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Others Unknown: Timothy Mcveigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing Conspiracy
In Others Unknown , Stephen Jones, Timothy McVeigh's lawyer in his trial for the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Office Building in Oklahoma City, provides the fullest possible account of the worst act of terrorism in American history. In a complete revision of his 1998 hardcover, Jones tells for the first time the whole story of his investigation of the case, including what he was told by McVeigh and what he learned about others involved in the conspiracy. His account differs significantly from the tale McVeigh is telling as he faces execution for his crimes.
In interviews with Buffalo News journalists, reported in their recently released book American Terrorist (ReganBooks, April 2000), McVeigh claims total responsibility for the bombing, saying "It was my choice and my control to hit that building when it was full." In Others Unknown Jones sets the record straight, saying what he could not say when he first wrote this book, before McVeigh effectively waived attorney-client privilege: that based on what he learned as McVeigh's counsel, Jones knows that the bombing was a conspiracy, and that McVeigh was not its mastermind. "I'm not trying to say he was innocent. He has exaggerated his guilt to protect others. He played a role, but he was a foot soldier, a mule, not the general," says Jones.
"I know it did not happen the way he tells it in his book."
Jones reports in detail what McVeigh told him as the case progressed; explains why McVeigh did not plead guilty; and shows McVeigh's real role in the conspiracy and how he obstructed his own defense. This is the definitive historical record of a heinous act of murderous rage; an account indispensable to understanding what happened. And, says PublicAffairs CEO and publisher Peter Osnos:
"We think it's important that Tim McVeigh not be given the final word."
In interviews with Buffalo News journalists, reported in their recently released book American Terrorist (ReganBooks, April 2000), McVeigh claims total responsibility for the bombing, saying "It was my choice and my control to hit that building when it was full." In Others Unknown Jones sets the record straight, saying what he could not say when he first wrote this book, before McVeigh effectively waived attorney-client privilege: that based on what he learned as McVeigh's counsel, Jones knows that the bombing was a conspiracy, and that McVeigh was not its mastermind. "I'm not trying to say he was innocent. He has exaggerated his guilt to protect others. He played a role, but he was a foot soldier, a mule, not the general," says Jones.
"I know it did not happen the way he tells it in his book."
Jones reports in detail what McVeigh told him as the case progressed; explains why McVeigh did not plead guilty; and shows McVeigh's real role in the conspiracy and how he obstructed his own defense. This is the definitive historical record of a heinous act of murderous rage; an account indispensable to understanding what happened. And, says PublicAffairs CEO and publisher Peter Osnos:
"We think it's important that Tim McVeigh not be given the final word."
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
24 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 8, 2016
A long time ago, I read the first edition of this book. I have spent several years trying to get my hands on this updated newer edition. I wanted the opportunity to read the additional information resulting from the waiver of attorney/client privilege.
Why did this book matter to me, and why read it over 20 years after the event? I grew up in Oklahoma. I took my Civil Service exam (to become a Federal employee) in the Murrah Building in 1994. The author, Stephen Jones, was from my hometown (Enid, OK) and was my mentor for Constitutional debate in 1988-1990.
I read now with the knowledge that this is no longer the worst act of terrorism in US history. However, when it happened, it was like no other tragedy before it. I understood the need to find a person to punish. Unfortunately, I feel that we let worse people get away in an effort to mete out our vengeance on Tim McVeigh.
Do I feel that Tim McVeigh was guilty? Yes, I believe he was among a large group who planned and executed the terrorist attack on OKC. I also believe that he was not given a truly fair trial due to DOJ insistence on making him seem to be a lone wolf killer with only a loose set of accomplices.
Based on the information uncovered during the investigation and trial, it is apparent that our Department of Justice has secrets and hidden agendas that made it impossible for anyone to really know what happened in the planning and execution of the OKC bombing. It is also apparent that the DOJ is ok with obstructing the legal rights of the accused if it fits the goals of their secret agenda.
That poses a problem for any citizen who believes in our Constitution and the concepts of freedom and liberty.
I am not usually one to get in any sort of uproar about what the government does. This book helped to open my eyes to some despicable practices. No wonder Americans are flocking to revolutionary figures like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. No wonder third party candidates are a real draw in 2016...the things the government did wrong in the OKC bombing case have continued without end.
I know it is an old book and a tragedy that has been surpassed by worse...but I really hope that everyone in the USA takes the opportunity to read this!
June 30, 2009
Stephen Jones's retelling of his arduous task of defending the lead suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing is no whodunit. Rather, it reads more like a who-else-dunit.
Jones, a court-appointed defense attorney for Timothy McVeigh, spends pages building a case about who else might have been involved with the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building that killed 168 people — or was it 169?
Those types of questions — what's to make of the dismembered leg that was found at the bombing site that couldn't be affixed to any of the 168 known victims of the bombing — are the foundation upon which Jones's book is built. Other such questions pepper the landscape of Others Unknown: Why were members of the Israeli intelligence community allowed to tour the site of the bombing before the rest of the building was destroyed when no one else, not even defense attorneys, were granted access? What about the mysterious Andreas Strassmeir, the German neo-Nazi who lived in Elohim City, Okla. and who received phone calls there from McVeigh in the run up of the bombing, but from whom the federal government never sought to formally interview? And then there's Elohim City itself, a radical extreme right-wing compound in eastern Oklahoma that was teeming with government informants who supposedly warned the Feds about an impending terrorist attack? Why was Elohim City ignored by the federal government? Were investigators simply incompetent? Or was something more sinister going on?
Jones continually approaches bizarre circumstances about the Oklahoma City bombing, but never conclusively solves any of these questions. Rather, these incomplete issues surrounding the government's investigation of the bombing — which seemed hell-bent on convincing the public that the bombing was the work of no one except McVeigh and Terry Nichols — paint a suggestive picture of a cast of characters involved in the deadly terrorist attack, but who never endured the scrutiny of federal investigators.
By now, anyone who has paid scarcely any attention to the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing realizes the enormous likelihood that many others were involved in the bombing. But precisely who else, and why the government sought to keep the case confined to two angry anti-government castoffs, is never fully answered in the pages of Jones's book.
This of course, cannot be Jones's fault. On one hand, he illustrates how the federal government fought viciously to keep the potentially exculpatory evidence out of the hands of defense attorneys, with the help of an obliging federal judge. On the other, his client appears to have never given Jones the full account of what happened on and before April 19, 1995.
Sadly, the truth about Oklahoma City is likely buried in withheld evidence, co-conspirators who are long gone, forgotten in the amber of history, or kept secret in the mind of the perpetrator whom the federal government was all too willing to kill in haste following his conviction.
Jones, a court-appointed defense attorney for Timothy McVeigh, spends pages building a case about who else might have been involved with the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building that killed 168 people — or was it 169?
Those types of questions — what's to make of the dismembered leg that was found at the bombing site that couldn't be affixed to any of the 168 known victims of the bombing — are the foundation upon which Jones's book is built. Other such questions pepper the landscape of Others Unknown: Why were members of the Israeli intelligence community allowed to tour the site of the bombing before the rest of the building was destroyed when no one else, not even defense attorneys, were granted access? What about the mysterious Andreas Strassmeir, the German neo-Nazi who lived in Elohim City, Okla. and who received phone calls there from McVeigh in the run up of the bombing, but from whom the federal government never sought to formally interview? And then there's Elohim City itself, a radical extreme right-wing compound in eastern Oklahoma that was teeming with government informants who supposedly warned the Feds about an impending terrorist attack? Why was Elohim City ignored by the federal government? Were investigators simply incompetent? Or was something more sinister going on?
Jones continually approaches bizarre circumstances about the Oklahoma City bombing, but never conclusively solves any of these questions. Rather, these incomplete issues surrounding the government's investigation of the bombing — which seemed hell-bent on convincing the public that the bombing was the work of no one except McVeigh and Terry Nichols — paint a suggestive picture of a cast of characters involved in the deadly terrorist attack, but who never endured the scrutiny of federal investigators.
By now, anyone who has paid scarcely any attention to the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing realizes the enormous likelihood that many others were involved in the bombing. But precisely who else, and why the government sought to keep the case confined to two angry anti-government castoffs, is never fully answered in the pages of Jones's book.
This of course, cannot be Jones's fault. On one hand, he illustrates how the federal government fought viciously to keep the potentially exculpatory evidence out of the hands of defense attorneys, with the help of an obliging federal judge. On the other, his client appears to have never given Jones the full account of what happened on and before April 19, 1995.
Sadly, the truth about Oklahoma City is likely buried in withheld evidence, co-conspirators who are long gone, forgotten in the amber of history, or kept secret in the mind of the perpetrator whom the federal government was all too willing to kill in haste following his conviction.
December 29, 2010
This was a good read and I finished it's 400+ pages in just a couple of evenings. This is not a book of 'conspiracy theories' in the way you might think - the government's agencies stated that there was a conspiracy.
This book is a chronicle of what Timothy McVeigh's defense team went through, and what they uncovered, in the course of the 2 years leading up to the trial. Once McVeigh had blown his attorney/client privilege by giving interviews and attacking his lead defense team, his attorney was able to reveal some details that he had previously been obligated to keep quiet on.
There are lots of interesting discoveries in this well written account. Part of what it reveals is that there was strong, compelling evidence that others besides McVeigh and Nichols were involved in the OK City bombing, but that the US government abandoned their search for these 'others unknown' in the interest of getting a quicker & easier conviction on McVeigh - they wanted a quick trial & execution so they could close the book & move on, rather than dragging things out. They had already gotten a bloody nose and ruined reputation after Ruby Ridge and Waco, and didn't want to risk more failure.
Some of the most astounding information is the way the government repeatedly and deliberately lied, falsified evidence, falsified documentation, threatened witnesses into either shutting up or changing their story, and disobeyed court orders to turn over the required evidence to the defense team.
This book is a chronicle of what Timothy McVeigh's defense team went through, and what they uncovered, in the course of the 2 years leading up to the trial. Once McVeigh had blown his attorney/client privilege by giving interviews and attacking his lead defense team, his attorney was able to reveal some details that he had previously been obligated to keep quiet on.
There are lots of interesting discoveries in this well written account. Part of what it reveals is that there was strong, compelling evidence that others besides McVeigh and Nichols were involved in the OK City bombing, but that the US government abandoned their search for these 'others unknown' in the interest of getting a quicker & easier conviction on McVeigh - they wanted a quick trial & execution so they could close the book & move on, rather than dragging things out. They had already gotten a bloody nose and ruined reputation after Ruby Ridge and Waco, and didn't want to risk more failure.
Some of the most astounding information is the way the government repeatedly and deliberately lied, falsified evidence, falsified documentation, threatened witnesses into either shutting up or changing their story, and disobeyed court orders to turn over the required evidence to the defense team.
January 18, 2008
taking into consideration that the lead defense attorney wrote it, the book still makes you think about what really happened, how much the government covered up, and how much they knew about in advance. Good thinking book.
June 22, 2023
This was an interesting book. I thought that I knew alot about the Oklahoma bombing, but this book prompted me to do additional research. While I am not a conspiracy nut and really resent the whole premise that it was Ruby Ridge and Waco that prompted the bombing, this reinforces my belief that while the government did not handle either incident appropriately, I firmly believe that in both incidences, the domestic terrorists got what they fervently desired. Any group that stockpiles weapons needs to be prepared for the nuclear arsenal that I am prepared to rain on them. And both Waco and Ruby Ridge were given the option to lay down their weapons and they did not. Reading this book I also became more aware of just how far the nuts on the religious right have pulled this country. I respect this authors commitment to ensuring that Timothy McVeigh received a fair and impartial trial and after reading the book believe that he and Nichols could not have pulled this off entirely by themselves, but I still believe that McVeigh drove the truck and parked it and it was proven that Nichols purchased the fertilizer. I was very surprised to discover the scam perpetuated by the Dallas Times and that the McVeigh confession was a plot perpetuated by the Dallas Times. On the whole a very interesting read that again prompted additional research on my part. While I disagreed with most of it, it was still well worth reading and I certainly respect the lawyer who defended McVeigh and wrote this book.
September 8, 2024
A very thorough legal, media, and historical profile of this tragic April 1995 bombing, and the possible influence of foreign and U.S. agencies in the planning of the blast.
November 20, 2024
Really good
November 29, 2015
I was riveted with this tale by the court appointed Republican defense attorney assigned to defend Timothy McVeigh. I have always taken the press and prosecutors for their word and assumed McVeigh was guilty as charged. I am still pretty sure he was involved but everything the FBI, ATF, CIA and prosecutors did point to a much larger conspiracy the government was not concerned with uncovering. Like the Kennedy and Martin Luther King murders it seems the federal government is much more interested in sweeping their tidy little narrative under the carpet and moving on to other concerns like world domination and the military industrial complex.
September 26, 2021
fair
It seemed to have too much technical background that was irrelevant to the “story”. Too many characters were introduced that I had to keep up with, only to learn later they played no part in the story except for the brief moment they were mentioned.
I know when you live an event, every detail is important, but I was hoping to find out more about Timothy McVeigh as a person, more specifics about why he committed this horrific act. Who cares about some minor person? It’s like Peter Israel was doing a book report and had to give credits due.
It seemed to have too much technical background that was irrelevant to the “story”. Too many characters were introduced that I had to keep up with, only to learn later they played no part in the story except for the brief moment they were mentioned.
I know when you live an event, every detail is important, but I was hoping to find out more about Timothy McVeigh as a person, more specifics about why he committed this horrific act. Who cares about some minor person? It’s like Peter Israel was doing a book report and had to give credits due.
Want to read
June 14, 2016#
NC
Own in paperback.
FS: "April 19, 1995, 9:30A.M. eastern daylight time. Department of Justice, Washington D.C."
LS: "After I have paid my expenses, if there are any net proceeds, I will donate them to a charity or a nonprofit origination of my choosing, together with a public accounting."
NC
Own in paperback.
FS: "April 19, 1995, 9:30A.M. eastern daylight time. Department of Justice, Washington D.C."
LS: "After I have paid my expenses, if there are any net proceeds, I will donate them to a charity or a nonprofit origination of my choosing, together with a public accounting."
July 10, 2008
This book was written by McVeigh's court appointed, public defender, Stephen Jones.
March 7, 2009
Written by the lead attorney in the McVeigh trial. This book makes a point that there could have been "others unknown" in this case.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews