The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror [Paperback]

David Hoffman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998

This in-depth investigation allegedly uncovers terrifying information about the tragic Oklahoma City bombing and suggests that terrorist acts are used by the government to increase wiretapping, search and seizure, and invasive surveillance of private citizens. Photos & illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Hoffman's argument that Timothy McVeigh was a pawn of others in the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing begins with a single but powerful premise: that a bomb made of fertilizer and fuel oil couldn't have caused the massive structural damage to the Murrah Federal Building, despite the federal government's insistence to the contrary. Hoffman's experts argue that it would have taken either a special explosive additive to the fuel oil-fertilizer bomb or military-type explosives to create sufficient destructive power. Both suppositions point to a conspiracy larger than simply McVeigh and his friend Terry Nichols. Hoffman believes the real architects of the tragedy are neo-Nazi groups McVeigh mixed with, possibly connected to Middle Eastern terrorists. With McVeigh and Nichols both found guilty, some people wish to end the matter. Hoffman's mountain of evidence will suggest to others that additional co-conspirators may very well exist. Brian McCombie

Product Details

• Paperback: 509 pages
• Publisher: Feral House (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0922915490
• ISBN-13: 978-0922915491
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Hoffman has been a television writer, a creative consultant, and an on-camera reporter for ABC and FOX covering trends and popular culture. He is the author of numerous pop culture books, including Kid Stuff, which celebrates classic toys, and The Easy-Bake Oven Gourmet. He lives in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What Really Happened in OKC?, June 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror (Paperback)

This book really floored me. Like many Americans I accepted the version of events surrounding the Oklahoma City bombing that was fed to me by the media and by the government. Then a friend made some comments about "other evidence" that had come out regarding this tragedy that made me sit up and take notice.

I wasn't satisfied with just his word so I started digging. What I found really bothered me. This book is 180 degrees from what you have heard on the news. Some of the other reviewers have noted specifics so I won't repeat them but let it suffice to say that there is evidence that supports the case that the government either knew about that bombing and didn't stop it or that the government itself is directly responsible.

I read this book thinking that this or that testimony is simply not provable and that this or that fact is probably being misinterpreted because I didn't want to get sucked into any cockamamie conspiracy theories but there's just too much that is odd about this case to accept the version that the government claims is true.

For instance, if Tim McVeigh had just set off a massive bomb that was bound to kill many people why would he meekly surrender to a traffic cop 45 minutes later when he was armed? Why balk at killing a cop when you just killed 168 people with truck bomb?

Likewise, Terry Nichols walks into a police station after seeing his face on the news and surrenders. The FBI then finds all this bomb making equipment and other evidence at his farm. Why didn't he try to destroy or hide this damning evidence before he just walks in and hands himself over for the crime of the century?

Was it because they were both just stupid or was it because they needed to be caught to advance a larger conspiracy? Perhaps one aimed at pulling the teeth of the "radical right" that was gaining popularity in its efforts to blow the whistle on the government's misdeeds at places like Ruby Ridge and Waco?

During the trials why would the government refuse to allow any testimony or evidence contrary to that which pointed the finger solely at McVeigh and Nichols? Why was the hunt for John Doe 2 dropped? No explanation for this was offered by the government and no testimony was allowed at the trial from the people who had seen JD2 with McVeigh on the day of the bombing. Why not show the security camera tape that was taken from a nearby building? Why has no one outside of the government seen these tapes? The only portion of the tape shown in the trail was a still frame showing the truck exploding. Why not show the whole thing? Could it be that the tape shows McVeigh and JD2 together? Could it be that the tape shows TWO explosions: one from inside the building and one from the truck? What is the government hiding? Why is the defense being shackled?

This book asks these kinds of questions and offers evidence to support the claims. Most of it is just eye witness testimony since all of the hard evidence was destroyed and buried in a secret location by the government before the McVeigh trial was even over; the defense wasn't permitted to examine the evidence independently. The government did that a Waco, too: Hmmm...

This books asks some very important questions but it is not perfect. The format and organization was difficult to follow at times and the author is not above hyperbole or jumping to conclusions that are not exactly true. For instance the author, in an effort to show that the government does involve itself in conspiracies, states that FDR knew about the impending Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Now, this has never been proven so for the author to state this as if it were proven fact is unethical in my opinion and only hurts his otherwise good message.

By all means read this book carefully and don't get sucked into every conspiracy theory you hear but likewise don't discount something just because the government says its not true. The government has been caught many times in lies before so there is no reason for you to take their word for ANYTHING. Do your own research and make up your own mind. One way or another there is more to this than we are being told.

You will only find this book in the library now that the government has leveled lawsuits against the author and publisher to make them stop printing this book and destroy all remaining copies. Hmmm...

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A potent package in need of editing, May 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror (Paperback)

This is by far the most interesting and provocative book available on the bombing in Oklahoma City. The author marshals several devastating attacks on the Government's story, and leaves the reader convinced there is much more to know about the OKC bombing. In particular, I found him persuasive of the following:

- Tim McVeigh was not alone on the day of the bombing. His companions included at least one unindicted co-conspirator, the infamous John Doe 2, whom the FBI is making no attempt to find. JD2 and other unarrested, unsought persons accompanied and assisted McVeigh in the days and weeks before the bombing. The Government's accounts of McVeigh's movements, activities, and sources of funds are incomplete when they are not unbelievable.

- A crude fertilizer bomb would have been much too weak to cause the damage observed. Therefore, other explosives were employed - either in the truck or the building or both - to destroy the APMB. Since acquisition of such materials was beyond McVeigh's and Terry Nichols' means, they must have had help getting them.

- Not all of the persons killed in the blast have been accounted for. In particular, a severed leg found in the wreckage did not come from a named victim, and therefore may have belonged to an additional bomber.

- The ATF and US Marshal's office had specific prior knowledge of plans to attack the Federal Building, on or near the date of the attack, and acted upon that knowledge, but did little or nothing to prevent the attack.

- Evidence responsive to the question of the identity of McVeigh's companion(s) - specifically, security camera tapes from various locations - has been confiscated and suppressed by the Government.

- The BATF and possibly also the DEA stored weapons and explosives in the Federal Building prior to the explosion. Unexploded ordnance and weapons, as well as boxes probably containing documents, were removed from the building shortly after the blast. It is not alleged that the stored explosives contributed to the blast, but the quantities and types of materials stored raise questions about the activities of the OKCity BATF office.

- Among known associates of McVeigh were persons with covert ties to law enforcement and/or intelligence agencies.

- The FBI has, in one other case, paid an informant to conduct activities indistinguishable from conspiracy to commit murder by truck bomb. Specifically, they had an informant within the cell that exploded a truck bomb in the World Trade Center in 1993. This informant offered to secretly disable the bomb, but was told not to by the FBI. The resulting explosion killed six people, and could well have killed thousands more.

Having praised this work, I must now damn it as well. There is much here that could and should have been left out, and the overall organization is a fright. A great deal of interesting material is in this book, but much of it is not germane to the bombing.

For example, the author delves into alleged abuses of prosecutorial power committed by Janet Reno against a woman accused of child abuse. This is interesting, and plausible enough, but as it occurred before Reno became Attorney General it is not at all relevant to OKC.

Another chapter comprises a lengthy review of MKULTRA and assorted mind control technologies, as background to a discussion on the possibility Tim McVeigh was implanted with some sort of transponder. The problem is Hoffman presents no good reason to think he was, and the background information is better presented elsewhere.

Much information about PanAm 103 (Lockerbie) and various government sponsored terrorist acts are here as well. This is well worth reading, but does not do much to advance knowledge of the OKC bombing.

Mr. Hoffman presents some very convincing evidence (particularly of the existance of JD2), but it is scattered around and mixed with more speculative material.

Finally, the book needs a map, to trace the peregrinations and various reported sightings of Tim and his friends and the peripatetic yellow truck(s).

Don't get me wrong - I heartily recommend this book, and encourage Mr. Hoffman to update it - but it is not a straightforward and cogent read.

If you can get your hands on a copy, do so, as a lawsuit has forced the publisher to destroy thousands of copies, and it is getting increasingly difficult to find. Unfortunately, the suit seems to be directed against some of the less relevant material.

Perhaps Mr. Hoffman can trim around the edges, and re-release this important work.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sad awakening, November 29, 2001

By 

Deborah00 (FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror (Paperback)

Like most of the people who read this book I was shocked and saddened by what I learned. At one time I would have dismissed books like this as conspiracy. But I happened to see it at a used book store one day right after McVeigh was executed and remembered seeing a few family members of the victims on TV (very briefly, since the camera's moved on quickly from them) saying they wanted more investigations, and the other suspects that were reported by witnesses to be found. They were sayng that justice has not been done. Also about this time the FBI was in the news for withholding documents in that Alabama church bombing in the 60's, and for the 3000 pages of documents that mysteriously re-appeared just before the execution. (In the book McVeigh's attorney had stated all along that they were not forthcoming with all the information they had). In addition, an expose about this was on '60 Minutes' with agents being interviewed. So I bought it, and I have since continued to read other books like it. It is disappointing and disheartening to learn the truth, but sticking my head in the sand is not the solution. As the title indicates, the book is not just about the Oklahoma bombing, but the politics of terror in general. It is full of information we never knew about our government, and many dirty dealings. And after the 9/11 attack, many things mentioned in the book were validated even more, if there was any doubt. As mentioned by another person, it was poorly edited, but it should be no surprise that it would be hard to get any of the better and well known publishers to take this book. It's just unforunate that most of America prefers to be willfully ignorant and oblivious, and will not bother to read this or any other book like it. If they weren't so content sitting on the sofa and ordering pizza, and instead read this kind of material, we might have a real people's movement in this country and demand better conduct from our leaders--especially abroad. Then we might not be so hated around the world and we might not be under attack now. It's sad to see how ignorant our people are compared to the rest of the world.