Oklahoma City audiobook

"It was the FBI's finest hour!" at least that is what they thought. In light of the world's worst terrorist attack prior to 9/11, we still have a lot to learn and you would have thought we would have learned plenty by now.On April 19, 1995 at 9:02am, security as we thought we knew it would completely change forever in the lives of 168 people who died that morning going about what they did every day. In Oklahoma City, at the Murrah Federal Building, Timothy McVeigh would take a Ryder rental truck, park it in a handicap spot, light a fuse containing home made bombs and walk away. Two men were convicted in this plot against the government, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. But were they really the only ones involved?In the book, Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed - and Why It Still Matters by Andrew Gumbel and Roger Charles, the readers are given information in a unique way. Challenging the official account of a major historical event can seem presumptuous, even fool hardy. Journalists, and authors, after all, do not have subpoena power, forensics laboratories, or polygraph kits. They can not interview 18,000 witnesses or run down 43,000 leads, as the Oklahoma City investigators did.What they do have, in this case, is the opportunity to review the government's work from start to finish. This book is based on records that have been unearthed for the first time, including the complete archive of documents shared with the defense teams in the two federal trials and in Terry Nichol's state trial in Oklahoma. They also have a voluminous body of writings from Nichols, who did not utter a word for ten years after his arrest but agreed to discuss the case with the authors in great detail.This book does not pick sides in any way but merely showcases where investigators went wrong and the suspects that were never questioned or leads that were not brought to trial. The book lets the reader decided what went wrong and why were only two people arrested and convicted when it appears that so many more were accountable for their actions in this case.I received this book compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and it really brought back for me as a reader and reviewer, what I didn't realize. How the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation had a bomb squad out looking for a device outside the Federal Court House just minutes before the explosion but would later deny they did. Did they have advanced warning something was going to happen?How twenty four eye witnesses saw other people with Timothy McVeigh both in the Ryder Truck but also driving three other vehicles around the Murrah Building. "Not one of the witnesses who saw McVeigh that morning were called to testify at trial, because the government determined that every one of them was wrong to say he was not alone. If only one person had seen it, or two or three...but twenty four? That's pretty powerful." (pg 37).This book is truly an eye opener for me and I'm sure for anyone who reads it. For me the main question is from 1995 to 2001, why have we not learned much from one terrorist attack to the next. Is this leaving us open for another attack in the future? History teaches us that we need to learn from our previous mistakes to avoid future ones, and I ask you have we learned enough? I rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who is interested in these types of books. I think there is a lesson in there for all of us!

This is a very interesting read. Did Timothy McVeigh bomb the federal building and kill 168 people? Yes. Did he do it with only the help of Terry Nichols? That is the rub. This book does not argue McVeigh's responsibility. What this book shows is the absolute incompetence of the FBI and other Federal agencies. There are the same people that now run Homeland Security. It shows attorneys on both side playing games instead of searching for justice. Andrew Gumbel writes a fascinating scarey tale. Even since 9/11 the justice system is still busy hiding from each other. Looking for the credit in cracking a case. It is just sad. We, the American public need to wake up to what is going on in the Government before it is to late.

Some conspiracy theories are trueThe most convincing "conspiracy theory" I've ever read. Like any good defense attorney, the authors don't try to make up one version of who might be the rumored John Doe number two, they simply poke holes in the idea that there was no such person, period. Detailed, engrossing account of the guilt of McVeigh and Nichols, as well as the federal egos and competitiveness that blocked a complete conclusion to the investigation.

Col. Charles and Mr. Gumbel have sifted through enormous amounts of evidence for the reader's sake, then delivered an excellent documentary book. This book ably challenges the notion that evidence of more than one criminal actor should be ruled out. Challenging the handling of evidence regarding extra criminal actors is in no way a "theory" book. It is an evidence documentary, a fact book, a report on an investigation, and it undertakes more work and risk than most journalists are willing to take on these days. Congratulations to the publisher for making a way for true investigative journalism.Anyone who understands the scope and power of prosecutorial discretion will appreciate the public service provided by a book that checks Justice's work, especially given the conflicts of interest inherent in bureaucracies.The flattening of a federal building and destruction of so many innocents is not a case for compromise, or for sacrificing objective follow up against bureaucratic pressures.

Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed--and Why It Still Matters lays out a really unnerving and compelling array of evidence that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols probably had additional co-conspirators who never saw the inside of a courtroom. At the very least, it seems that a lot of people in militia circles knew “something” was going to happen on the second anniversary of the Waco inferno. This is not a conspiracy-theory book; the authors dismiss most of the speculation about assistance from foreign governments and/or the U.S. government allowing the attacks to happen — although there are troubling stories suggesting that some people in U.S. law enforcement also expected “something” to occur on April 19, 1995. Detailed, thorough, and stunning.

I remember Oklahoma City and the shock that a US citizen would do something like that, especially with all those children in the building. It was the first time I really got an idea of the antigovernment groups and radicals that were around. I clearly remember the shock of Waco, too, but I had no idea how angry these fringe groups were and how far they would go. This book goes in depth about the inconsistencies and mishandling of the investigation and trials related to Oklahoma City, but there are a few times that connections they were making seemed a bit of a stretch. The sources section is a little weird and hard to follow. It's definitely an interesting read, and I was reading it every chance I got once I started it.

A really fascinating book that makes a tantalizing case that the Federal govt missed or chose to ignore a lot of evidence that the Oklahoma City bombing plot might have involved more people than just Tim McVeigh, Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier. A considerable amount of evidence shows that McVeigh was seen with numerous people in the days leading up to the plot and his connections to white supremacist bank robbers and such dovetail nicelty with how many Klan types like Louis Beam and Wayne Snell were hinting at the attack before it happened. Gumbel also makes solid case that John Doe #2 might actually exist and that is still st large.

Solid, even-handed portrayal of the events that preceded and followed the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Some solid background on the conspirators and a deeper dive into their motives and operations. Unfortunately, my big takeaway is another example of glaring incompetence on the part of the federal government. In addition to the bureau pissing contests, the book offers provable evidence of dishonesty, negligence, and poor preparation, among other things.

Oklahoma City is a great book that provides unknown information and circumstances around the investigation of the bombing in that city. The authors point out the issues surrounding the investigation and how that is important to know. The narrator was great also.

very good book on the okc bombing, Wendy Painting’s “Aberration in the Heartland of the Real” is a much more comprehensive analysis but this is a great supplement to that book

Content was interesting but it was sometimes hard to follow

A fresh look at the characters involved in this atrocity, those who investigated it, and both the defense lawyers and the prosecutors. Well researched and, as with other books on this topic, it points out that there were people and associations that were ignored or avoided to serve an agenda.

The title of this work speaks eloquently as to what this book is about. The authors take the reader through a chronology of the events that lead up to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on Wednesday morning, April 19, 1995, as well as the subsequent investigation and trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. The authors also detail events that took place between the conclusion of both trials, and the revelations later put forth by Terry Nichols.I wanted to read this book because I have always wondered how two people with limited experience with explosives could bring this about. I have wondered if there were not more individuals involved in the planning and execution of this bombing? The authors, as journalists, investigated the various conspiracy theories, the rather disjointed Federal investigation of this horrific tragedy, the ignores and often disregarded witness statements, and the positions and strategies put into play by the government, prosecution and defense attorneys, as well as the shortcomings and failures of the investigative process, itself.

Very good book exploring the ways that the investigation into the bombing missed or intentionally didn't follow leads, potentially leading to other conspirators going free. The investigation didn't look into who funded the plot or how. It didn't follow eye witness accounts that put more than just McVeigh at the Murrah building on the morning of April 19. It ignored multiple Ryder trucks. The description of the bomb was only based on items found at Nichols's home, not evidence at the bombing site. It didn't look into Elohim City. This isn't to say that McVeigh and Nichols weren't involved, weren't responsible, or didn't deserve their convictions; merely to point out what the investigation missed.

Did you know there was a leg found in the van that had the explosives at the OKC bombing?Did you know that surveillance video showed several people going in and out of the van, and the FBI lost the video?Did you know there was after all these years a court case still going on involving a friend of Timothy McVeigh who was killed during interrogation?Did you know Saddam had contributed money to the group the two accused men belonged to?The official story from Janet Reno and President Clinton was that Rush Limbaugh and his radio show was to blame. Did the FBI lose control of a sting operation? One of the most disturbing books you may ever read.