Others Unknown : The Oklahoma City Bombing Conspiracy - Hardcover

Jones, Stephen; Israel, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 189162007X ISBN 13: 9781891620072

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 1998

Synopsis

Jones, chief defense counsel during the trial against Timothy McVeigh, convicted of the Oklahoma City bombing, reveals evidence that the bombing could not have been the work of only two men, that the US government had prior knowledge about the attack, that foreign connections were involved, and that the US government worked to prevent the whole story from emerging. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

About this title

Review:

Stephen Jones, the chief defense counsel for Timothy McVeigh, the first of two men convicted in the tragic 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, lays out a case that McVeigh and Terry Nichols, also convicted in the bombing, did not act alone. In his attempt to defend McVeigh, Jones traveled the globe to turn up every possible scrap of information that might lead him to the "others unknown" cited by the grand jury that heard evidence in the bombing case. Some of the evidence is compelling, including the severed leg that did not match any of the victims; Jones is convinced it belonged to "John Doe number two," an unidentified man credited with planting the bomb in the Murrah Office Building. Jones also lays out a very strong argument that Terry Nichols was in touch with Muslim fundamentalist terrorists in the Philippines and that he asked them to help him build a bomb. But Jones's refusal to break his attorney-client privilege by discussing anything that McVeigh said to him forces the author to walk a tightrope, revealing nothing about his client's role in the bombing while trying to outline the potential involvement of others.

Non-conspiracy buffs may find it far-fetched that the United States government would want to cover up information about the possible involvement of Muslim fundamentalists or white supremacists in the bombing, but Jones has two arguments to support the idea. First, he suggests, the government was trying to cover its tracks for not having heeded various danger signs before the bombing took place. In addition, this was too big and too horrible a crime to go unpunished; it had to be closed without question and with no suspects left at large. For those who are persuaded by Jones's arguments, the chilling question remains: when--and where--will the "others unknown" strike next? --Linda Killian

About the Author:

Throughout his entire career, Stephen Jones has always believed that it's a lawyer's duty to defend unpopular cases. He represented a young man who carried a Vietcong flag in an anti-war march at Oklahoma University the day after the Kent State shootings; defended the right of Abbie Hoffman to speak on a college campus; and represented Oklahoma governor Frank Keating. Peter Israel is a writer, editor, and former publisher.

About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 189162007X
• ISBN 13: 9781891620072
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352