Customer Reviews

The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror

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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...

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.

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.

This enormous compendium of information about the Oklahoma City Bomb contextualizes that event with the data that official investigations and the press have abandoned now that the fix is in and Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols have been declared the lone bombers. It supplements Jim Keith's previous work, OKBomb!, in many ways, crissing-crossing what's in that book , adding to its body of knowledge and examining the OKC bomb as part of the "politics of terror" strategy that currently dominates international affairs. It includes an introduction by Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key adapted from an appeal letter that "does not necessarily imply Rep. Key's endorsement of the author's conclusions," noting also that author Hoffman and Key shared investigative leads and information. One conclusion that Key no doubt would affirm is the basic premise of the book: federal agencies know far more about the Oklahoma City bombing than they're willing to admit.

This book is extremely well researched and stunning in its conclusions. That this event could happen as described should shake to the core every American's faith in governments and their law enforcement institutions.

A note on reading the book: it is extremely dense. It is easy to lose site of the forest in each chapter as you hack your way through the trees. A clearer focus on story line instead of overwhelming us with an incredible density of detail would have made what is already a powerful read even more powerful. Also, I think the credibility of the author's message would have been enhanced if he just let the chilling facts speak for themselves, rather than resorting, at times, to shrill and childish editorializing.

However, neither of these criticisms should dissuade anyone from reading this book. As a matter of fact, it should be required reading for all people of democratic societies to rid them of the naive belief that governments work in the best interest of the people they supposedly serve.

Without intending to sound too cliche, it is people like David Hoffman who are the true defenders of the Bill of Rights in the American Constitution.

If this book interests you, you might also like any non-fiction by Gore Vidal (a big proponent of this book), Christopher Hitchens (The Trial Of Henry Kissenger, No One Left To Lie To) and the "fiction" of James Ellroy (American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand).

Given the incredible detail the author includes, the references and footnotes, the book is an amazingly fast read. A fascinating analysis of all parts of the bombing and the people associated with it.

I bought this book whe it first came out more than ten Years ago. One significant fact was that shortly after its release the FBI succeded in getting an Injunction to stop Feral press from printing it. The book itself is almost a smoking gun with the fingerprints of the goverments shadowy subversive agencies all over it. I am somewhat cynically amused at the people who admit this book disturbs their faith in the American Political establishment. In deed when the pertinent facts of the bombing were known to me a year befor this book came out my faith was "disturbed" also. Of course now I no longer view the US government as anything but a collection of criminals so nothing published about them surprizes me any more.
In fact our political infrastructure surrendered to the monsters long ago, and consists of a legion of chislers making whatever shady deals and compromises needed to get the days business done. Sometimes the mask slips and the sordid natuire of the beast is revealed like the Ex govenor of Illinois and his blatent selling of a senatorial appointment to replace Obama. But mostly, the public facade is kept intact, and the public are fed bogus "intelligence" from talking heads at PBS, or for the low brows, CNN.
The truth disturbs because Americans do not like to think of themselves living in the same kind of political sewer that is only supposed to exist in Banana Republics. It disturbs because it demands of those with a sense of ethics, the requirement to take action, and the knowledge that it is virtually the entire government hierarchy that one is ethically required to oppose, not just an odd crooked politician or two. It is the vast scope of the festering sewer that is revealed, and the knowlege that most of your fellow citizens are not prepared for such knowlege that suddenly confronts a person. It is like a child walking up a hill and as he passes the crest suddenly seeing an invading army on the other side. Your world is changed and what do you do?
That was my reaction in 1996 when I knew for sure that elements of the American government not only knew about it but managed it, turning a stupid idea of a bunch of mentally retarded neo Nazis, that would have in all probility gone nowhere even if ther weren't an alphabet soup of government agencies, all with their own undercover agents and informants, literally tripping all over each other at the Nutzi compound of Elohim City where the whole thing was hatched, into (until 9/11) the most deadly terrorist plot in American history. The terroists who plotted this one, however were all inside the Washington beltway.
So I will not hedge my review with meally-mouthed words like the goverment has a lot of questions to answer. Anyone expecting honest answers must also expect the likes of Bill Clinton, Louis Freeh, Janet Reno, and others to meekly walk into the execution chamber and say "yeah we knew about it or yeah we covered it up , here go ahead stick the needle in". Do I really need to say, it ain't gonna happen?
So what do you do when the shock wears off and you know, not think, but you know, just how dirty "your" government really is?
Well you have the obligation to educate, to spread the book and the other materials such as the Partin report, printed in the New American, to those thoughful Americans who are honest enough to be able to look a monstous sickening fact in the eye and not shy away in denial.
Good luck and welcome to what I have been living with for thirteen years.

This is an important book. It will not be available for long, so buy it NOW. The heaps of amazing quotations from former CIA directors alone, are worth 4 times the cover price. The details of the OKC event will prove to you that the Washington D.C. asylum is run by brilliant, and very, very creepy lunatics and criminals. If you can winnow out a few gaffs here and there, and collect the gems, you will see our Federal Government increasingly as a hog should regard an Oscar Meyer hotdog plant. The coincidence between a planned, national raid on militia groups three weeks before the OKC bombing - and the toothskin prevention of those raids by Texas Rep Steven Stockman, raises a really sickening possibility that becomes clear, if you BUY this book. Jane C. Graham, a HUD worker in the Murrah building wants the feds to know that people like her are NOT expendable for the sakes of their sting-operations-gone-bad. Are all of us expendable for the sake of the right sort of Reichstag event? Was the OKC bombing a sting operation, or an officially sanctioned event? In order to prime your credibility to the real possibilities, order Day of Deceit by Robert B. Stinnet on the Pearl Harbor event. With that in mind, buy and read Hoffman.

"DETAILED EVIDENCE ABOUT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S unholy alliance with the terrorist underworld---and of a sting operation that led to the Oklahoma City bombing---will no doubt shock many people.

Reporter David Hoffman's definitive, two-year investigation leads to a number of revelations....."
[from the book of the back cover]

Like the Warren Commission Report on the murder of John F. Kennedy, we have another super bullet or in this case bomb that can do stuff that can't be done(in science or logic). The FBI, ATF... don't have a good reputation of being top crime investigators; in fact under Hoover's watch they seemed more interested in getting "dirt" on top politicians, civil rights leaders...than solving crimes.

I never bought the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK on his own with an old rifle that had magic bullets. No matter that real sharpshooters couldn't reproduce his marksmanship; the fatal headshot very likely came from the front, not the rear. The evidence points to multiple shooters, but the government concluded that Oswald acted alone...baloney.

The Oklahoma City bombing is the same old sale's story from the FBI, which the author proves was faulty investigating by quoting real life bomb experts who say that a fertilizer bomb didn't do-do what the government said it done. Like the super bullet of Oswald, we have the super crap bomb of Timmy's! It seems the government is more interested in getting a warm human body convicted for the crime, and closing the case. Hey, it's a win for the government; who cares if someone else was involved or was the real killer(s)... what happened to justice in the US of A or did we ever have it(remember the verdict in OJ's trial, money and fame can buy you freedom for your sin's).