Here's a discovery to unsettle the average American and elate the average conspiracy theorist: Take a look at these two pictures. Notice any resemblence? The picture on the right is Abdullah al-Muhajir, aka Jose Padilla, whom the U.S. government claims is an al Qaeda operative recently arrested on suspicion of planning a "dirty bomb" radioactive attack on the U.S. And the picture at left? Why, that's John Doe No. 2, the still-unaccounted-for co-conspirator from the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995! What, you say, what? You mean the FBI somehow failed to notice this? Or did they?

But wait, there's more! Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh had connections to Florida, where the freshly converted al-Muhajir was living at the time of the OK attack. Nichols, additionally, was married to a woman by the name of Lana Padilla (!). Lana Padilla allegedly claimed in a news conference (apparently only quoted by whacked-out conspiracy nuts and apparently refuted in subsequent news interviews) that Nichols was paid in gold by a bearded Islamic man associated with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, while Nichols was in the Philippines, a known al Qaeda stronghold. While the bearded Islamic man may be apocryphal, the Philippines connection is not. Nichols lived there for several years and is suspected to have met with al Qaeda members during that time.

The conspiracy buffs (and some mainstream sources too) have long ranted about what they saw as an FBI failure to investigate links between US right-wing militants and Islamic fundamentalist groups. I am not wholeheartedly endorsing the content on some of these pages I'm linking to, but they might have a point.

The police sketch seems to be a pretty accurate depiction of Padilla. Are there more connections? Tough call. It's hard to imagine the Dub administration passing up a tidbit like this. If there was a chance in hell, you would expect them to be all over it. In addition to bolstering their case for Padilla as an "exception" to constitutional rights, I imagine Ashcroft and the boys would be happy to spread the blame for ignored clues and missed opportunities to the Clinton administration, where the buck stopped during the OK attack. And yet... And yet...

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Quite a good resemblance, although John Doe No. 2 has a "square" jaw while Padilla has a more "rounded" jaw.

Spooky.

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Wasn't Terry Nichols' wife Filipino?  That might be the reason he was in the PI.  Maybe a not so elaborate setup.  Take a wife and meet Al Queda at the same time.

Wasn't John Doe supposed to be a white dude?

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[img]http://www.fuckedworld.com/images/padilla3.jpg[/img]



Interesting.

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Round Jaw, Square Jaw.  Also, note the hairlines, noses, mouth and lips, chin and possibly ears.
The people who think these two look alike are also the people who think Japanese and Chinese look alike.
Nothing to see here, move along.

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You mean Terry Nichols ex-wife whose maiden name is PADILLA?

Scott