The BND in OKC?!
Was Andreas Carl Strassmeir taking orders from Germany?
* "What connection does a 36-year-old former German soldier from one of Germany's most prominent families have to the Oklahoma City bombing? Was he an agent/informant in a joint operation of German and U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies?" (The New American, 6-24-96)
* "[Former FBI Special Agent Ricardo "Rick" J.W. Ojeda] on more than one occasion during (our) interview ... slammed his fist down on the table and looked at the other agent and said, 'This is the key. This is the key. This is the key to the whole thing. . . [and] Strassmeir is central to all of this.'" ("Accomplices known to FBI", WorldNetDaily, 6-1-01)
* "How do you spot an agent provocateur? There are two ways. One, look at the person's actions: If he engages in endless illogical, stupid publicity stunts that demean legitimate protest, suspect him. Two, if he engages in a serious crime but escapes arrest, expose him." ("Identifying Agents Provocateur" by Barry Chamish, 7-29-97)
THE PICTURE
It has been my contention since 2 days after the bombing that the German government was somehow involved. I had previously been keeping track of certain events and groups in Germany before the bombing and when I heard a person being interviewed on CNN 2 days after the bombing -- talking about right-wing extremism and a certain meeting in Bonn, Germany in December 1993 concerning this -- the bells went off and I thought: "That's it!" I went to my files and started putting together the pieces of the puzzle.
In brief, I think that the OKC bombing had its genesis in the previously mentioned meeting. I don't think that it was just coincidence that a person who was one of the main subjects of the meeting, whom Germany had been trying to get for over 20 years, was arrested in Denmark less than a month before the bombing. I'm also highly suspicious of why a top neo-Nazi defector and Germany's Foreign Minister (and former head of German intelligence) just happened to be in the U.S. on a "private" visit and then left that night from Chicago straight back to Germany. But was this a joint-operation between the U.S. and Germany or just a unilateral one by Germany? Or did Germany have a completely separate and parallel operation going on -- either alone or in cooperation with Iran or an Arab terrorist cell?
Much has been written on Andy Strassmeir, so I won't duplicate those efforts here -- unless it is needed in an expanded version of this paper. The following quote from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's The Secret Life of Bill Clinton on page 93, pretty much hits-the-nail-on-the-head: "My own conjecture, for what it is worth, is that Strassmeir was a shared assest, on loan to the U.S. government, but ultimately answering to German intelligence."
I remember telling my theory to Ambrose over the phone about Germany's involvement upon returning from my meeting in Oklahoma City with Charles Key and Glenn Wilburn. He chuckled and said that he didn't think that was possible. So with all that Ambrose has seen and heard through his investigation - along with the sources he used in his book that I provided him at our meeting in Tulsa - he obviously has seen and heard enough to convince him otherwise. I hope that after looking at the following pieces, you also will be convinced that the German connection, and ultimate responsibility, needs to be addressed.
THE PIECES
...WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN GERMANY IN THE EARLY 1990S...
RACE HATE VIOLENCE ESCALATES
The worst racist brutality since the Nazi era continued to plague Germany for the fourth consecutive week. . . The German Intelligence Service (BVS) reported that the American Klu-Klux-Klan was trying to recruit and organize members in eastern and western Germany. A BVS spokesman said that there were no indications so far that the Klan had been successful in gaining a foothold." (The European, 10/18-20/91)
GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER RUDOLF SEITERS SAYS AMERICAN KKK IS IN GERMANY
Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters said Thursday the American Ku Klux Klan has established groups in Germany, which recently has seen a dramatic increase in racist violence and neo-Nazi activity. "There is evidence that the KKK has founded groups in several cities, including Berlin," Seiters said, presenting the 1991 report of the federal constitutional police at a news conference. The report said that members of the KKK made contact with German right-wing extremists in 1991 to prepare for the establishment of branches in Germany. Neo-Nazi groups used racist propaganda material produced in the United States, the report said, adding that "the main producer of this material is still American Gary Lex Lauck..." (UPI, 8-13-92)
WHO IS BEHIND THE NEO-NAZIS IN GERMANY?
...the skinhead phenomenon is anything but spontaneous. All indications are that it is deliberately fomented in order to destablize Germany and prevent it from playing a leadership role in Eurasia. . . Who. then, could possibly be behind such...an orchestrated "neo-Nazi" revival? A clue to answering this question is provided by examining the relationship between the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry and the Klu Klux Klan. As we have documented in The New Federalist, the KKK was founded by Condfederate General Albert Pike, the head of the Scottish Rite Freemasons.
"In an article which appeared on Nov. 30 in the Italian newspaper Unita, reporters Antonio and Gianni Cipriani wrote that the "black masonry" launched an ambitious project codenamed "Operation 3 K" ("3 K" stands for Klu Klux Klan) more than a year ago, in order to stir up anti-German public opinion. . . In support of this analysis, we can report that the Federal German Prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe has confirmed that it is continuing a probe launched a year ago of the Oklahoma-based Grand Dragon of the KKK, Dennis Mahon, on charges of building a terrorist organization in Germany. . . Mahon made several well-publicized trips to Germany in '91 and '92, ostensibly recruiting to his Tulsa, OK-based KKK."
"But none of the German coverage has identified these 2 agents provocateurs (Lauck and Mahon) as likely assets of the ADL and U.S. federal law enforcement circles working in league with the ADL. And that is the crucial thread of the investigation. Nor have German media reported that almost all the organized racist Right in America has been penetrated and taken over by the ADL-FBI, as a result of continuation of the Bureau's original COINTELPRO effort..."
"According to U.S. and Israeli intelligence sources, Israeli spy Rafi Eytan and former CIA covert operations boss Theodore Shackley are operating covert networks in the Duesseldorf area to finance and fuel the neo-Nazi violence." (The New Federalist, 12-7-92)
...WHAT GERMANY PLANNED TO DO ABOUT IT...
BONN TO ASK U.S. FOR CRACKDOWN ON NEO-NAZIS
The German government is preparing to present a formal request to the United States to cooperate with German authorities in eliminating the links between Gary Lauck's NSDAP-AO organization in the U.S. and German neo-Nazis. . . Previous attempts by Bonn to get the U.S. moving on the issue have failed, as American authorities told the Germans that Lauck is not violent and therefore his promotion of Nazi ideology cannot be prosecuted without violating his freedom of speech. . . The article (in Welt am Sonntag, 9-12-93) quoted a German anti-terrorism expert: 'For the FBI and CIA, Lauck is not interesting, because he is only a propagandist and not a violent person. If they would provide us with his address files, we could move against the people who are distributing is material in Germany illegally.'" (Executive Intelligence Review, 9-24-93)
FBI LOOKING FOR TIES BETWEEN U.S., GERMAN HATE GROUPS
Suspected links between extreme racist groups in Germany and U.S. hate organizations are under examination by the FBI, its director disclosed here (Wiesbaden) Tuesday. FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, completing 1 1/2 days of meetings with Cabinet ministers and top officials of BKA, the German counterpart of the FBI, stressed that the inquiry is just getting under way. But his pledge to BKA President Hans-Ludwig Zachert, who provided leads for the inquiry, that it will be conducted 'vigorously' marked the first official acknowledgment that the U.S. is investigating such transatlantic links.
"Equally significant, Freeh's statement illustrates the heightened cooperation that he and Ronald K. Noble, assistant secretary of the Treasury for enforcement, sought to achieve during meetings with their counterparts in Italy and Germany. . . The inquiry into any U.S. connection to what Zachert described as 'xenophobic and racist attacks' in Germany has two aspects, officials explained. One involves 'a particularly active person' in the Klu Klux Klan who is alleged to have played a role in the German violence. Freeh...described it as 'an active case here in Germany which may have some connections, ramifications in the United States.' . . Freeh said 'We will vigorously look to see if we can be of assistance to German authorities pursuing a criminal offense under their laws . . . "Richard C. Holbrooke, the new U.S. ambassador to Germany, said he plans to call his law enforcement team together next week to emphasize the cooperation that Freeh and Noble called for." (The Los Angeles Times, 12-15-93)
ABC INTERVIEW WITH LOUIS FREEH
Charles Gibson: "Was there a request from Germany to help stop the flow of material and related items from this country to Germany?" Louis Freeh: "Yes, we were requested by both the interior minister and the justice minister to look particularly at several cases where they believe United States activity by U.S. persons are contributing to a commission of crimes against Germany, and we're going to look at that very seriously and very vigorously. . . We're not going to prosecute people for ideas, no matter how despicable they are, but when they cross that line and either violate U.S. law or foreign law, for which we have jurisdiction, we will vigorously prosecute them and assist the Germans in prosecution." (Good Morning America, 12-16-93)
EX-NEO-NAZI SAYS AMERICAN AIDS CAUSE
German neo-Nazis have turned to an American known as the 'Farm Belt Fuehrer' for instructions on how to dodge police and blow up buildings, according to [Ingo Hasselbach] a top Nazi defector. Gary Lauck of Lincoln, Neb., has long been notorious as the world's largest printer of neo-Nazi propaganda. . . But Mr. Lauck denies ever advocating violence or giving tips on terrorism. 'I think that this is part of a campaign by the German government...They have been trying for years to get us outlawed. The German concept of democracy is just so different from ours.' . . Mr. Lauck said that Mr. Hasselbach was a traitor to the cause and perhaps a tool of German intelligence services." (The Dallas Morning News, 2-5-94)
...WHO WAS FINALLY ARRESTED JUST BEFORE THE BOMBING...
U.S. MAN ARRESTED IN DENMARK IN HATE CRIMES
An American who has spread neo-Nazi literature across Europe was under arrest Thursday in Denmark, while German police seized weapons and propaganda in raids on 80 homes of his supporters. After a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, Gary Lauck ... was seized Monday on an international arrest warrant issued by Germany. . . Germany had been pressing the FBI to shut down Mr Lauck's printing presses. . . The operation against Mr. Lauck, called 'Atlantic II,' was coordinated by German federal police and Hamburg law authorities, who have long had a warrant out for his arrest. (The Dallas Morning News, 3-24-95)
BRITS' LAUCK NABBED
"...Last year, EIR magazine published in Germany a definitive analysis of neo-Nazi operations ("Strategie der Spannung," "The Strategy of Tension") exposing Lauck and others as agents of British-run subversion against German reunification. The in-depth EIR report was widely circulated among law enforcement circles in Germany and France. . . Knowledgeable German sources say that the team at the Bundeskriminalamt which coordinated the raids after the arrest of Lauck is currently in Washington. Team members are presumably presenting the evidence gathered from the raid; that is, documentation that Lauck is a member of a criminal organization which under his inspiration has engaged in violent terrorist acts. Until the Clinton presidency, the Lauck operation was blatantly protected by the FBI and other British-line organizations. . . Whether and to what extent President Clinton moved -- perhaps with a tip-off to the Europeans about Lauck's travel plans -- is not known. (The New Federalist, 3-27-95)
"German police would not comment as to whether the FBI had played a role in Lauck's arrest." (The Boston Globe, 3-24-95)
"According to German authorities, the FBI cooperated during its investigation of Lauck. . . The FBI declined to comment on the case." (The Washington Post, 5-11-95)
...WAS IT DOMESTIC OR INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM?...
FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE ROLE?
...According to these sources, the investigation is now proceeding from the belief that the attack was the work of a sophisticated intelligence agency or network out to destabilize the U.S. -- not merely target the federal government." (The New Federalist, no date)
OKLAHOMA BOMBING WAS ACT OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
...The fact that so many children were killed in the bombing...makes it unlikely that the people who designed the explosion were Americans. 'No American quasi-terrorist group...would conceive it politically effective to use a terrorist act which destroyed significant numbers of children. So there, the militias are not suspect as the architects of this. . . This kind of skill involves sophisticated military-intelligence skills, not ordinary Special Forces skills. Then step back and look at it. . . somebody, operating from a very high level, set off an explosion to manipulate the American people politically." (The New Federalist, 5-20-95)
JOHN DOE 2 REMAINS A MYSTERY
...In general, officials are looking for a dark-skinned or Hispanic man with an Army background. . . [and he] spoke broken English..." (The Dallas Morning News, 4-27-95)
U.S. GOV'T COMPLICITY IN THE OKC BOMBINGS
"Three or more teams of men were seen that morning, prior to the bombings, in or near Oklahoma City, dressed in all 'government black', operating 'hoops' . . . A beeper on the truck with Timothy McVeigh and others was sending signals picked up by the hoops . . . About 3 or 4 a.m. that morning, there was a 'loose tail' -- slang to describe the double agent on the truck turning off the concealed beeper sending out the signal being tracked." (by Sherman H. Skolnick)
TAKING FOREIGN ORDERS
"The obvious implication is that the plan was sold as a sting operation to almost everyone involved, and someone contrived to alter the plan so that the bomb actually went off ... It is possible that...those few may be taking their orders not from their normal superiors but from some elements outside government, with their own agenda. Of course, once the bombs go off, everyone involved has a strong reason to participate in the coverup." (Lost the exact source from a web search, but author had had a conversation with Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on July 30, 1996).
CHARLES KEY REFUSES TO BUCKLE
Based on what I've learned, there appears to be a whole lot more at work. It was originally a sting, but there were two over-lapping operations. There was a group of other people, whatever their plan was, and they turned the tables on the folks who thought there was just a sting going on." (The Spotlight, no date)
STRASSMEIR THE SNITCH
"When Strassmeir's potential link to this case was discovered, a reporter interviewed Dennis Mahon about [his] friendship with Strassmeir. When questioned whether or not Strassmeir could be an informant, Mahon became visibly upset. As information was traded, Mahon became more convinced that Strassmeir had been providing intelligence on them. Mahon immediately got in touch with 'a very important man in Germany and requested that he determine if Strassmeir could be an agent for the German government. . . [and if he] had double-crossed them."
"Also, through discovery, the defense has learned of significant official communication between the U.S. government and its representatives in Germany concerning additional information on Strassmeir and that Strassmeir has been the subject of interest to the Counterterrorism Division of the Diplomatic Protective Service of the Department of State in a document which we can only describe as specifically bearing the [OKC] bombing investigation case number and photographs of Strassmeir. See attached Exhibit A & B (Under Seal)." (Petition for Writ of Mandamus & Brief for McVeigh, 3-25-97)
...WHO JUST HAPPENED TO BE IN THE U.S. DURING THE BOMBING?...
HOW NAZIS ARE MADE
Two days before the bombing in Oklahoma City last April, I [Ingo Hasselbach] arrived in the United States from Germany. It was one of the only chances I'd had to pause in the 2 years since I'd sprung unprotected into a new world. . . In March, 1995, my testimony bore fruit: Gary Lauck was arrested in Denmark. . . Lauck's lawyers demanded that he be set free and be allowed to return to the U.S., where he had officially commited no crime. The German authorities lobbied hard lobbied equally hard to have him extradited to Germany. Before the question could be settled, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was blown up, and this apparently convinced the FBI that protecting the civil rights of one of the world's most dangerous extremist leaders wasn't so important. The American authorities began cooperating with the German government to have Lauck extradited to Hamburg and prosecuted." (The New Yorker, 1-8-96)
U.S. COOL ON KINKEL'S ATLANTIC TRADE PLAN
US officials last night gave a chilly welcome to a plea from Klaus Kinkel, German foreign minister . . . He told the Chicago Council of Foreign Affairs . . . (The Financial Times, 4-20-95)
[I called the German embassy in DC and found out that he had arrived on the 18th in New York City, left for Chicago on the 19th, and then flew back to Germany after the speech.]
...AND WHO ELSE JUST HAPPENED TO PASS THROUGH CHICAGO?...
NATIONWIDE HUNT UNDER WAY[?]
...Police at London's Heathrow Airport detained a man [Abraham Amhad] with a U.S. passport after he arrived on a flight from Chicago. They returned him to the U.S. for questioning in the case, another federal official said. The man was traveling to Amman, Jordan [and] he caught the attention of authorities Wednesday and was detained after flying from Oklahoma City to Chicago on an American Airlines flight Wednesday. He was released in Chicago and boarded an Alitalia flight bound for London and Rome, but an alert was forwarded to London, where he was refused entry and was sent to Washington, the official said. His bags went to Rome, where authorities found they contained materials that could have been used in the manufacture of bombs, the official said. The man was not described as a suspect but was to be questioned as a possible witness." (The Dallas Morning News, 4-21-95)
...WHAT ELSE HAS KINKEL DONE?...
KINKEL'S GAFFES BORN OF INEXPERIENCE
Klaus Kinkel is a straightforward, blunt man, notorious for plain speaking and diplomatic gaffes. . . a man who shoots from the hip without seeing the diplomatic pitfalls. . . [He] was catapulted into his present job with little warning, little previous party experience and little regard for the weasel words and diplomatic manoeuvring . . . For many years Herr Kinkel was a highly regarded civil servant, the head of Germany's external intelligence service . . . (...his term at the world's 2nd largest intelligence organisation after the CIA was marked by a number of successes.) . . . and the eminence grise as permanent undersecretary in the Justice Ministry. . . A sharp-minded lawyer who looks younger than his 59 years, Herr Kinkel has little tact or charisma but is admired for his doggedness, stamina and intelligence." (The London Telegraph, 12-31-96)
...A RECENT COINCIDENCE OF A GERMAN F.M.S VISIT AND A BOMBING?...
A LUCKY COINCIDENCE SPARKS A DIPLOMATIC TOUR DE FORCE BY FISCHER IN THE MIDEAST
...A German diplomat calls it 'coincidence' -- a stroke of fate -- that Foreign Minister Joseph Fischer happened to be in [Tel Aviv during the June 1 bombing]. . . Coincidence. As though in a tacit agreement, the same word is used by the Israeli side. By convincing Yasser Arafat to announce an unconditional cease-fire and start a manhunt for the perpetrators on the day after the explosion, 'Fischer accomplished something great,' one Israeli diplomat says, adding: 'Israel has awaited such a declaration for months.'
"Having granted that much praise, the Israelis also rush to emphasize the pure 'coincidence' of Mr. Fischer being on the scene at the decisive moment. . . This may signal that the Europeans' time has come. . . Mr Fischer's intervention after the disco bombing reinforced the shift in opinion, providing evidence 'that Europe can actually accomplish something,' says an Israeli diplomat. The Israelis and Palestinians in Berlin present a remarkably similar and positive assessment of the German role in these developments." (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 6-13-01)
...BUT COULD GERMANY BE CAPABLE OF SUCH DANGEROUS ACTS FOR AN AGENDAS SAKE?...
THE GERMAN WAY OF DEMOCRACY
...In Germany they order things differently. German democracy does not tolerate intolerance. Protecting Germany's constitution is not left just to voters or the courts. Germany also has a Federal Agency fo the Protection of the Constitution with a force of 'democracy agents' constantly assessing risks posed to the constitution by radical groups or political parties . . . As 'enemies of the constitution' they will be investigated and infiltrated. . . The passion for protecting the constitution...makes Germany a militant democracy. You don't just sit around and let unwanted things happen. (The Economist, 8-10-94)
BACK FROM HADES
On August 10th [1993], police at Munich airport seized 363 grams of weapons-grade plutonium smuggled in on board a Lufthansa flight from Moscow. . . The find caused an uproar. The German authorities, proud of their watchfulness, warned the world about attempted trafficking in the bomb. Chancellor Helmut Kohl wrote to Boris Yeltsin urging him to be ultra-careful with Russia's nuclear materials. That much is beyond dispute.
"...however, the Bundestag set up a formal committee of inquiry to answer a disturbing question: did Germany's secret service stage the whole plutonium scare as a self-serving stunt? . . . [Der Spiegel's] charge...is that the BND dreamt up the plutonium scare -- codenamed "Operation Hades" -- to strengthen its credibility as an intelligence force. . . The charge has been given some public plausibility by an admission by Bavarian legal officials that they knew the deadly cargo was on board the aircraft. . . Half of Munich could have been contaminated if the airliner had made a crash landing. . . The Russians are piling on the embarassment by happily treating the affair as a German fraud. By trying to demonstrate sloppy Russian security, they contend, the Germans hoped to bring Russia's nuclear programme under international control.
"Despite the embarrassing admission by Bavarian state officials, Mr. Kohl's intelligence boss, Bernd Schmidbauer denied all BND involvement . . . The denials from Mr. Schmidbauer, an engaging former physics teacher who had brought panache to the shadowy role of government intelligence chief, do not, however, cover the activities of Bavarian agents; technically, they do not come under his federal control. (The Economist, 8-10-94)
"...Bernd Schmidbauer has acknowledged that an informant...was present when plans were made in Madrid last June to smuggle weapons-grade plutonium-239 from Moscow to Munich." (The New York Times, 5-12-95)
"Judge Heinz Alert chastised the BND for Operation Hades and said it was walking a fine line." (Associated Press, 7-17-95)
"Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung said it has obtained confidential documents showing that the BND staged the...seizure...and that senior Bonn officials were informed of the operation. The chairman of the parliamentary committee investigating the operation...said...that he...was inclined to believe that German intelligence had a role in urging the sellers on." (Reuters, 12-13-95) "...[He also] said notes made by a Bavarian state police official and an undercover agent posing as a buyer for the plutonium indicated officials from the BND...had helped set up the deal." (Reuters, 12-14-95)
URANIUM SMUGGLING RAISES FEAR
...Jaroslav Vagner left his low-paying job at a Czech nuclear power station and . . . Police say he turned to nuclear smuggling . . . The Prague case involves not only Mr. Vagner...but also a Russian nuclear research center, a rogue German intelligence agent . . . Maj. Jan Rathausky, the Czech national police detective handling the investigation, said the group eventually made contact with a German middleman who brokered a possible deal with African buyers. . . U.S. investigators said they suspected the German middleman was working undercover for German intelligence, but they have no proof to back up that suspicion.
"The uranium trail has been muddled by the shadowy activity of an undercover German intelligence agent who was trying to buy enriched uranium . . . A German judge has ruled that the agent...set up the sting operation without seeking court approval as required. Court testimony indicates he also violated Czech law by operating undercover in Czech territory without permission." (The Dallas Morning News, 5-26-96)
...AND WHAT ELSE HAS GERMAN INTELLIGENCE DIRTIED THEIR HANDS WITH?...
SPY ROW HITS BONN AS BOOK BARES ALL
It was meant to provide a boost to the flagging morale of Germany's much-maligned foreign intelligence service. But a book, Verschlusssache BND (BND: Classified Matters), purporting to be the first 'inside' story of . . . one of Europe's most powerful and most secretive intelligence services . . . has instead left spy chiefs cringing in embarrassment. . . Investigators tried to establish who precisely had leaked to Udo Ulfkotte, the author, so much classified information about the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Information Service) . . . The book also claims to reveal just how much the Germans knew about the weapon-building programmes of unstable regimes . . . Another of the book's more dramatic claims, which the BND has not denied, is that radioactive hashish, grown around the Chernobyl power station, is being deliberately exported to Europe to blackmail countries into giving more aid to Ukraine. (The Sunday London Times, 7-20-97)
GERMAN SPIES ACCUSED OF ARMING BOSNIANS
Germany's espionage service (BND) is in turmoil following revelations that spy chiefs ran covert and illegal (which broke both German and international law) operations sending arms to Bosnia's Muslims and Croatia during the war in the former Yugoslavia. . . One of the most damaging [charges] is that the BND infiltrated the European Union's monitoring missions in former Yugoslavia and used them as cover to run arms and cash to Bosnia's Muslim forces. . . Jo Angerer, an investigative reporter on Monitor, says the Control Commission must determine whether 'the BND was running operations with or without government approval. If it did have approval then this is an even more serious issue.' . . When the war broke out, Britain and the US did not want to get involved in arming Croatia, says Paul Beaver, an expert in Balkan security. After meetings 'at a high European level' it was indicated to the Germans 'OK, it's your bag of tricks, you sort it out.' However, 'German support seemed to go further than the British and Americans had expected.'" (The London Telegraph, 4-20-97)
10 YEARS LATER: LA BELLE DISCO BOMBING
...Reagan claimed Qaddafi was behind a fatal Berlin bombing. Now, documents from East German spy files raise new questions. On April 5, 1985, a bomb rocked the La Belle discotheque in West Berlin, a club frequented by US soldiers. . . But a decade later, the haze surrounding the identities and motives of those responsible still lingers. . . Early on, the German government arrested various people, but then released them for lack of evidence. . . Now, a closer reading of the Stasi records casts serious doubt on claims of Libyan responsibility. The files instead reveal a rat's nest of double and triple agents, competing intelligence service, and multiple allegiances, that leaves the identity of the crime's authors more uncertain than ever. Like so many other unexplained events in the history of covert operations, the La Belle disco bombing has become a swamp with little solid ground.
"That the Nuri group was thoroughly infiltrated by Western secret services also gave renewed vigor to old claims that the US either commissioned the bombing or knew about it and let it happen for policy reasons -- as an excuse to attack Libya. . . Stasi: 'It was our opinion that the conspirators were in contact with the West German secret service, the CIA and the police.' . . The Stasi files contain strong hints, multiplied elsewhere, that the West Germans and the US, at the least, had agents in place who knew of the bombing. They did not prevent it." (Covert Action Quarterly, Spring 1996)
3 IN GERMANY CHARGED WITH SELLING LIBYA EQUIPMENT TO MAKE NERVE GAS
Three business men have been charged with selling the Libyan government advanced equipment that can be used to manufacture nerve gas, German authorities said . . . But no sooner had the Bonn government given out the news than the country's top intelligence agency was forced to acknowledge that a few years ago it had recruited one of the three suspects . . ." (The Dallas Morning News, 8-22-96)
GUESS WHO CAME TO DEUTSCHLAND
Germany's 'critical dialogue' [with Iran] has gone beyond the realm of commerce. On October 17, 1993, the glass doors of the Kanzleramt, Kohl's office complex in Bonn, opened to receive an unusual guest: Ali Fallahian, the chief of Iran's foreign intelligence service. (He is the architect of an international terror organization that has carried out assassinations...and other acts of terrorism.) Personally hosted by Bernd Schmidbauer, Fallahian was treated to several days of respectful meetings, including a tour of the German Federal Intelligence Agency headquarters outside Munich.
"German officials have conceded that Fallahian was given about $70,000 worth of computer software and that Germany's secret service retain unspecified channels to their Iranian counterparts. . . Germany's Federal Crime Office wanted to arrest Fallahian upon his arrival in Bonn...but Kohl's office blocked it. The Fallahian visit caused an furor in Germany. Opposition politicians, human rights groups, and the German press raised sharp questions about the Kohl government's dealings with the man believed responsible for so much terrorism . . ." ("Germany's New Ostpolitik", Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec 1995)
GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER
Slowly, world leaders are waking up to a malaise Israel has been fighting for years: international terrorism. Yet German acquiescence and other weak links still enable the bombers to strike with virtual impunity. On Thursday, June 27, . . while the news spotlight focused on Lyons [for the G7 meeting], German officials quietly loaded an apparently unremarkable passenger onto an international flight. His name: Hafiz Kassem Dalkamoni. His destination: Damascus. [He] had served half of a 15-year sentence for trying to blow up an American military train.
"More interestingly, he is widely suspected of planning the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 . . . Scottish investigating officials naturally sought to question [him], but the German authorities, they claim, blocked their efforts. . . Many of the people closest to the investigation are certain Iran initiated and paid for the bombing, hiring Kalkamoni's arrested-then-freed German-based terror cell . . . Jim Swire, spokesman for the Lockerbie relatives, has said: 'We firmly believe that Dalkamoni and his gang were the prime movers, but the Germans are determined to conceal the truth.'
"In terms of preventive security measures, the U.S., amazingly, remains among the offenders -- continuing to place responsibility for the safety of foreign-bound passengers in the hands of private security firms . . . But in terms of failing to thwart the states that sponsor terrorism, it is several Western European countries that are the major culprits, with Germany at the head of the pack. The the fury of the U.S. administration, they have consistently undermined Washington's efforts to contain the biggest terrorism exporter of all, Iran. . . And the secretive deportation of Dalkamoni is only the most recent blatant example of German complicity with the Teheran regime.
"Dalkamoni is not the only Lockerbie suspect that Germany has turned loose, presumably to plot more violence. The suspected Lockerbie bomb maker himself, Marwan Khreesat, one of the 13 other PFLP-GC members arrested with Dalkamoni in October 1988, was freed by German police . . . And Dalkamoni's leading accomplice, Abdel Ghadanfar,...was also quietly let out in mid-sentence and deported to Syria last year.
"Iran has also been able to use Germany as a base for terror operations. Shocking evidence, recently brought to light by Germany's own federal intelligence organization (BfV), shows Iran to be using the 3rd floor of its Bonn embassy as a veritable terrorism center. . . Iran has reportedly used Germany too as a center for buying weaponry . . . then ship the supplies home via a network of privately run airports maintained in Germany . . . Germany maintains the [Iranian] ties for fear of losing the staggering $8.6 billion Iran owes it in foreign debt, and also in return for Teheran's guarantees that its territory will remain immune to terrorism.
"The German official most closely identified with this policy is Bernd Scmidbauer,... who brokered the recent Israel-Hizballah exchange of bodies and prisoners -- and used it to underline the value of ties with Iran. But while Netanyahu publicly praised Schmidbauer's role, many intelligence sources believe this humanitarian aspect of German-Iranian ties is a fig leaf, a pretext to justify the wider contacts." (The Jerusalem Report, 8-22-96)
...AND WHO EXACTLY IS THIS BOND FROM BONN?...
HERO OR VILLIAN?
Bernd Schmidbauer has won some praise as a hostage mediator, but more criticism as Iran's man in the West. . . American officials, trying to isolate Iran, are particularly incensed by Schmidbauer's wider activities. According to their reading, there was more to the unprecedented Israeli-Hizballah swap than met the eye, and many of the hitherto hidden details reflect rather less well on the mediator.
"The 'James Bond from Bonn,' as he has become known, coordinates the 3 German secret services, yet is his country's most colorful politician. . . But his professional life is equally fascinating -- showing him to be an ambitious adventurer with loyalties that are hard to pin down. . . [and some] claim he has 'a notorious tendency to tell untruths'. . . The greatest international unease surrounds his curious relationship with Ali Fallahiyan...and the accords and 'understandings' the pair have cooked up in recent years. (The Jerusalem Report, 8-22-96)
(See also: "BONN'S '008' WITH A LICENCE TO MEDIATE" in The European, 8-4-96, for a "portrait". )
...CALL ME PARANOID, BUT WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GERMAN NAMES INVOLVED?...
* Richard Matsch: Chief U.S. District Judge (since 6-94) who also served 3 years in the Army, performing counter-intelligence in Korea after the war. [His] most prominent cases have included...and the civil rights trial of 2 white supremacists who killed Jewish radio talk-show host Alan Berg in 1984.
* Joseph Hartzler: Chief Prosecutor
* Beth Wilkinson: Special Assistant US Attorney
* Scott Mendeloff: Prosecutor
* Steve Burmeister: Supervisor in FBI lab
* Roger Martz: Chief of the Chemistry & Toxicology Unit of the FBI lab
* Helmut Hofer: owner of the Imperial Motel in Kingman
* Tom Kessinger: Employee of Elliot's Body Shop in Junction City
* Lea McGown: Owner of Dreamland Motel in Junction City who is from Germany
* Tom Manning: Sold McVeigh the car in Junction City
* Hans-Ekkehard Butzer, Torrey Butzer and Sven Berg: designed the OKC Bombing Memorial! (To me, this is just the German nail in the German-made coffin - full of dead Americans.)
IN CONCLUSION
"What would cause so many people at the highest levels of government to involve themselves in a criminal conspiracy of this kind? Obviously, the stakes are high. Apparently, the risk is considered worth it."
("The ghost of Tim McVeigh", WorldNetDaily, 6-11-01)
Yes, the stakes are high! Can you just imagine the fallout if the American people found out that one of our closest allies double-crossed us and shed American blood? Think of the diplomatic, economic, military and strategic consequences! Just where would this road have led? Do you now see the enormity and scope of this, and why Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were rail-roaded? It seems that a matter of national security was at stake.
So I recommend that Klaus Kinkel, Bernd Schmidbauer and Andreas Strassmeir should be subpoenaed for questioning during the civil trials about their involvement in the bombing. If they refuse to cooperate, then maybe a case could be made before The Hague Tribunal to have them investigated for crimes against humanity.
Now, while I do not have all the "i"s dotted and the "t"s crossed, and all the holes plugged with an answer, I do believe that "...while details may be wrong, the overall picture may be right." (Manfred Zuch, a deputy for the German Green Party and a member of the Control Commission which oversees the country's intelligence services)
* "Michael - have only skimmed it... will read it carefully when I get caught up on a couple matters. Liked what I saw, a lot!!" (Roger Charles)
* "Michael - pardon me for the long delay but I just finished your most interesting piece. You do not claim to have all the i's dotted nor all the t's crossed but the questions you raise are most intriguing. I will save and use your piece as a reference tool. You've done a lot of very excellent research. I hope something positive comes from all your time and effort. Thx for sharing this with me." (Roger Charles)
posted by The Daily Warrior | 7:30 PM
