FBI 'knew in advance' of  Oklahoma bomb
                    By Hugo Gurdon in Washington 


                          THE trial of Timothy McVeigh for the
                          1995 Oklahoma bomb was a government
                    cover-up to shield FBI agents who knew about
                    the plot but failed to stop it, according to a book
                    by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard alleging massive
                    corruption under President Clinton.

                    With McVeigh already sentenced to death for the
                    blast which killed 168 people, and Terry Nichols,
                    an alleged accomplice, standing trial, the book's
                    claim will spark anger, particularly in Oklahoma
                    City where witnesses saw bomb squad officers
                    before the explosion, and 70 per cent of citizens
                    believe that the government is lying about it.

                    The Secret Life of Bill Clinton includes a
                    transcript of an official debriefing of Carol Howe,
                    an undercover informant for the Bureau of
                    Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Howe warned
                    that the Oklahoma federal building had been a
                    target and said: "Strassmeir has talked frequently
                    about direct action against the US government.
                    He is trained in weaponry and has discussed
                    assassinations, bombings and mass shootings . . ."

                    Andreas Strassmeir, a former German army
                    officer, had penetrated a neo-Nazi commune
                    called Elohim City (God's City), from which, the
                    book says, the terrorist attack may have been
                    planned and executed. Despite this and despite
                    interviewing more than 20,000 witnesses, the
                    government has interviewed Strassmeir only on
                    the telephone a year after the bombing when he
                    had fled to Germany.

                    The author, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, who
                    worked as The Sunday Telegraph correspondent
                    in Washington until the summer and who now
                    works for The Daily Telegraph, recounts a
                    remarkable interview of his own with Strassmeir.
                    They discuss an "informant". Strassmeir has
                    denied that he was referring to himself during the
                    conversation.

                    Mr Evans-Pritchard writes: " 'There comes a
                    time in every botched operation when the
                    informant has to speak out to save his skin,
                    and that's now, Andreas'. " 

                    " 'How can he?' Strassmeir shouted into the
                    telephone. "What happens if it was a sting
                    operation from the very beginning? What
                    happens if it comes out that the plant was a
                    provocateur?'

                    'A provocateur?'

                    'What happens if he talked and manipulated the
                    others into it? What then? The country couldn't
                    handle it. The relatives of the victims are going to
                    go crazy. He's going to be held responsible for
                    the murder of 168 people.'

                    'That is true.'

                    'Of course the informant can't come forward.
                    He's scared shitless right now.'

                    'It sounds to me as if you've got a problem,
                    Andreas.'

                    'Schiesse'. "

                    Some 300 members of the victims' families are
                    suing the government claiming that the bombing
                    was a "government sting" designed to trap
                    neo-Nazis but which went horribly wrong.

                    There is no doubt that McVeigh was guilty, says
                    the author, but the whole truth has been
                    concealed because none of the witnesses who
                    saw McVeigh with accomplices was called to
                    testify by the prosecution. That would have led
                    back to Elohim City and the culpable
                    incompetence of the FBI and ATF, the book
                    argues.

                    These conclusions may gain credence even
                    among the sceptical American press following
                    comment yesterday by Robert Novak, a
                    respected columnist, in the Washington Post.
                    Dismissing previous smears of the author, Mr
                    Novak writes, he "is no conspiracy theory lunatic
                    (and) is known for accuracy, industry and
                    courage".

                    The Secret Life of Bill Clinton also documents a
                    cover-up in the death of Vince Foster, deputy
                    White House counsel, officially ruled a suicide.
                    The author has evidence of obstruction and
                    systematic falsehood in the official version of
                    events - prompting the lead investigator, Miquel
                    Rodriguez, to resign.

                    Patrick Knowlton, a witness, refused to retract
                    testimony that he saw a thuggish man standing
                    guard at Fort Marcy Park shortly before Mr
                    Foster's body was found.

                    The night before Mr Knowlton's second
                    interrogation by the FBI, his car was vandalised.
                    The author has tracked down the perpetrator: a
                    freelance FBI agent with the highest category of
                    security clearance. The book suggests that Mr
                    Foster's suspicious death may be linked to his
                    incriminating inside knowledge of alleged
                    corruption in Mr Clinton's government in
                    Arkansas.

                    Larry "L D" Brown, a former member of
                    Governor Clinton's security detail, recounts a
                    mission to Mexico allegedly to kill a man who
                    knew the state government was winking at
                    weapons smuggling to the Nicaraguan Contras.

                    The author writes: "Brown did not want to be on
                    the wrong side of a house-cleaning operation by
                    the CIA, so he accepted the mission."

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