The evidence that alleges 1970s radical Bernardine Dohrn, who with her husband Bill Ayers helped launch Barack Obama's political career, was involved in the bombing death of a California cop is mounting, with new witnesses being cited in a report from writer Peter Jamison of Village Voice Media.
WND has documented in the past reports from the FBI that Dohrn actually built and planted the bomb that killed a San Francisco police officer in 1970.
The couple have come under scrutiny for their radical histories because of their integral part in the launch of Obama's political career. Ayers, a self-described unrepentant terrorist, served with Obama for years on two
foundation boards, while Dohrn worked in a law firm with Michelle Obama. They also contributed financially to Obama's first campaign for political office.
Both are on Chicago university payrolls now.
San Francisco Police Sgt. Brian V. McDonnell was killed by shrapnel from an anti-personnel bomb built and planted by Bill Ayers' wife, Bernardine Dohrn, according to an FBI report |
It was on Feb. 16, 1970, Sgt. Brian V. McDonnell of the San Francisco Police Department was killed by shrapnel from an anti-personnel bomb planted on a window ledge at the force's Park Station. The pipe bomb was filled with heavy metal staples and lead bullet projectiles. Another officer, Robert Fogarty, received serious wounds to his face and legs, and was partially blinded in the attack.
WND reported just months ago when top law enforcement officers in San Francisco signed a letter accusing Ayers and Dohrn of being directly behind the bombing, but the Obama Justice Department then told them not to comment on the case.
At that press conference March 12, directed by activist Cliff Kincaid of America's Survival Inc., the leaders of the San Francisco Police Officers' Association made public a letter pointing a finger at Ayers and Dohrn that demanded those responsible for the bombing be brought to justice.
"There are irrefutable and compelling reasons to believe that Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn are largely responsible for the bombing of Park Police Station," the officers stated in the letter.
The letter called for the U.S. to bring "those responsible for the murder of Sgt. Brian McDonnell and the injuries to other officers to the justice they have so long eluded."
The San Francisco Chronicle then reported the police group members who signed the letter received calls from the Justice Department and a local police chief telling them to remain silent.
Now, additional details are being uncovered in a report by Jamison, who is based in San Francisco.
According to Kincaid, Jamison spent months working on the story and developed many different sources.
The evidence in the case, Kincaid found, "goes straight to Dohrn and other members of the Weathermen."
Jamison wrote that former FBI agents, speaking for the first time about the case, told his Village Voice Media that two credible eyewitnesses gave detailed statements to investigators in the 1970s "alleging that Dohrn and Howard Machtinger, another member of the group, were personally involved."
Jamison's report said authorities quietly have been devoting their attention to the Weather Underground, including a grand jury review in 2003 that targeted the Park Station attack.
"There's so much there," retired FBI Special Agent William Reagan said in the report. "If you've ever been in a courtroom, you know defense attorneys can create doubt about anything. But common sense tells you something. Who else could it be?"
The report said Reagan was working on dormant cases when he came across documents summarizing interviews about the case. He said they revealed Dohrn "seemed to be more or less the ringleader."
The report said Reagan's account was verified by another retired FBI agent, Max Noel, who said the witness statements found by Reagan were credible.
Authorities in San Francisco say they won't comment because of the ongoing investigation.
Also cited in the new report were statements uncovered by Reagan from Karen Latimer, another former Weather Underground member.
She had stated that she personally cased the station and could describe the package that exploded, according to Jamison's report.
However, he reported that a plan to obtain sworn testimony after a grant of immunity for Latimer fell apart.
William Ayers |
No one has ever been charged in the bombing. Ayers has denied involvement. In a November interview with the New Yorker, Ayers said, "We killed no one and hurt no one."
But WND reported earlier that a former FBI informant who reportedly infiltrated the Weathermen in the 1970s says Ayers described to him at length how Dohrn personally placed a pipe bomb outside the San Francisco police department Feb. 16, 1970.
In his book, "Bringing Down America – An FBI Informer with the Weathermen," Larry Grathwohl describes a meeting in which Ayers allegedly revealed Dohrn's role in the bombing. Grathwohl also testified to that effect to the Senate in the 1980s.
Grathwohl quotes Ayers telling him, "Too many of you are relying on your leaders to do everything."
He said Ayers then mentioned the San Francisco bombing.
"It was a success," Grathwohl wrote, quoting Ayers. "But it's a shame when someone like Bernardine has to make all the plans, make the bomb and then place it herself. She should have to do only the planning."
While Obama has attempted to distance himself from Ayers and Dohrn, WND columnist Jack Cashill has made the case that the college professor and radical education activist may have even ghost-written Obama's book, "Dreams From My Father."
Obama has said variously that Ayers was just someone who lived in his neighborhood, that he didn't know he was the notorious Weather Underground leader during his long association and that he assumed he had been "rehabilitated." Ayers and Dohrn have never condemned their terrorism spree. In fact, Ayers was quoted in the New York Times Sept. 11, 2001, as saying he was sorry he hadn't done more. Ayers had previously described his reaction to being cleared of all charges due to a technicality this way: "Guilty as hell, free as a bird – America is a great country."
Â