- An al-Qaeda conspirator who was involved in a plot investigators
now say was an early blueprint for the 9-11 attacks had also claimed credit
for the Oklahoma City bombing seven years ago, according to an FBI 302
witness statement revealed by Insight magazine on Monday.
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- Immediately after the 1995 blast was reported, Abdul
Hakim Murad, who was about to stand trial in New York for his involvement
in a Philippine al-Qaeda plot to fly hijacked airliners into targets like
the World Trade Center and Pentagon, told a prison guard that "the
Liberation Army was responsible for the [Oklahoma] bombing," according
to the FBI document.
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- A Philippine police case file obtained by Insight investigative
reporter Kenneth Timmerman states that the "Liberation Army"
was a fictitious organization used as a code by Murad's partner, Ramzi
Yousef, and other al-Qaeda members "whenever they are making announcements"
of responsibility for terrorist attacks.
-
- In 1993, Yousef masterminded the first attempt by Islamic
terrorists to take down the World Trade Center.
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- Timmerman reports:
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- "A scant two weeks after his arrival in the United
States, Murad was listening to the radio when a news report came on the
air announcing that the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City
had been bombed. Lt. Philip Rojas, a prison guard, asked Murad what he
thought and found his response so startling that he informed his superiors.
They, in turn, called the FBI.
-
- "Special Agents Francis J. Pellegrino and Brian
G. Parr arrived later that morning, within hours after the Oklahoma City
blast. 'Murad responded to the guard's question by stating that the Liberation
Army was responsible for the bombing,' they reported in a witness report
[No. 302]. 'A short time later, Murad passed a note to the guard, again
claiming that the Liberation Army was responsible for the bombing in Oklahoma
City.'"
-
- If accurate, the Insight report could shed new light
on possible involvement by Osama bin Laden in the worst terrorist attack
on the U.S. prior to 9-11, for which anti-government militant Timothy McVeigh
was executed last year.
-
- While no one doubts McVeigh's involvement in the Oklahoma
bombing, accounts unearthed by former NBC reporter Jayna Davis, who covered
the bombing for the network, suggest a wider conspiracy, with al-Qaeda
ties. (See: McVeigh Cites Osama Bin Laden in Letter to Fox News)
-
- In his book "Others Unknown," McVeigh's lawyer
Stephen Jones says that he attempted to probe a possible connection between
the Oklahoma bombing and the Philippine al-Qaeda cell.
-
- But police in Manila, who were initially eager to cooperate
with his investigation, were ordered to drop the inquiry by the Clinton
FBI. (See: McVeigh's Trial Attorney Alleges FBI Blocked Conspiracy Probe)
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- http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/5/27/132357
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