Oklahoma City Bombing Tapes Edited
September 28, 2009
What is going on here?
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Long-secret security tapes showing the chaos immediately after the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building are blank in the minutes before the blast and appear to have been edited, an attorney who obtained the recordings said Sunday.
"The real story is what's missing," said Jesse Trentadue, a Salt Lake City attorney who obtained the recordings through the federal Freedom of Information Act as part of an unofficial inquiry he is conducting into the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more.
Trentadue gave copies of the tapes to The Oklahoman newspaper, which posted them online and provided copies to The Associated Press.
The tapes turned over by the FBI came from security cameras various companies had mounted outside office buildings near the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. They are blank at points before 9:02 a.m., when a truck bomb carrying a 4,000 pound fertilizer-and-fuel-oil bomb detonated in front of the building, Trentadue said.
What was edited out? Why were the tapes edited? It does seem unusual that the taped edited out the actual bombing. Could it be that Tim McVeigh did not act alone? Perhaps others - unapprehended terrorists - were involved? Something more sinister?
Right, right, right. It's just a coincidence that the most-reliable evidence - evidence that would have conclusively established exactly how many bombs were blown up - has somehow vanished.
Tape delay. Stuff happens, and it's not like the government would lie. Turn on the television, and crack open an ice-cold Budweiser. Beeeelch.
What were we talking about? Whatever; the commercial break is over. UPDATE: Oops, cable is out. Dang. Guess I'll read something. Maybe a lunatic conspiracy theory? Here's one from Wikipedia:
Several witnesses reported a second person seen around the time of the bombing; investigators would later call him "John Doe 2". There are several theories that the second person was also affiliated with the bombing and was even a possible foreign connection to McVeigh and Nichols.... One reporter for The Washington Post reflected on the fact that a John Doe 2 has never been found: "Maybe he'll [John Doe 2] be captured and convicted someday. If not, he'll remain eternally at large, the one who got away, the mystery man at the center of countless conspiracy theories. It's possible that he never lived. It's likely that he'll never die."
Might the edited out video have revealed a John Doe 2? OK, OK, OK. You're right. John Doe 2's involvement is a conspiracy theory. It is therefore untrue on its face. And, yes, it was a coincidence that the tape (which would have shown this "John Doe 2") was edited. Or on tape delay. Or something.
Time to pop in a DVD, as only an insane person would wonder why the tapes were edited. A sane person drinks Budweiser and watches television.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Must be getting drunk, as I found this weird video. Why does live coverage of the bombing reveal more than one bomb? The Official Story involves only one bomb. One man, one truck, one bomb.
Certainly live media coverage is less reliable than an official government report. Ding! Microwave went off. Time for a nutrient-rich Hot Pocket. ("Hot Pockets are microwaveable turnovers usually containing a combination of cheese, meat, and vegetables. Hot Pockets are currently produced by Nestlé internationally.")
There is nothing to see here. My apologizes for causing alarm: