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JW President Tom Fitton Targets Iraq in Media Appearance

Following is an edited transcript from a September 10 media appearance by JW President Tom Fitton on Court TV’s Catherine Crier Live. The discussion involved Iraq¹s role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Crier: An appropriate debate, under the circumstances these days: Is there a connection between 9-11, the Oklahoma City bombing, and Saddam Hussein? Well, absolutely, say two of my next guests. I’m joined on the phone by Oklahoma City bombing survivor, V.Z. Lawton, a plaintiff in the suit against Iraq, Tom Fitton, he’s President of Judicial Watch, and they’re filing suits on behalf of the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center survivors. Also joining us, former FBI Agent, Bill Daly. I’m going to run over to Tom Fitton, because I want to be sure we get all this in before the show¹s over. Tom, give me a couple of big points here.

Fitton: Iraqi phone numbers were found with Timothy McVeigh when he was arrested. Mr. Nichols, who was over at Cebu City in the Philippines was there about the same time as [terrorist] Ramzi Yousef, and came back with alarming abilities to build bombs, abilities that he didn’t have prior to his Philippine trip. You’ve got U.S. defense officials quoted in the U.S. News & World Report thinking that McVeigh may have been an Iraqi agent. There¹s lots of information. Take Interpol, for instance. [JW Client] V.Z. Lawton asked for documents concerning Oklahoma City from Interpol. He got an article back naming Ramzi Yousef in the Trade Center bombing and, obviously, Interpol thought there was a connection and obviously Iraq is a well known sponsor of state terrorism. Even McVeigh, himself, was sympathetic to the Iraqi cause. You’ve got writings out of McVeigh in prison supporting Saddam’s regime. The ties are there.

Crier: Let’s talk about the FBI’s take on this because this has been debated now for several years. Any evidence? Any hard evidence that you see Mr. Daly?

Daly: Well, certainly I can’t speak for the FBI, but all I can tell you is that the thought that there’d be some conspiracy theory to be able to hide, destroy and change the evidence in this case I think is very far a field. We’re looking at agents who are sworn to uphold the laws of this country. We’re talking about literally hundreds, hundreds of investigators who are involved in this case. We’re talking about some type of conspiracy that embodies this massive group of people who have a lot of things to lose.

Crier: There are actually two positions. One that the government is hiding information that, in fact, a connection, which, I don¹t know why they would right now since they’re trying to rally us to go to war, and number two, that the inept government, the inept FBI and CIA haven¹t figured this out yet.

Fitton: Well, at the time, politically it was more convenient for Bill Clinton to blame Rush Limbaugh for the bombing, than to look overseas. Remember, there were others unknown, and this conspiracy did go wider, according to the U.S. Government, than Mr. Nichols and Mr. McVeigh.

Crier: I assume then you’ve tracked down the Iraqi phone numbers found with him. You’ve done that work?

Fitton: Well, that¹s what discovery is for. We expect to hear any day now that Iraq has been served with the lawsuit. When they don¹t show up, we¹re going to be seeking a default judgment and later, once we get that, we¹ll be able to show a judge that we had a great basis for moving forward here. Hopefully, we¹ll be able to get discovery to allow us to further solidify what we already believe is a very strong case tying Iraq to Oklahoma City.

Crier: I don’t know where you¹re going to get that discovery but, in terms of the investigation, Bill, are you comfortable that the various relevant agencies took this apart looking for that connection?

Daly: Yeah. I’m very comfortable. I don’t believe they would have missed something that the U.S. News and World Report or some other reporting agency then called up. I think what we’re seeing here is a lot of information, some of it historical, some of it accurate, [being used by] people who are looking for some greater conspiracy. I understand a need for people and victims and their families to look for something larger.

Crier: There just doesn’t seem to be a natural fit, the militia movement of the United States and Iraq.

Fitton: Well, the fact is, McVeigh did have sympathies for the government of Iraq. We got information from an FBI 302 interview report where the FBI was warned through one of its sources that there may have been Iraqi agents on the ground and Oklahoma City was a target. And who, prior to April 19, 1995, would have though that Oklahoma City was a target of Iraq? The coincidences are too strong. This is not a therapy session on behalf of the victims. A lot of judges have asked questions of whether the government investigation has been adequate.