The History Channel, in a documentary aired Sunday, Dec. 12, suggested the Oklahoma City bombing was the result of a conspiracy of the Al Queda terrorist network and American neo-nazis—and not simply the work of a few individuals.

The documentary traced the movements of two individuals who were convicted in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that claimed the lives of 168 victims—Timothy McVeigh (who was executed last June 11) and Terry Nichols (who currently is serving two concurrent federal and state life sentences).

It noted that prior to the bombing Nichols had traveled to the Philippines on numerous occasions where, it speculated, he met and was trained by Al Queda operatives, who may have assisted in the bombing plot.

McVeigh, prior to the bombing, spent considerable time with the Aryan Republican Army, a neo-nazi group, at its Oklahoma headquarters named "Elohim City"—which takes its first name after the Hebrew word for "gods."

In its program "Conspiracy? Oklahoma City Bombing," The History Channel said white racists of America and the Islamists had hatred of Jews and Israel in common—and that in their minds bombing a federal building in Oklahoma was a form of retaliation against the United States for its support of Israel.

McVeigh had said that he had acted alone to blow up the building in retaliation for thefederal  raid on the Branch Davidian compound in  Waco, Texas, two years before in which over 80 persons died from a combination of causes including flames and gunfire.

Much of the History Channel's  conspiracy theory regarding the Oklahoma City bombings  was based on reports from eye witnesses that  they saw a "Middle Eastern" looking man with McVeigh before the bombing—an allegation that the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it thoroughly investigated and found to be without basis.

The History Channel speculated that such a Middle Eastern man may have been an Al Queda operative.

Former CIA Chief  R. James Woolsley told the History Channel that he is convinced there is more to the story than what has emerged at the trials of McVeigh, Nichols and Michael Fortier— the latter having been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for lying to authorities about what he knew about the plot before the bombing and for illegally selling guns for McVeigh. 
—Donald H. Harrison