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Fri June 9, 2006

Lawmaker wants investigation of city bombing

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See archived and current news related to the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building.

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By Chris Casteel
The Oklahoman
Californian's hearing would consider possible foreign ties to April 1995 attack.

WASHINGTON - A California congressman said Thursday he plans to hold a subcommittee hearing, possibly in the fall, on whether there was a foreign connection to the Oklahoma City bombing.


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Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, is chairman of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the International Relations Committee.

Nichols was interviewed
According to the congressman's office, Rohrabacher conducted "an extensive personal inquiry into the issue and his inquiry has now become an official congressional investigation that will culminate in a hearing of his subcommittee, most likely in September."

The congressman said in a statement, "We need to answer some very serious questions in order to have confidence that the truth of this monstrous crime is fully known."

Last year, Rohrabacher met with bombing conspirator Terry Nichols at a federal prison in Colorado. After the meeting, the congressman told The Oklahoman he hadn't heard anything "dramatic enough" to warrant a congressional hearing.

"I've yet to come to the threshold where I believe that all of the expense and effort that goes into a hearing and an investigation would be justified," Rohrabacher said then, though he also said he thinks there were others involved besides Nichols and Timothy McVeigh.

More recently, Rohrabacher sent a memo to Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the chairman of the International Relations Committee, saying he thinks Nichols and McVeigh had contact with "Arab, Muslim or Middle Eastern terrorist elements."

Nichols is serving a life sentence for his role in the bombing. McVeigh, who was convicted in the bombing, was executed in 2001.

Investigation questioned
Last year, on the tenth anniversary of the April 19, 1995, attack that caused the deaths of 168 people, Rohrabacher read a lengthy statement on the House floor, questioning whether federal authorities had completed their investigation into the case.

"Is the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing ... an active case or not?" he said. "If this is an ongoing investigation, the government must be holding open the possibility that this heinous crime was committed not just by McVeigh and Nichols but also by others unknown or others yet to be proven."

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