs." Soldier of
Fortune correspondent James Pate discovered that the ATF lied in telling the
army that David Koresh was running a methamphetamine lab in order to procure
military training and weapons for its initial raid. New anti-terrorist laws
have loosened requirements, so that the ATF and other federal police agencies
will not have to lie to obtain military training, personnel and materiel for
their adventures.
The executive branch is now invested with the authority to declare any group
or anyone it doesn't like as "terrorist." The terrorist designation amounts
to immediate deportation if a foreign national, or imprisonment if a U.S.
citizen persists in his or her belief. Private property can be seized at
will, and there is no appeal process to the terrorist designation.
Sound bad? You ain't heard nothin' yet.
Currently proposed before congress, the "Domestic Insurgency Act of 1995
(HR-1544)," a bill sponsored by Gerald Nadler (D-NY) borrows from the "sample
legislation" appended to an ADL scare report, as a legal method to snuff out
the phenomenon of militias, which the ADL claims are nothing more than
"racist, extreme right-wing hate groups." HR-1544 stipulates:
(a) Whoever knowingly participates in a paramilitary organization shall be
fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
(b) As used in this section, the term "paramilitary organization" means two
or more individuals acting together, organized in a military or paramilitary
structure, who knowingly--
(1) possess firearms, explosives, incendiary devices, or other weapons or
techniques capable of causing injury or death to individuals.
(2) provide or participate in training in the use of any such weapons or
techniques; with the intention that such weapons or techniques be used
unlawfully to oppose the authority of the United States or of any State or
for any other unlawful purpose.
Simply put, the "Domestic Insurgency Act" would clap citizens behind bars for
ten years simply for observing the constitutional guarantees of free speech,
the right to keep and bear arms, the right to wear goofy camouflage clothes,
and the right to assembly. Unlawful intention is left for the federal law
enforcement agencies to interpret. The definition of "paramilitary
organization" is so open to interpretation that it could be used to imprison
hunters, explorer scouts, or attendees of a church picnic, as long as two or
more picnic-goers held Swiss Army knives and discussed their unhappiness with
the U.S. government.
If the ADL or Representative Nadler attempted to foist a "Domestic Insurgency
Act" on the state of Israel, citizens would likely riot in the streets.
Israeli nationals and settlers view weapons as their last protection against
violent enemies.
In light of onerous legislation and the continued militarization of domestic
police forces, the comparison of Oklahoma City to the Reichstag fire is
perhaps not quite so far-fetched. There are, however, several important
distinctions. Weimar and early National Socialist-period communists actively
expressed political distaste in street brawls, assassinations, riots, large
political assemblies, destruction of property, even capture of German
territory. By contrast, militias remain largely defensive, chartered to
protest the erosion of constitutional rights. The militias' paramilitary
flavor is as much a statement of serious intent as a threat to the
government. Like the Black Panthers, militias feel empowered with the ability
to own and train with weapons.
The question remains: at what point will the militias use their weapons?
Militias are sure to react as the government continues to overturn the
Constitution, discarding the right to keep and bear arms, suffocating the
right to free speech, or roping off the right to public assembly. if the
rancid Domestic Insurgency Act targeting militias becomes law, the law's
already-alarmed target will surely react. But I can only hazard a guess.
Militias are unsophisticated, easily mislead by agents provocateur scattered
throughout the movement; the militias' decentralization makes it difficult
for the government to monitor and control most or all of the groups at once.
Militias: How Large a Threat?
Researchers have failed to uncover the smoking gun that implicates any
government entity for the bomb blast. Without direct evidence, one must
proceed cautiously in assigning blame on any party. That said, it's clear
that the government continues to withhold and even cover-up evidence: lame
excuses accompany the destruction of the crime site--the relatives of three
missing civilians need a death certificate to obtain insurance, psychiatrists
say the crime scene must be destroyed to provide "closure" to Oklahoma City
residents. But like the Branch Davidian compound, crucial evidence is forever
destroyed or "lost"; in this sense, the government bears comparison to a card
sharp who blindfolds his competition. The sighted competitor will win every
hand, but his winnings come at the expense of his credibility.
When McVeigh was fingered as the mastermind of Oklahoma City, a lynch mob
bayed for the suspect's blood as he was exposed to the public, a standing
target next to near midget-sized FBI men.
It may be advisable at this point to admit my own biases. I own two guns,
purchased for self-defense. My political beliefs combine skepticism of
authority tempered with libertarian-style economic self-reliance. Unlike
hardcore [right-wing] "libertarians," I do not worship at the altar of a free
market economy for the simple reason that unlimited economic growth along
with unchecked procreation seems incompatible with long-term survival of the
species. I am more of an agnostic than Christian, though I appreciate much in
the legacy of Christian music, art and architecture.
Why then do I feel compelled to defend the militia man with his Manichean
conspiracies and apocalyptic dreams? Because quite simply, the Christian
militia man has become a scapegoat, a justification for intelligence
agencies' headlong rush into technocratic dystopia, where every financial
transaction is instantly monitored by computers operated by Fortune 500 and
its omnipotent police force. Waco and Randy Weaver are harbingers of this
spin-controlled, 1984-like world in which paramilitary goons stage theatrical
assaults against contentious targets to instill fear into dissidents, or make
a televised action picture whenever they need to pad their budget.
On the most pragmatic level, militia men and their pea shooters are no match
for electronic or subsonic "non-lethal" weaponry devised to put down civilian
uprisings. Anti-gun propaganda has become so intense that all advocates of
private gun ownership have become vulnerable to smear campaigns by skittish
elements of the left who demand government protection from crib to coffin.
Although the militia movement is supposed to take advantage of a
Constitutional provision that states all men between the ages of 18 and 45
not belonging to an organized militia shall be considered members of an
"Unorganized Militia," the law was enacted in order to allow the government
to draft citizens in a national emergency. Furthermore, many states have
already banned private paramilitary organizations back in the 1930s,
primarily as a strategy to control the Klan's extracurricular activities.
Alfred McCoy and others have published scholarly tomes linking U.S.
intelligence with large-scale sales of opium and cocaine in order to fund
illegal insurgent actions. While a small elite within the U.S. military have
become de facto dealers of tons of hard drugs that find their way to the
streets of America, the Executive Branch makes a big show of eliminating the
rights of citizens under the so-called War on Drugs. Similarly, the
ever-increasing hysteria regarding militias translates into further onerous
damage to the Constitution. Is it simply a coincidence that militias are
largely composed of ex-military, or do they know things the average ignorant
citizens aren't aware of?
The government and media have characterized the Murrah explosion as
unreconstructed terrorism. The word terrorist has been cultivated to create
an emotional reaction, an unreasoning fear that provokes an instinctive
reflex to provide the government with anything it asks for to rid the citizen
of his fear. Society has consequently become frantic to do away with
"suspicious" characters without due process. Communism no longer haunts post
Cold War America; consequently the federal police and intelligence agencies
have become a bad parody of Stalin's NKVD or Honecker's Stasi.
Without an enemy, without terrorism, there would be no justification for
police, no rationale for expanded police powers, no reason whatsoever to give
in to laws providing the police legal access to one's personal business, no
possible justification for eviscerating the Posse Comitatus Act, designed to
protect citizens from governmental attack by its own military.
Militia men, correctly distrusting the establishment line, have not developed
a nose for bad information, which once embraced, discredits the militia's
entire plank of beliefs. For this reason, it is important for researchers to
reveal the disinformation along with the good information. Only a fanatical
adherence to truth can hope to change the face of political opportunism.
Endnotes
1. John B. Watson's turn-of-the-century attempt to turn mind control into a
science.
2. See Bread & Hyacinths: The Rise and Fall of Utopian Los Angeles by Paul
Greenstein, Nigey Lennon and Lionel Rolfe, California Classics Books, 1992.
3. According to armed forces spokesman Harvey Perrett III, the $3
billion/year program fields a black helicopter base in Fort Campbell, KY.
McClendon's enlightening interview fairly demolishes the canard trumpeted by
the press that black copters are the paranoid imaginings of all those extreme
right-wing militias.
4. The ADL would love to do away with militias for perceived anti-Semitic
overtones in militia conspiracy literature. This perception is at least
partially due to Jewish oversensitivity. When a militia man talks about
international bankers, the ADL believes he is using code words to describe
Jewish control of the monetary system. If a militia man criticizes specific
congressmen for attempting to do away with the Second Amendment who also
happen to be Jews, this is again taken as anti-Semitism. The presumption of
anti-Semitism in the militia movement is overstated, especially when a number
of Jewish libertarians, including Jews for the Preservation of Firearm
Ownership, are movers and shakers within the militia movement. The JPFO has
tried to engage the ADL in debate, to no apparent success. The group is
critical of both the ADL and gun control measures because they believe
genocide becomes practicable after the general confiscation of firearms.
5. Director Morris Dees boasts of having files on more than 14,000
"populists."
6. Schumer apparently had no interest in the threats, dead animals, or
obscene effigies sent to conservative Congressmen, since these activities
weren't the province of militias, but DOJ-protected activists protesting
abortion rights and gay activism.
7. Linda Thompson's championing of William Cooper at the expense of every
other militia member or leader is peculiar, to say the least. In his magnum
opus, Behold a Pale Horse, Cooper reprints the hoax document Protocols of the
Learned Elders of Zion, stipulating that readers should change the word Jew
to "Illuminati."
The End of American Innocence?
Accompanying news coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing were frequent and
peculiar statements to the effect that America had lost its innocence. "It
was an explosion of unimaginable magnitude," quailed a CNN anchorwoman. "You
expect these kinds of things to happen in New York or Jerusalem, but
Oklahoma? If this kind of thing can happen in Oklahoma, it can happen
anywhere, anytime. This is the end of American innocence." And so on, ad
nauseam....
Was America innocent of running black ops in Laos? Innocent of gifting
smallpox blankets to Indians? Innocent of selling drugs for guns? Innocent of
raking off our share of the world's misery? To quote Malcolm X, the chickens
have come home to roost.
Media coverage of the Oklahoma City incident was maudlin in the extreme, a
kind of flip-side of militia fetishism for the children killed at Waco.
Two weeks after the bombing, a beaming President Clinton dons a yarmulke at a
meeting of the American Jewish Congress celebrating liquor tycoon Edgar
Bronfman, a vastly powerful Zionist leader with notorious mob ties. With
great media fanfare, Bronfman's son had just purchased MCA, the Hollywood
studio with long-established mob ties. Clinton lauds Bronfman Sr., a Canadian
version of the politically avaricious Joe Kennedy, as a paragon of virtue. He
then announces to the assembled guests, with no suppressed glee, that he has
just decided to punish the "terrorist" state of Iran with economic sanctions
in order to fight terrorism both here and abroad. Further, Clinton's domestic
anti-terrorism legislation delivers the goods for Israeli hawks. Years after
the King David Hotel was bombed by Begin's Irgun, resulting in the deaths of
many British soldiers and diplomats, the word terrorist has instead come to
indicate any activist opposed to capitalism or Zionism. According to Western
news organizations, capitalists or Zionists never commit terrorism or even
vigilantism, they are instead characterized as "preserving the peace."
The perception of terrorism emanating from the Arab community plays well in
Tel Aviv, rekindling hate vibes lying dormant since the Persian Gulf War. It
was almost a fait accompli that "swarthy, middle-Eastern types" were
initially fingered by FBI agents as responsible for the Oklahoma City bomb.
They detain a Lebanese-American at Dallas airport several minutes before he
was able to fly to London. "Forgetting" to search the Arab-American's bags,
they fly on to London. While the FBI imprisons its Arab suspect, not allowing
him access to an attorney or relatives, his luggage arrives in London for
Scotland Yard to rip open before news cameras. Without a shred of evidence to
further detain him, U.S. officials release the Lebanese-American, who hops
the red eye to London, whereupon Scotland Yard claps handcuffs on his wrists,
and chains him to a door until another plane departs to Dallas, where the FBI
barks at him to keep close to home, and not to talk to anyone.
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