Islamic Terror & The Oklahoma City Bombing

Today is the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which claimed 171 lives. For this crime, Timothy McVeigh has been executed and Terry Nichols is serving a life sentence in prison. But do those two represent the full list of the guilty? Bizblogger has a lengthy post, with links to other lengthy articles, detailing a conspiracy theory that "Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were just two actors in the bombing plot that included Iraqi and other Middle East terrorists." This theory is documented by Jayna Davis, an investigative reporter in Oklahoma City.

I certainly do not claim to have any answers to this charge. From what I read, it seems there are a number of unanswered questions and coincidences rather than hard evidence to indicate an Islamic terrorist connection. The theory itself seems somewhat confused. At times, the theorists implicate agents of Saddam Hussein in the attack. There's even been a lawsuit filed against Iraq for its alleged involvement. At other times, it's al Qaida and its offshoots. (The PLO shows up too.) As everyone knows or should know from picking apart the administration's justification for the Iraq war, there is no evidence of any connection between the secular Hussein and the fundamentalist bin Laden. If anything, the two despised each other. So a theory that has these two working together is awkward.

The big question in any conspiracy theory would have to be, why would the government cover things up? Bizblogger's answer is

Most likely, the Clinton Administration leadership was anxious to avoid any recognition of Middle Eastern involvement in the bombing because such an event would almost certainly call for a military response against the nations or individuals who helped carry out the attack. Instead, the military response would have to wait another 6 years.

This, of course, ignores the military action taken against bin Laden after the embassy bombings. Admittedly, that action was so slight it would be easy to overlook it. Another suggested explanation comes from Laurie Mylroie:

Only the people in charge of the investigation can explain their motives in failing to focus public attention on this, but I can guess. Remember that before the bombing [President Bill] Clinton was in deep political trouble but, by dealing with it in the fashion he did, his kite rose and he was able to make it look like the FBI did a splendid, knockdown investigation. It was kind of like, 'Okay, Tim McVeigh is the mastermind; Terry Nichols assisted him; don't ask any more questions.' That settled, with Clinton's tremendous capacity to feel everyone's pain, he improved his own position.

In the end, only an investigation of these allegations of cover up will answer the questions. Given that, if there really was a larger conspiracy, this would represent yet another colossal failure of American intelligence and law enforcement, my guess would be there will be no investigation. Right or wrong, the case is closed.