OKBOMB and The Order: New Documents Don't Add Up

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

New Oklahoma City bombing documents released by the FBI say a domestic terrorist group known as "The Order" had been defunct for 10 years, even though the Bureau was conducting two active investigations on related groups from 1990 to 1993.

One of those two groups, the Texas Reserve Militia, was linked to Andreas Strassmeir, an associate of Timothy McVeigh.

The new documents were released as part of a FOIA lawsuit by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue (story).

According to one of the new documents (link), "documents written by Timothy
James McVeigh in the past contain references to 'The Turner Diaries,'" a white supremacist novel that "outlines, in detail, the
establishment of a terrorist group known as 'The Order.'"

The original Order (external link) was formed during the mid-1980s and carried out a criminal spree that included bank robberies, an assassination and counterfeiting.

"The group has not been active in almost a decade," the document says.

But in reality, the FBI investigated outgrowths of The Order just two years earlier in two separate locations -- Benton, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas.

In 1993, the FBI had an active investigation of The Order of St. John, based in Tennessee. According to an FBI document obtained by INTELWIRE (link), the head of that group was also the head of an organization known as the American Pistol and Rifle Association. APRA members were directly linked to the original Order, the document says.

"During the mid-1980s, several members of the white supremacist terrorist group known as 'The Order' were current or former members of APRA," the document states.

Perhaps even more significantly, a group known as the Texas Reserve Militia -- the subject of a domestic terrorism investigation -- was also calling itself "The Second Order." According to an FBI letterhead memorandum dated 12/26/1991 (link), "it is known that the 'first' Order was involved in murder, armored car and bank robberies, and counterfeiting. When [name redacted] talks about the group being the 'Second Order,' it is assumed from that that the same kind of criminal activities may be carried out."

A January 1993 FBI memorandum further indicated that a leader of the Texas Reserve Militia had "made statements about The Second Order such as the Government 'has no idea what's in store for them. The Second Order, The Second Front is in place.'"

One member of this "Second Order" was Andreas Strassmeir, a German national associated with the Elohim City white separatist compound in Vian, Oklahoma. McVeigh and Terry Nichols apparently visited the compound on at least one occasion, and McVeigh telephoned Strassmeir shortly before the Oklahoma City bombing took place.

A great deal of suspicion has revolved around Strassmeir as a possible co-conspirator in the bombing. Some have also speculated that he acted as a government informant. Strassmeir was also an associate of the bank robbery gang the Aryan Republican Army (story and documents). The ARA, long suspected of playing a role in the Oklahoma City bombing (story and documents), robbed banks with the idea of using the proceeds to support anti-government activity -- the same game plan used by the original Order.

Danny Coulson, an FBI agent who worked on both the Oklahoma City bombing and the Texas Reserve Militia investigation, said he believes Strassmeir may have been some kind of government informant but was not working for the FBI. He suggested Strassmeir might have been working for a foreign intelligence service.

"I think there are people who know the answer to that and I think they're in the FBI," Coulson said.

One of the newly released documents is an interagency communication from the FBI which addresses that question to the CIA (link).

"This inquiry concerns [name redacted, belived to be Strassmeir based on description provided] and whether he has ever been a CIA confidential source or asset," the communication states. No corresponding response was released.

The full collection of new documents obtained by Trentadue can be read by clicking here. They include previously unknown discussions of phone threats and a communication, largely redacted, concerning an April 20 interaction between the FBI and the CIA.

Labels: American-Terrorists, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, OKBOMB, Secrets-Scandals

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Yemen Bomb Fulfils Zawahiri Threat

An Al Qaeda suicide bomber carried out Sunday's attack in Yemen, according to officials there.

INTELWIRE readers will recall that a little more than three weeks ago Ayman Al Zawahiri released a video specifically targeting Yemen. All of the media coverage of this video focused on Somalia and virtually ignored the Yemen section. I suggested this was a mistake.

As it turns out, both sections were relevant. The bomber was trained in Somalia.

One a lesson in this -- listen to what Zawahiri says when he talks. The invocation of the Yemen attack was unmistakable, and clearly differed from Zawahiri's ordinary invective.

(Interestingly, there have been some unsubstantiated rumors floating around that Zawahiri was spotted recently in Somalia. This seems somewhat unlikely, but not impossible.)

Another lesson -- corporate Al Qaeda is apparently back (if it was ever really gone). Three weeks ago, Zawahiri released a video featuring himself, his colleagues in Somalia and Al Qaeda's emir Yemen. An attack followed like clockwork.

While this isn't a major operation on the scale of 9/11 or the African embassy bombings, I think there's a deliberate effort here to show some recovery in the core Al Qaeda organization -- especially in the command and control department. "We said we'd do it, we showed the people who would do it, and we did it."

Labels: Weblog

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

State Department Documents Cited in 9/11 Commission Report, Part 1 of 2

The following documents are State Department cables which were referenced in the footnotes of the 9/11 Commission Report. A second batch will be posted within the next few weeks.

5/21/1996: Communique from Sudan re: Osama bin Laden

Notification to U.S. government that Bin Laden and "Egyptian terrorist elements" have left the Sudan.

8/6/1996: Major Usama Bin Laden Asset Deregistered

Bin Laden's Taba Investments (Tabba For Investment) deregistered by Sudanese government. Four Bin Laden firms are also discussed -- Wadi-Alageeg Construction Company, Tabba For Investment, El-Thimar Al-Mobark Agricultural Company, and the Khartoum Tannery.

9/14/1998: Secret meeting with Taliban Official Abdul Hakim Mujahid

Taliban warned that harboring Osama bin Laden has put "the Taliban and the U.S. on a collision course." Taliban reported that they had "warned
him once again not to engage in political or press activities."

10/12/1998: Secret meeting with Taliban official Maulawi Wakil Ahmed

Suggests "the Taliban are wrestling with the Bin Ladin issue and that their heretofore hard-line stance on this issue may be in some, sort of flux."

2/16/1999: Secret Memo, The Saudi Binladin Group, Builders to the King

Claims company "has sought to make clear that it has no links with the Islamist fanatic (and half brother) Usama by publicly and unequivocally condemning his actions and taking the necessary legal steps to ensure that all connections have been severed."

10/8/1998: Designation of Al Qaeda as a terrorist organization

12/14/1999: Secret Memo, Saudis on US Warning to Taliban re: UBL

The Saudis agree that Bin Laden is a threat to the Kingdom.

Labels: INTELFILES, Osama-Bin-Laden, State-Department, Taliban

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Timothy McVeigh as Straw Man

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright recently repeated an incorrect statement that cuts to the heart of one of the most serious debates in the arena of terrorism studies. At a Senate hearing, she said:

We do not portray the Oklahoma City bombing as Christian terrorism, even though Timothy MacVeigh [sic] thought of himself as a Christian. MacVeigh [sic] was guilty of mass murder -- and there was nothing Christian about it. The same principle applies with Islam. When Muslims commit terrorist acts, they are not practicing their faith; they are betraying it.

I generally try to stay out of political discussions of any stripe, but this statement is flatly incorrect in its factual basis, on an issue which deserves some serious consideration.

McVeigh was not a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word. He did not identify himself in that way, nor was he a member of any religious group or congregation. He claimed no religious motivation for what he did, and he wasn't radicalized by a self-proclaimed religious leader or through his association with a religious organization.

For a more detailed discussion of this, see my posting from last year around this time:

Why 'Islamic Terrorists' And Not 'Christian Terrorists'?

I first spotted Albright's testimony in a link from the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report Web site.

Labels: American-Terrorists, OKBOMB, Weblog

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink