IRAQ, AL QAEDA & OKLAHOMA CITY: A reader writes:

Regarding the apparent Iraqi link to the OKC bombing, it always seemed to This Observer very odd that Timothy McVeigh, who was sufficiently capable and with-it to put together a devastating explosive in a Ryder truck, would then morph into such an utter numbskull that he would flee the scene in a car with no license plates. From this flow two possibilities and only two, both pointing to Iraqi involvement: 1) He was in fact a total moron and had little to do with implementing the attack; 2) He was a designated fall-guy and drove without license plates because it was his *mission* to get himself arrested and charged with the attack. And the Clinton Administration, for political advantage, and the FBI, from bureaucratic inertia, were entirely complicit in this imposture.

Well, terrorists do make dumb mistakes — I seem to recall some Palestinians who blew themselves up transporting a bomb because they forgot to allow for Daylight Savings Time or some such. But there are many loose ends and unanswered questions about the Oklahoma City bombing, and even a lot of law enforcement people who aren’t conspiracists have misgivings.

On the other hand, Howard Owens agrees with Josh Marshall that there’s not enough evidence to demonstrate an Iraqi connection to 9/11.

UPDATE: An alert reader sends this link to the Palestinian bomber story, which is pretty much as I remember it. And reader Mike Walsh notes:

Well, the first WTC bombers actually went back to get their deposit on the rental van! Also, if McVeigh was the “designated Fall guy, what possible motive could he have for going through with it? If he was wiling to really die for his cause, he would have lit the fuse and then just turned up the radio and sat there. He also served in the Gulf War, and I have not heard of anybody in that conflict developing any great love for the Iraqis.