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MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey August 28, 2001 THE FORT LEE NON-CONTROVERSY
Did you ever see anything disappear from the national media’s radar screen as fast as the "tip" about Chandra Levy being buried under a parking lot at Fort Lee, Virginia? Even the evacuation of two unexploded bombs from the Murray building in the Oklahoma City bombing (witnessed live by millions of TV viewers) took a couple of weeks to become a non-event. Over a period of three days, news of a possible break in the Levy investigation drew headlines across the nation. Then the FBI said it was a hoax, followed by a deafening silence that has continued to this day. Consider the following news reports. August 2nd: Miriam Brownell, chief operating officer of WeTip, told CNN yesterday that she couldn't give many details about what she called a "very interesting and complicated tip." Brownell said the tip described "how the victim died, and a little bit about why," and that the body had been "shrink-wrapped and put in the parking lot where the asphalt was put over it." The tip took up the equivalent of three single-spaced pages, Brownell said. The D.C. police, since Fort Lee was out of their jurisdiction, asked the FBI to follow up on the tip. "Terrance Gainer, Washington's No. 2 police official, said police requested the search after some information in the tip about the purported location of Levy's body — a parking lot — and a description of construction in the area checked out.’ ‘We called down there and confirmed obviously that there's a Fort Lee, Va., that there's construction and there's a parking lot,’ Gainer said." The following day, August 3rd - "I don't know where this is coming from," said Sandra Ellis, the base's public affairs officer. National and local media converged on the base, hoping to see investigators and possibly some cadaver-sniffing dogs. All they found was the base's public affairs staff, slightly perturbed by the intrusion. Still on Aug. 3rd – "’The FBI . . . determined that there is no site on or around the Fort Lee military base that corresponds with information in the anonymous tip,’ bureau spokeswoman Mary Johlie said. The tip had reportedly said that Levy was buried beneath a parking lot under construction at the 5,574-acre base, which also serves as the Army Quartermaster Center and houses the Army Women's Museum. But Fort Lee officials discounted that claim, saying that the last construction project on the base was completed in October 2000." Later the same day (Aug. 23rd) WeTip, the organization that had received the anonymous telephone call, posted a message on its website that included the following statement. "A News release distributed by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington DC contained some of the information of the tip and that the Body of Ms. Levy was possibly buried in the grounds of a Military Installation in Fort Lee in Petersburg Virginia." "Today the FBI has issued a statement saying that the tip is unfounded. WeTip's concern is that the information will be dismissed before the appropriate investigative action is taken." In this writer’s opinion, the conflicting statements shown above raise more questions than they answer. The D.C. police say they confirmed construction was taking place at the fort. Yet the military says the last construction project at the fort was completed in October of last year. Who did the police talk to that said there was current construction? Why does the FBI say the description in the tip doesn’t match with the fort without even visiting the location? Why did WeTip feel it necessary to post the "disclaimer" on its website? Obviously they feel the tip was quite credible. WeTip says they can’t disclose the full contents of the tip because there is an "on-going investigation" at the same time the FBI is telling the public the tip is a hoax and will not be investigated. WeTip says the caller gave some information as to why Chandra was killed. That may be the most vital information in the tip. If we know why she was killed, it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out who was responsible. It is no comfort to serious investigators that the man in charge of the FBI investigation (Bradley Garrett) is the same agent who was in charge of the investigation of the death of White House Counsel Vince Foster, which was ruled a suicide. There are some things news organizations could investigate to clear up the seeming contradictions between various "official" statements. Contractors could be found who performed work on the army base to verify construction projects in progress during the crucial period around April 30th Since WeTip, as a private organization, is beyond the reach of Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests, pressure should be put on the FBI to allow WeTip to release the full text of the tip In view of the FBI’s record of lying, suppression of evidence, alteration and manufacturing of evidence in scandals such as Ruby Ridge, Waco, the OKC bombing, etc., the American pubic will not be convinced by FBI press releases unsupported by convincing evidence. Is this just another government cover-up? Permission is granted to reproduce this article in its entirety. The author is a free lance writer based in Romulus, Michigan. He is a former newspaper editor and investigative reporter, a retired customs administrator and accountant, and a student of history and the U.S. Constitution. 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