THE ALL-AMERICAN CONSPIRACY
Nicholas Farrell's guide to
the theories as to why McVeigh did it (or who else did too)
Washington, DC TIMOTHY McVeigh's trial may be over, but the conspiracy has only just begun. The conspiracy in question is the 'conspir- acy theory' conspiracy. Like the one con- cerning the assassination of President Kennedy, it will run for ever.
So far, the conspirators have largely been ignored by the mainstream American newspapers and television channels despite the best efforts of the Sunday Tele- graph's former Washington correspondent Ambrose Evans-Pritchard to get things started. He is dismissed by American col- leagues and politicians as a leading mem- ber of a cult which believes in the space aliens-Elvis Presley view of life.
It is early days yet. Mr Evans-Pritchard is now safely back in London. But it will not be long before the conspiracy really gets going. Then, some Oliver Stone (he made his name with films accusing Ameri- ca of all sorts of conspiracies) will step in to wrap the thing up. The task will be open to both left- and right-wing movie-makers. For there is something for all in this par- ticular conspiracy — as can be seen by a quick surf of the Internet. It fizzes with feverish talk about the plot. At his trial, the prosecution said that McVeigh, a 29-year-old former army sergeant, acted more or less alone with his 40-year-old former army buddy and co- defendant, Terry L. Nichols, whose trial is due later this year. This — the official line — is the so-called 'lone bomber' theory. There was no conspiracy involving anyone much except the two misfits — perhaps a couple of others. Their motive? It was simple. The bomb went off on 19 April, the second anniversary of the Waco siege in Texas. The motive, then, was outrage at what they saw, like many in Middle Amer- ica, as the murder of 81 Branch Davidians and their children by agents of a federal government determined to crush the tradi- tional constitutional rights of Americans, which include the Branch Davidians' right to worship.
To which conspiracy theorists retort: ridiculous. Admittedly, they were outraged at Waco. But how could two lone men have planned and executed such devasta- tion without help from experts? They point out that McVeigh's original indict- ment said the pair acted with 'unknown others', even though the prosecution said this only meant one or two like-minded people whose identities it had been unable to establish. But the idea of unknown oth- ers adds fuel to the fire. What fuels it more is what Americans believe — not what the federal authorities say. According to an April 1996 poll by USA Today and CNN, 68 per cent of Americans believe McVeigh and Nichols did not act alone. If the two men both die they will take the secret to their graves — unless the conspiracy theo- rists get there by other means.
Most conspiracy theorists see the FBI and CIA, i.e. the government, as the unknown others behind the bomb. The `Net' is alive with their incredible sugges- tions — often billed as 'the stuff the main- stream is afraid to touch' — on the McVeigh web site and in the on-line con- versations in the Net's many `chat-rooms', where you introduce yourself by saying, `Hi, room, what's up?' The kind of thing you hear is: McVeigh had a 'Rambo chip' implanted in his neck by the US military; he had been 'psycho-programmed' by the CIA as part of 'Project Bluebird which transmuted into Project Artichoke'; he was a 'human robot' developed by Space Com- mand; he was an 'FBI monster out of con- trol'; he was a member of the 'Arizona Patriots', the 'Silent Brotherhood'. These, you might say, are the theories for the low- brow market. Often they come with a bibli- ography attached, including books like Who Killed John Lennon? and Mind Control and the New World Order. Arnold Schwarze- negger is sure to be hot favourite to play the role. But there are plenty of highbrow theories too.
The best is that McVeigh was a member of a neo-Nazi terrorist group, the Aryan Republican Army, determined to over- throw the liberal elite/Jewish/black/United Nations-run government and — here is the interesting bit — that the Bureau of Alco- hol, Tobacco and Firearms was told by an informer who had infiltrated the group that the bomb was about to happen but failed to act to stop it. Either it was incompetent or it wanted the bomb to go off. Why? A number of answers are forthcoming. If incompetent, the conspiracy was a conspir- acy to cover up the mistake. But if the Bureau wanted the bomb to go off, the conspiracy was part of the hidden agenda.
There are, naturally, numerous types of hidden agenda surrounding this 'Reichstag fire' theory. But if McVeigh was part of a conspiracy why, you might ask, did he not reveal its existence in his defence? One answer to that is of course that he pleaded not guilty. To admit that there was a con- spiracy would mean to admit his guilt. Another answer is that he did the bombing but was unaware that he was part of a big- ger conspiracy. Other witnesses, for exam- ple, say they saw McVeigh with different people in Oklahoma City on the day of the bombing. Nichols was hundreds of miles away in Kansas that day. But these wit- nesses were not pursued by the prosecut- ing authorities.
Sinister, huh? But presumably they found their statements of no material use. And seeing as it was McVeigh who was on trial, you might ask: So what anyway? The FBI initially issued an artist's drawing of one man they believed to be with McVeigh — the infamous John Doe II. But subse- quently they said they had made a mistake and that he did not exist and they with- drew the $2 million reward. Again, so what? you might say. But conspirators see this as deeply sinister, believing that it was to cover up for one of their own men.
On and on it goes — just like the Kennedy assassination. A seismograph from the Geological Survey of the Univer- sity of Oklahoma shows that there may have been two bombs, not one as the FBI insists: the second must have been inside the building. How did the bombers plant a bomb inside a government building? A retired army explosives expert has been widely quoted saying that a truck bomb that size — 4,000 lb — could not possibly have caused such extensive damage. There are reports of bomb squads being seen in Oklahoma City before the blast and warn- ings to the fire department of a terrorist attack. Sightings of strange men of Middle Eastern appearance have also put the Iraqis in there.
The most popular theory about the motive for doing the bombing — not sim- ply covering up the knowledge that the bomb was going to go off — is that it was to discredit the armed militias, the unoffi- cial citizen's armies rapidly springing up around America whose members believe that the federal government is destroying the fundamental rights of Americans and who are intent on defending their way of life by force if necessary. They are believed to total around 100,000. McVeigh has been linked with them, too. Presumably, then, he did not realise that he would be harm- ing his own side when he planted the bomb. Among 'the facts that just don't add up' are the activities of a former beauty queen and informer, Carol Howe, whom the Bureau says it dropped months before the bombing. She claims she had infiltrated a right-wing neo-Nazi terrorist group, the Aryan Republican Army, which, she says, had cased the Oklahoma City federal building in December 1994 with the inten- tion of bombing it, and she says she regu- larly submitted reports on what she had discovered — even after she was dropped by the Bureau. She has since been charged herself with conspiring to make an explo- sion and the authorities have said her information was too vague to prompt action.
Members of this neo-Nazi group lived in a white separatist Christian Identity cen- tre, Elohim City, in Muldrow, Oklahoma, which McVeigh is known to have tele- phoned two weeks before the blast. People at the centre say he asked for 'Andy' Andy Strassmeir. On the same day as the blast a man with close ties to the centre was executed in Arkansas for murdering a black police officer and a man he thought was Jewish. Was the bomb some kind of send-off? Strassmeir is a former German army officer, who had come to America in 1991 and returned to Germany three months after the blast. Three witnesses say they saw him in the Kansas town where McVeigh bought and stockpiled the bomb ingredients and where he rented the truck in which it was concealed. Strassmeir says he has never been to Kansas and his only connection with McVeigh is that they once met at a gun show and talked for about five minutes.
Glenn and Kathy Wilburn, whose two grandsons were killed in the blast and whose daughter is filing a $30 million law- suit against McVeigh and 'unknown oth- ers', believe the witnesses, not Strassmeir. Strassmeir told Mr Evans-Pritchard that he believed the FBI is involved in covering up its failure to stop the bomb after being told by its informer. This could make him the FBI informer — though he isn't say- ing. He then later said he had been mis- quoted. He does admit he lived at Elohim City whose literature says white Euro- peans are God's chosen people and Jews the devil's children. But Strassmeir and his lawyer say the FBI has told them he is not a suspect. Conspiracy theorists say this is more evidence that he might also have been an FBI informer within the bomb plotters' midst.
Doubtless, as with the Kennedy assassi- nation, the conspiracy theory conspirators will never be satisfied with the idea that a tiny group of fanatical American citizens could do such a thing as the Oklahoma bombing. Only something much more powerful and sinister such as the Ameri- can government could. One thing is sure, there are some weird things going on out there, if not in America itself then in the psyche of its people.
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