Oklahoma City --
A Decade Later
by William F. Jasper
April 18, 2005 Issue
http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_1170.shtml
Before 9/11 there was Oklahoma City. Before the name of Osama bin Laden
entered public discourse there was Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh was executed on
June 11, 2001 for his role in the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Murrah
Federal Building.
Two days after the OKC bombing, President Clinton
vowed: “Justice for these killers will be certain, swift and severe. We will
find them, we will convict them, and we will seek the death penalty against
them.” Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh likewise
promised that “no stone will be left unturned” in pursuing all of those
responsible for this terrible act.
Fine words, tough words, but what
really happened? In the months and years that followed those promises, the
most extensive and expensive investigation in history turned into the model
of official coverups. Evidence was intentionally lost, misplaced, tainted,
and destroyed. Important witnesses were ignored or harassed and intimidated.
Witness testimony was altered and misrepresented. Some of the most important
suspect leads were inexplicably ignored, while federal investigators were
sent on wild goose chases and interviews with nut cases.
On December
23, 1997, following the verdict in Terry Nichols’ federal trial, Janet Reno
said: “Two and a half years ago, when the Murrah Building was bombed, FBI
Director Louis Freeh and I promised to follow every lead and bring those
responsible to justice. Today, that promise has been kept.”
That
statement was a monstrous, cruel lie, as everyone who has followed this
magazine’s investigation of the bombing is well aware. The Clinton/Reno/Freeh
“investigation” went to incredible lengths to dispose of all evidence that
McVeigh and Nichols had other accomplices, especially the mysterious “John
Doe No. 2,” who was seen with McVeigh at the Ryder truck rental shop and
other locations. Despite the testimony of dozens of credible eyewitnesses
who placed McVeigh with additional John Does in the days immediately before
the bombing and on the day of the bombing itself, the John Doe sightings
were dismissed at trial by federal prosecutor Beth Wilkinson as mere “Elvis
sightings.”
Now, a seemingly unrelated case offers new hope of
breaking through the official lies and coverup. In August 1995, four months
after the OKC bombing, an inmate died in the Federal Transfer Center in
Oklahoma City. Federal officials ruled the death of Kenneth Michael
Trentadue a suicide. However, when Trentadue’s family finally got his body,
they knew the “suicide” was really a homicide. Moreover, it was obvious that
he had been tortured, brutally beaten, and strangled. His body was covered
with bruises and lacerations. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner and the federal
government’s own forensic pathologists agreed that this was a case of
murder, not suicide. But crucial evidence was “lost,” the crime scene was
destroyed, and witnesses were pressured to change their testimony.
The Trentadue family refused to give up, despite incredible threats and
roadblocks thrown in their path. In 2001, the family won a $1.1 million
judgment in U.S. District Court against the U.S. government for intentional
infliction of emotional distress.
How is Kenny Trentadue’s death
related to the OKC bombing? Jesse Trentadue, a trial lawyer and Kenny’s
older brother, thinks he now has important clues that finally may lead to
the answer to that troubling question. FBI documents he recently acquired
under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) indicate a connection between
Timothy McVeigh and a group of notorious neo-Nazis known as the Aryan
Republic Army. Also known as the Midwest Bank Robbers, these extremists
operated out of a backwoods Oklahoma compound known as “Elohim City.”
Trentadue believes his brother Kenny was mistaken for Richard Guthrie, one
of the bank robbers, who is mentioned in an FBI memo along with McVeigh.
This would agree with the statement of David Paul Hammer, one of McVeigh’s
death row inmates, who claims McVeigh once stated his opinion that Trentadue
had been killed by federal authorities who thought he was Guthrie.
Another individual who appears in an FBI memo obtained by the Trentadues is
Andreas Strassmeir, an illegal alien of German nationality who served as the
“chief of security” at Elohim City. His name is blacked out of the memo, but
there is no doubt that it is Strassmeir whose identity is being hidden. This
magazine has reported extensively on evidence pointing toward both
Strassmeir and Guthrie as prime conspirators with McVeigh in the OKC terror
attack. We reported also on the important information provided by Carol
Howe, an undercover operative for the federal government inside Elohim City
who warned her superiors of the upcoming attack and fingered Strassmeir as
the key suspect. Evidence continues to build indicating that Strassmeir also
was a government operative, quite probably working for the CIA. Is that why
the government has gone to such lengths to keep him out of the OKC picture?
This is not an “Elvis sighting.” The Trentadue family has uncovered
important evidence and is suing the government to force the release of more
documents. The truth may yet come out.
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OKC BOMBING - COVER-UP:
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/okc_coverup.htm =============
Jayna
Davis - From Oklahoma City to the Middle East
http://www.jaynadavis.com/story.html
http://www.jaynadavis.com/story-oklahomamag.html The Oklahoma
City Bombing - many unanswered questions
http://www.akdart.com/okc.html
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