Others Still Unknown

In 2002 Obama said the following about Iraq:

“the world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without [Saddam Hussein],” he also argued that “Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military [is] a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.”

Rather ironic considering his strange foray into Libya, which is presumably not a dumb war even though he's about to give 25 million worth of war stuff to a group of unknown rebels--some of whom are undoubtedly tied to al Qaeda affiliates. Then again, AQ did basically endorse him (by endorsing McCain, so we they could win):

Al-Qaeda is watching the U.S. stock market's downward slide with something akin to jubilation, with its leaders hailing the financial crisis as a vindication of its strategy of crippling America's economy through endless, costly foreign wars against Islamist insurgents.

And at least some of its supporters think Sen. John McCain is the presidential candidate best suited to continue that trend.

"Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election," said a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web site al-Hesbah, which is closely linked to the terrorist group. It said the Arizona Republican would continue the "failing march of his predecessor," President Bush.

So, as Obama wages a congressionally unsanctioned kinetic action to protect Libyans from Libya, he still seems to believe Iraq was the biggest foreign policy mistake ever, even if it becomes a great foreign policy success some day. Saddam was heading for the dustbin had we only given him time....Gaddafi needs to go, now despite Bush defanging his WMD program. Sometimes liberals are so smart their reasoning is almost unintelligible.

But we're talking about politicians as well. Iraq has been berry berry good to the One, getting him elected president over that rube who voted for the war back when it was cool, which got her relegated to a secretarial position. Even now he continues to use it as a hammer.

But will it ever come back to bite him? Strap into the wayback machine and return to that ugly time shortly after the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Reporter Jayna Davis made a case for Iraqi involvement in the plot by insinuating that one Hussein al-Hussaini, an Iraqi expat living in Ok City at the time (and reportedly seen by some with McVeigh), was John Doe Number Two. Her evidence was circumstantial, and she largely stayed away from domestic connections. On the other hand, McVeigh attorney Stephen Jones did not, writing about them in his book, "Others Unknown" (an FBI description).

While Jones also believed, like Davis, that other conspirators were involved he didn't limit them to Arab Islamists. Thanks to a generous taxpayer-funded defense budget he was able to hire private investigators to look into the various connections, including one in the Philippines involving Terry Nichols and al Qaeda operatives and another between McVeigh/Nichols and far right anti-government neo-nazi types at a compound in Arkansas called Elohim City.

In the process Jones broke a fairly interesting revelation--or insinuation at least--that didn't make much news at the time. Or after 9/11. Or even after Bush invaded Iraq. From a writ of Mandamus submitted in 1997:

The Iraqi government has given Dennis Mahon thousands of dollars over the past six years. Mahon has admitted to receiving money from Iraq approximately once a month and stated that "it's coming from the same zip code where the Iraqi Embassy is, but they don't say it's from the Iraqi Embassy." The money started arriving in 1991 after Mahon started holding rallies protesting the Persian Gulf War. Mahon is a close friend of Andreas Strassmeir, the ex-head of security at Elohim City and Mahon has lived at Elohim City.

Here's an excerpt from the opening statement, explaining the premise:

The McVeigh defense, based upon the material provided to it, suggests the following hypothesis: A foreign power, probably Iraq, but not excluding the possibility of another foreign state, planned a terrorist attack(s) in the United States and that one of those targets was the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. The Murrah Building was chosen either because of lack of security (i.e. it was a "soft target"), or because of available resources such as Iraqi POW's who had been admitted into the United States were located in Oklahoma City, or possibly because the location of the building was important to American neo-Nazis such as those individuals who supported Richard Snell who was executed in Arkansas on April 19, 1995.

The plan was arranged for a Middle Eastern bombing engineer to engineer the bomb in such a way that it could be carefully transported and successfully detonated. There is no reported incident of neo-Nazis or extreme right-wing militants in this country exploding any bomb of any significant size let alone one to bring down a nine (9) story federal building and kill 168 persons. In fact, not even members of the left-wing militant groups such as the Weatherman were ever able to accomplish anything of this magnitude.

This terrorist attack was "contracted out" to persons whose organization and ideology was friendly to policies of the foreign power and included dislike and hatred of the United States government itself, and possibly included was a desire for revenge against the United States, with possible anti-black and anti-semitic overtones. Because Iraq had tried a similar approach in 1990, but had been thwarted by Syrian intelligence information given to the United States, this time the information was passed through an Iraqi intelligence base in the Philippines.

Very interesting, yet there was Bubba out blaming Rush Limbaugh for inciting those nuts in an effort to score reelection points. Even today liberals use Oklahoma City to apologize for Islamic nuts and Ground Zero mosques when they're not trashing the right over Iraq.

But is there any truth to it? Jones et al were clearly searching for any low hanging branch to save McVeigh from death and make themselves legal legends. Nobody has done an in-depth investigation. There was no public commission. But imagine for a second that it is true--think of the affect on 1) the Democrats, 2) the national media, and 3) the Clinton machine. Many former Clintonites now work for Obama, including the Attorney General and head of CIA. The FBI director will soon be replaced and a few former Clinton-era names have been mentioned. Some are still trying to figure out exactly why Sandy Berger took the incredibly risky chance of pilfering documents from the National Archives, so we're not likely to get a clear answer anytime soon.

But Bush certainly knows. His attitude about Iraq pertaining to matters of legacy has always been strategic--"history will be the judge". Maybe there's more to the story to support such clever subterfuge, or maybe it's just a defeated politician trying to deflect short term scorn by deflecting to long term image. The Clintons know, and Obama also surely knows. The FBI has known for awhile. Terry Nichols knows. The media doesn't want to know anymore, and Wiki Leaks is only for leaking information damaging to the right. So who knows.