Terry Nichols Alleges FBI Played Role In Oklahoma City Bombing

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

Terry Nichols alleged in an affidavit filed Feb. 16 that Deputy FBI Director Larry Potts was involved in plotting the Oklahaoma City Bombing along with convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Potts denied the allegation in published reports this week.

The full text of the affidavit is available here. Please credit and link INTELWIRE.com when reporting from these documents.

"From the outset, I want to acknowledge my poor judgment and culpability in having assisted Timothy McVeigh," wrote Nichols.

In the affidavit, Nichols admitted helping McVeigh build a truck bomb, but said the bomb he helped build was different from the bomb McVeigh described in interviews prior to his execution.

Nichols denied any connection between the Oklahoma City bombing and his frequent visits to the Philippines. Nichols activities in that country have long been the subject of speculation, because the timing and location of his visits coincided with visits to the country by World Trade Center Bomber Ramzi Yousef (INTELWIRE analysis).

Nichols named gun dealer Roger Moore and Potts as "co-conspirators" in the bombing plot. Nichols has named Moore as a co-conspirator in the past.

"In December of 1992, Timothy McVeigh told me that while he was serving in the U.S. Army, he had been recruited to carry out undercover missions," Nichols wrote. "McVeigh did not say who had recruited him or specify the nature of his mission. McVeigh did say, however, that he was to begin making contacts with a 'network' of people after the first of the year."

The network was located "down south," Nichols wrote. Nichols claimed McVeigh threatened him and his family if Nichols did not cooperate in the bombing conspiracy. He claimed McVeigh identified Potts in "an accidental slip of the tongue."

Potts told the Oklahoman newspaper the allegations were "just nonsense and ridiculous." No further documentation was offered as part of the filing which would support the allegations.

Another affidavit alleging flaws in the official story of the Oklahoma City bombing was given by David Paul Hammer, who shared a cell with McVeigh prior to McVeigh's execution.

The full text of that affidavit is available here.

The affidavits were filed as part of a lawsuit filed by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue.

Trentadue, a Salt Lake City attorney, has been involved in litigation against the U.S. government since the death of his brother, Kenneth Trentadue, in federal custody on Aug. 21, 1995.

Kenneth Trentadue's death was initially declared a suicide by prison officials, but the family discovered signs of numerous injuries when preparing him for burial. The family was awarded more than $1 million after winning a wrongful death suit against the government.

Trentadue's legal battle has resulted in the release of dozens of pages of previously withheld FBI documents concerning the bombing. Those documents are available here.

INTELWIRE has also obtained numerous documents directly and indirectly related to the bombing and to alleged additional conspirators in the bombing, as well as documents related to Trentadue's court case. Those documents include the following:

State Dept. FOIA: Nichols-Philippines

Nichols: I Have New OKC Evidence

Nichols Affidavit and Letter

Full Text: Rohrabacher OKC Report

Informant Report: McVeigh-Strassmeir Call

FBI Interrogation: Andreas Strassmeir

1991 Memo: 'Turner Diaries' Warning

Zawahiri Statement On OKC Bombing

Documents: Aryan Republican Army

Labels: American-Terrorists, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, OKBOMB

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U.S., Interpol Tracked Khalifa In Days Before Madagascar Murder

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

INTERPOL forwarded information concerning Mohammed Jamal Khalifa to U.S. intelligence agencies just days before the alleged al Qaeda financier was killed by gunmen.

Khalifa, a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, was killed on about Jan. 30, 2007, in Madagascar, according to news reports. Khalifa's family said the Saudi national was killed by a group of 20 to 30 armed men who stole his computer and briefcase.

Khalifa's family said they believe the killing was political. Terrorism analysts have speculated that an international intelligence agency might have been behind the attack.

Three INTERPOL bulletins were released today to INTELWIRE in response to a Freedom of Information Act request for all documents concerning Khalifa. The release has been heavily redacted. INTERPOL also withheld additional documents pertaining to an "open investigation."

On Jan. 22, about a week before the attack, INTERPOL's Washington bureau sent a bulletin on Khalifa to several U.S. intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

The bulletin concerned an unnamed "project (which) was initiated to proactively target terrorism from captured terrorists (sic)."

INTERPOL is traditionally involved in the arrest, extradition and rendition of international criminal suspects. Recent U.S. counterterrorism efforts have focused on secret renditions, which often amount to armed kidnap operations performed in foreign countries.

On Friday, Jan. 26, 2007, four days before Khalifa was killed, a bulletin was sent from an unknown source to INTERPOL's Washington bureau and an unnamed branch of the organization.

According to the document, an unnamed recipient received information relevant to Khalifa from the Washington bureau and was disseminating it. "The purpose of this initiative is to obtain and share information with INTERPOL member countries in proactively targeting crime and terrorism and to prevent further terrorist attacks," the message states.

"[redacted] would like to received all information possessed by recipients relating to the information contained in this message," the document states. Only Khalifa's alias -- Abu Baraa -- is unredacted in the remainder of the document.

One additional document was released, a short INTERPOL bulletin marked "urgent" and dated April 3, 2002 with the subject line "Mohammed Jamal Khalifah."

According to the New York Times, Khalifa was arrested by the Saudi authorities shortly after September 11 and detained for about six months. This bulletin would correspond roughly to the period in which Khalifa was released.

Full Text of Documents

If reporting from these documents, please cite INTELWIRE.com as the source.

Previously:

Khalifa's Life-And-Death Secrets

Previous INTELWIRE reports and documents

Labels: INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Jamal-Khalifa

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Jihad Academy For Somalis In Eritrea

I've posted still images of al Qaeda training camps in Eritrea from about 1994. These camps were used to train jihadists from Somalia, a period now highly relevant in light of the recent Islamist activity in that country.

Jamal Al-Fadl, a founding member of al Qaeda turned U.S. government informant, shot several videos of jihadi training camps in Eritrea, according to court testimony, so he may be the cameraman for these shots.

If you have any direct information about these images, please feel free to drop me a line.

Full Gallery

Selected images:

Below, a Somali jihadist trains with rocket-propelled grenades. It's believed that the "Black Hawk Down" attack was performed by Somali tribesmen trained by al Qaeda in this type of setting using just this type of weapon.

Labels: Weblog

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American Jihadi Sought Second Wife, Penned Poems

More on Daniel Maldonado, aka Daniel Aljughaifi, is an American who is accused of joining al Qaeda and traveling to Somalia to take part in Islamist activities.

According to a listing on MuslimMatch.com (INTELWIRE mirror), Aljughaifi was searching for a second wife.

Listing Salem, N.H., as his home, and using the name "dmsalafi," Aljughaifi said he was looking for "a saudi sister,verry pious,18-30,kind,shy,sweet,wears hijab and can deal with poligamy" (all typos in original).

Aljughaifi's profile, last updated more than a year and a half ago, said he was planning to work as a computer technician in Saudi Arabia.

A poster on IslamicNetwork.com, who appears to be Aljughaifi's wife, was not especially happy with Aljughaifi's efforts to add a spouse. According to the post:

it was written there is no changing that fact. Allah made polygeny Halal and no one can change it.

from a womans point of veiw i can see being sad ,hurt, jealous bla bla bla.. but i cant see myself jumping off a building or stabbing my dh in the back.( ok i can see it but only in a day dream...lol) other than that lets come back to reality.

no matter how mad ,sad,hurt we get if our husbands want to do this..... weither thay do it or not us crying,yelling,throwing a tantrum acting out will never change the way thay feel inside, even if thay dont marry again it will always be a thought in there mind and we wont be able to change that.

what i have come to understand is that if its written for you it will happen no matter how many tears you cry, no matter how much you dont eat, no matter how much you fight it.

sisters lets just relax, i know easyer said than done.
sit back and go with the flow. if your dh is a good man he will take care of you and her properly.

Previous: Aljughaifi's Blog

Under the same dmsalafi handle, a poster who appears to be Aljughaifi posted poetry on the IslamicNetwork message board. A selection is excerpted below:

stuck in an ocean of tears

hearts can not set sail on the path of Allah
without tears for them to sail on
sails do not move nor ever go far
without the winds of dhikr there on
let not your eyes be set on a star
lest devils snicker and stare on
such will not guide nor protect you from narr
advise from a well wisher
to "bear on"
have you ever been wrecked off of tainted shores
without anyone knowing you traveld
regretting the fact you got on board
when the pleasure of rowing just had you
you knew you were heading rite off course
paying no attention, just baffled
showing no regret, nor remorse
watching shaytons henchmen just pass you

the secret you kept

I so long to meet the one I thaught to have met
do not think of me wrong I have no regret
sleepless nights spent alone, awake while you slept
I just wish I had known the secret you kept
do not think I have hate, don't think of me less
this is my fate, I know I am blessed
to be with you is great, yes I confess
I just wish I had known the secret you kept
only if you could see the tears in my eyes
but you were asleep, to no ones surprise
away I creep, while you find rest
I wish I had known the secret you kept
I have tried to wake you out of your slumber
not cause I hate you, but because I wonder
what is it that you conseal in your chest
I just wish I had known the secret you kept
I refuse to sleep another night without you
stand on your feet theres no need to show you how to
you knew the Sunnah as well as the rest
and that oh Ummah is the secret you kept

The Heart

I must confess I've slept with the enemy
then found unrest without solice or serenity
over stressed with all she pretends to be
she acts as if she is her own entity
she seems to shape my very identity
but whats at stake is what she once ment to me
my soul was broke and it was her who befreinded me
torn apart and it was her who then mended me
I need Quran to cure this dear freind to me
before I morn the heart that can not depend on me
.................................
our hearts are like woman
although we may doubt them
you can't live with'em
you can't live without'em

dmsalafi

Labels: Weblog

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American Al Qaeda Kept Blog

Daniel Maldonado, aka Danial al-Jughaifi, is an American who is accused of joining al Qaeda and traveling to Somalia to take part in Islamist activities. He kept a blog here. The site will probably not remain online for long. An INTELWIRE mirror is available here.

Labels: Weblog

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

No Life Sentence For Top Terrorist and Ramzi Yousef Co-Conspirator Wali Khan Amin Shah

Wali Khan Amin Shah is one of the most dangerous terrorists ever to cross swords with the United States. Yet -- unlike his co-conspirators in a 1995 plot to bomb U.S. airliners -- he has not received a life sentence for his crimes.

Shah was a co-conspirator with Ramzi Yousef in the Philippines, when Yousef was embroiled in several terrorist plots, including a plan to assassinate the pope and an elaborate scheme to bomb about a dozen U.S.-bound airliners within a 48-hour span.

He was a close friend of Osama bin Laden, who has praised Shah in interviews, and was said by an al Qaeda member to know all of "bin Laden's secrets." He was linked to Wadih El-Hage and the late Mohammed Jamal Khalifa.

Published reports have indicated he is cooperating with the U.S. government -- but some of those same reports also indicate he is serving out a life sentence. In fact, he was sentenced to 30 years with five years of supervised release. His exact age is unknown, but Khan is believed to be 40-something. Although Shah would be fairly old by the time he entered supervised release, he is a known escape risk, successfully breaking out of a Philippines prison and thwarted in a daring attempt to escape a federal prison in New York during the 1990s.

The more lenient sentence was rendered in October 2004, more than three years after September 11. Philippines government documents indicate that Yousef may have sketched the basic outline of the September 11 plot during the period he and Shah were conspiring together in the Philippines. Yousef received a life sentence with no chance of parole. Both men are currently incarcerated in the Supermax detention facility in Florence, Colo.

Wali Khan Amin Shah: Docket

Labels: Weblog

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Indictment of Army Reserve Officers For Stealing From Iraq CPA -- Cars, Bling and Bang

I've posted the 45-page indictment of three Army Reserve officers and two civilians for stealing millions of dollars from the Iraq CPA reconstruction project. Most stories yesterday focused on the sports cars and electronics and jewelry bought with misappropriated funds. Personally, I was more concerned about the crateloads of automatic weapons, assault rifles, silencers and grenade launchers -- which were collected within the United States and which do not appear to have been entirely accounted for by the government searches that accompanied the arrests.

Full Text of Indictment

Story (external)

Labels: Weblog

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Richard Perle, MPRI and Bosnian Arms Shipments

Connoisseurs of elaborate Bosnia conspiracy theories will love this (and don't think I don't know you're out there).

Controversial neocon philosopher Richard Perle led an obscure nongovernmental organization tasked with hiring a private company to run the U.S. State Department's "Train and Equip" program in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1996.

Perle's group, the "Acquisition Support Institute," hired Military Professional Resources Inc., essentially a professional mercenary company nearly as controversial as Perle himself. It's not at all clear what or whom is responsible for the Institute, or why a "non-governmental, non-profit organization" would be responsible for selecting the recipient of a massive State Department contract on one of the most sensitive issues of the day.

Equipped with a collection of retired military officers, MPRI set itself up as a virtual extension of the U.S. government in both Croatia and Bosnia, as documented in an extensive set of Freedom of Information Act documents I will be publishing over the next several weeks.

MPRI operatives were given the run of the country -- receiving payments and arms from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Muslim countries, which underwrote operations to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

In many cases, these payments were brokered directly by the State Department. In some instances, funds and arms were routed into Bosnia without State's explicit approval but often with its knowledge, as documented in the newly declassified records. Unauthorized assistance appears to have come from Pakistan, UAE and Turkey, among others.

Bosnia was a hotbed for al Qaeda in the early 1990s. I am still tracing the extent of how al Qaeda-linked people and groups operated after the T&E program launched in 1996. However, al Qaeda-linked mujahideen were trained by former American military officers prior to the T&E program's launch.

Train and Equip was (nominally) intended to marginalize extremists and Islamic radical networks by replacing them as the primary source of weapons, training and funding to Bosnians. Instead, the program ran parallel to somewhat lower-profile extremist networks over the course of several years, and al Qaeda still maintains a strong presence in the country.

Look for more documents in the near-term future. There are more than 500 pages total. In the meantime, enjoy this teaser:

State Department Cable, 5/21/96: Demarche to Bosnian Federation on Train and Equip Training Contract (Richard Perle, MPRI)

Labels: Bosnia, Sarajevo-Ricochet, Weblog

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Brother: Khalifa Killed By Intelligence Service

Mohammed Jamal Khalifa's brother has changed his tune and now charges that the Saudi businessman was killed by a state-sponsored intelligence service.

Khalifa is Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law. As I noted in my story about his death earlier this week, he was killed by an armed band of 20 to 30 men, which sounds suspiciously like a "snatch-and-grab" rendition gone wrong.

Although there is no direct evidence to support Malek Khalifa's allegation at this time, the United States is by far the most likely candidate to have staged such an operation, and Khalifa was an obvious target. He was well known to the U.S. government, which had him in 1994 and let him get away. A rendition may have been intended to rectify that mistake. If it wasn't the U.S., the Philippines would be the next most likely possibility.

If the U.S. was behind the assault, there will likely be ramifications with the Saudi government. Khalifa was a member of a prominent family. He had broad ties to the Saudi royal family and was welcomed back to his homeland by Saudi officials in 1995, according to the writings of Michael Scheuer, the CIA's former bin Laden unit chief. Although Khalifa was detained after September 11, he was released six months later and lived openly in Jeddah, where he ran a seafood restaurant.

Keep an eye on this story. It's going to get a lot more interesting before it's over.

UPDATE: On the other hand, maybe the Saudis did it. News from the Kingdom today indicates that 10 people have been arrested for terrorist financing of the sort Khalifa specialized in. Nine of the 10 came from Jeddah, Khalifa's home base. Were these names in Khalifa's stolen briefcase? Curious and curiouser...

Labels: Weblog

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Mohammed Jamal Khalifa Update

My analysis and history of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, who was killed this week in Madagascar: Jamal Khalifa's Life and Death Secrets

Labels: Weblog

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