Episode 78: Oklahoma City Bombing
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This episode looks at the facts and conspiracies surrounding the Oklahoma City Bombing.
On April 19, 1995, a twenty-foot Ryder truck packed with thousands of pounds of explosives detonated and killed 168 people. It was the handiwork of a young and disenfranchised Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols who were upset by the Ruby Ridge and Waco, Texas standoffs. Well, at least that’s the official account. We explore this official story in some detail and then go on, of course, to look at the conspiracy theories that surround this American tragedy—and there are plenty to go around.
Was McVeigh a member of the Aryan Republican Army centered out of a white supremacist compound called Elohim City? Was he a secret double agent sent to bring this terrorist group down for the government? Was Nichols traveling to the Philippines and training with known terrorist Ramzi Yousef and Kaleed Sheik Mohamed, the masterminds behind the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the 911 attacks? Was there an Al Qaeda connection to this bombing? Also, who was John Doe Number 2, why was the FBI investigation (the largest in the agency’s history at the time) so botched and so many solid leads discarded? From false flag theories to explosive experts saying this bomb was impossible, we cover it all. In the end, we don’t see eye to eye on the conspiracy, truth, or motives behind the bombing, but we at least stay civil about it this time. Give it a listen; it’s pretty crazy territory.