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and determined what kind of explosives was needed. The bomb destroyed over one-third of the nine-story
If proper on-site surveillance could not be con- building, including a day care center located on the
ducted, Odeh said operatives might set up a food second floor. In all, 168 people, including 19 children
cart, taxi stand, or barber shop as a covert observa- and eight federal employees, perished; more than 500
tion post. Odeh later told a former CIA analyst were injured.
who interviewed him in jail that Al Qaeda some- Two days later, Timothy James McVeigh, then 26,
times recruited nonmembers to assist in low-level was charged in connection with the bombing. Amid
logistical tasks. throngs of spectators yelling “baby killer!” and “mur-
After his convictions, Odeh’s defense attorneys said derer!” authorities led McVeigh out of the Noble
Odeh “did not join Al Qaeda to follow Mr. bin Laden County Jail in Perry, Oklahoma, where he had been
or take orders from anyone blindly” but as a way to held on misdemeanor charges unrelated to the bomb-
“change oppressive circumstances” for Muslims. The ing. That same day, Terry Lynn Nichols, then 39,
attorney offered a political explanation for the embassy turned himself in to the police in Herington, Kansas,
bombings: in Odeh’s view, American support for Israel where he was held as a material witness before being
and U.S. troop presence “in the holy lands of Saudi formally charged in connection with the bombing.
Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and the Horn of Africa con- A third possible suspect, identified only as John Doe
stitutes provocation.” No. 2 from a police sketch, remained at large.
On October 18, 2001, U.S. district judge Leonard Rescue workers and investigators continued to
Sand imposed the life sentence on Odeh mandated by comb the rubble for nearly a month. On May 23,
his 213 murder counts. 1995, 150 pounds of dynamite were used to implode
what remained of the Murrah building. By then, pre-
See also MOHAMED RASHED AL-’OWHALI; AL QAEDA; OSAMA
liminary hearings had already begun. In late August
BIN LADEN; MUJAHIDEEN
1995, a federal grand jury indicted McVeigh and
Further Reading Nichols on murder and conspiracy charges. Two years
would pass before either would go to trial.
Bergen, Peter L. Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of
Osama bin Laden. New York: Free Press, 2001.
Gunaratna, Rohan. Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of THE TRIAL
Terror. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
Reeve, Simon. The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Opening statements for United States v. McVeigh began
Laden, and the Future of Terrorism. Boston: Northeastern on April 24, 1997, in a Denver, Colorado, courtroom.
University Press, 1999. The government presented several points: McVeigh’s
antigovernment beliefs; his anger over the government-
initiated sieges in Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho;
forensic evidence; telephone and rental records; John
OHS. See HOMELAND SECURITY, OFFICE OF.
Doe No. 1 sightings; the facts of McVeigh’s initial traf-
fic arrest on Interstate 35; and key testimony from
McVeigh’s Army buddy Michael Fortier, his wife, Lori,
OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING and McVeigh’s sister, Jennifer. Jennifer McVeigh testi-
fied to Timothy’s ascent from antigovernment protest
to “direct action,” while Michael and Lori Fortier, who
The 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal traded their testimony for lesser charges and immunity,
Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is among the respectively, told the court of McVeigh’s plan, hatched,
worst acts of domestic terrorism committed on U.S. the government asserted, in September 1994, as well as
soil. Although the two main suspects in the bombing, their roles in aiding his efforts. The judge also allowed
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Lynn Nichols, were both highly emotional testimony from survivors and vic-
tried and found guilty, questions about a larger con- tims’ family members, which often brought the jury of
spiracy remain. seven men and five women to tears.
On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 A.M., a rented Ryder McVeigh’s defense team, in the months preceding
truck carrying a 4,000-pound fertilizer bomb exploded the trial, launched a large and expensive independent
in front of the Murrah building in Oklahoma City. investigation focusing on the possibility that the