Atrios and David Niewert today both discuss the right wing attempted revival of the possibility of a connection between the Oklahoma City Bombing and Iraq, based on this Frank J. Gaffney Jr. column in the Washington Times. Roger Ailes discusses it here.

The McVeigh defense team tried to explore this angle, although as everyone knows, McVeigh never veered from insisting there was no such connection. This brief filed with the court and available free here, lays out the possible connection uncovered up to that point in time, and what further materials the defense was seeking from the Govenrment so as to be able to complete it's investigation. For those who are interested in this issue, we highly recommend reading the brief. Here is a quote from the brief:

The defense believes that there is credible evidence that a conspiracy to bomb federal property, very possibly the Murrah Building, is centered in Elohim City and the persons described which are associated with Elohim City, but that the technical expertise and possibly financial support came from a foreign country, most likely Iraq, but possibly Iran or another state in the Middle East. Dennis Mahon has admitted publicly to received money from Iraq, approximately once a month. D.E. 2191 at 11. According to Mahon, the money started arriving in 1991 after he began holding rallies protesting the Persian Gulf War. Id. Although the defense has no direct evidence linking Suspect I with Iraq, there is evidence indicating an indirect connection between Suspect I and Iraq through the militant Posse Comitatus group in Kansas.

McVeigh's lead counsel, Stephen Jones, wrote an excellent book, "Others Unknown" detailing his suspicions. But the journalist-written book "American Terrorist" is equally compelling for the proposition that there was no such connection.

Also read David Niewert's Salon article on the controversy over the Government's insistance there was no John Doe II.

We also agree with David Niewert (and disagree with Roger) about Laurie Mylroie. As David points out, she "was for a long time a serious and well-respected Middle East analyst."
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