Congressional inquiry into 1995 Oklahoma City bombing fizzles.

Alter nearly two years of "investigation," a congressional inquiry into the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City has delivered a frustratingly inconclusive report that raises more questions than it answers.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who chaired the inquest by the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, had repeatedly indicated that he would aggressively investigate evidence that convicted bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols had been assisted by others. Specifically, he had targeted evidence pointing toward foreign involvement of Middle Easterners, a German national by the name of Andreas Strassmeir, and a group of Aryan bank robbers associated with a rural Oklahoma white separatist compound known as Elohim City.

The subcommittee report, entitled The Oklahoma City Bombing: Was There A Foreign Connection?, justifiably criticizes the federal investigation for failing to follow important leads and ignoring obvious suspects and evidence. Particularly, it criticizes the Department of Justice and the FBI for "calling off any further investigation into John Doe Two," and failure to "thoroughly investigate the potential involvement of Andreas Strassmeir and Hussain al-Hussaini, et al., despite evidence showing they may have played a role."

The report is critical not only of past obstruction during the Clinton administration, but ongoing stonewalling during the current Bush administration. Without naming names, the report is critical of federal officials who were "less than responsive" and says the subcommittee "is dismayed that there remains a lack of willingness to examine legitimate issues."

Survivors and family members of the 168 victims who died in the blast no doubt also are dismayed at the half-hearted (at best) investigative effort by the Rohrabacher subcommittee, as well as its decision to release the report during the worst possible news cycle. After spending two years digging into important ignored and covered-up evidence concerning one of the most important terror attacks ever on America, the subcommittee issued its news release announcing its report the day before Christmas, and then issued the actual report the day after Christmas.

The Rohrabacher report concludes by saying: "We have found no conclusive evidence of a foreign connection, but there remain questions that need to be answered before this final chapter can justifiably be closed." Indeed, the subcommittee has raised even more questions with its own conduct, its reluctance to take on the former and current executive branch officials who have stymied the OKC bombing case from the beginning, and its failure to follow through on much of the important evidence that was provided to it.

For information about this magazine's OKC bombing investigation, go to www.thenewamerican.com/okc.