
By: R. Murray-o'hair
Re: Okla. Blast/Branch Davidi

OKLAHOMA BOMBING -- NETWORK SUGGESTS POSSIBLE LINK  TO BRANCH DAVIDIANS

by Conrad F. Goeringer

  As of late Friday night (4/21 ), here are recent developments of
interest in the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing.

   The FOX network is reporting that the two suspects in the case, Terry
Nichols and Timothy McVeigh, both served in the military together during
Operation Desert Storm, and were based around Dallas, TX.  The two
allegedly had ties to the Branch Davidian group headed by cult leader
David Koresh.  It was nearly two years ago to the day from the Oklahoma
bombing that the Davidian cult in Waco, Texas, was destroyed and 80 men,
women and children killed, in a shootout with federal authorities.

   The two are also being linked to a group known as the "Michigan
Militia," an 8-state group which is part of a loose confederation
described as the "militia movement."  The "general" of the "Michigan
militia" denies that the two were members, although they "may have
attended meetings."  According to reports this evening, the Militia, a
paramilitary organization, was "obsessed" by the fate of the Branch
Davidian cult.

   The militia movement exists in a number of states, and is a network of
groups and individual distrustful of the federal government. Many have a
right-wing political viewpoint, and some are linked to neo-nazi and
apocalyptic fundamentalist groups such as the Aryan Nations.

   FOX is also reporting that materials used in the Oklahoma City bomb
may have come from a Michigan farm raided earlier today by the FBI, owned
by the brother of one of the suspects.

   John Nutter, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, is
being quoted by Reuters News Agency as saying that the Michigan Militia
"conducted paramilitary training exercises -- they go running around in
the woods in camouflage with guns."  Nutter also suggests that the
Militia is used as a recruiting ground by more extreme groups, including
the Posse Commitatus and the Aryan Nations.  The latter preaches a
message of racial hate, and believes that White nationalists are locked
in a deadly struggle with ZOG, the "Zionist Occupation Government."

                     --30--

