At 9:02 a.m., a rental truck packed with explosives detonated in front of the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. The powerful explosion blew off the building’s north wall. Emergency crews raced to Oklahoma from across the country, and when the rescue effort finally ended two weeks later the death toll stood at 168 people, including 19 young children who were in the building’s day care center at the time of the blast. More than 650 other people were injured in the bombing, which damaged or destroyed more than 300 buildings in the immediate area.
A massive hunt for the bombing suspects ensued, and on April 21 an eyewitness description led authorities to charge Timothy McVeigh (1968-2001), a former U.S. Army soldier, in the case. As it turned out, McVeigh was already in jail, having been stopped a little more than an hour after the bombing for a traffic violation and then arrested for unlawfully carrying a handgun. Shortly before he was scheduled to be released from jail, he was identified as a prime suspect in the bombing and charged. That same day, Terry Nichols (1955-), an associate of McVeigh’s, surrendered in Herington, Kansas. Both men were found to be members of a radical right-wing survivalist group based in Michigan.
On August 8, Michael Fortier, who knew of McVeigh’s plan to bomb the federal building, agreed to testify against McVeigh and Nichols in exchange for a reduced sentence. Two days later, McVeigh and Nichols were indicted on charges of murder and unlawful use of explosives.
What makes a person turn into a domestic terrorist? In the case of Timothy McVeigh, he joined the military, found his niche and then something happened. According to the McVeigh tapes, he got very disgusted and disillusioned over the wanton killing committed by his country.
Upon his return home, he became even more distraught over the events involving the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas. He felt his government had gone to war against women and children. In fact, he has said that Oklahoma City was pay-back for Waco. McVeigh feared that the government was going to take his guns. Have we heard that before?
How does a person justify killing all those innocent people in the Murrah building? How does someone justify killing all the children, some in daycare within the building and some across the street? Was he ever sorry?
McVeigh is dead but I fear he is some sort of perverse folk cult hero. There are too many people out there who sound like Timothy McVeigh who simply haven’t acted on their beliefs. What will push one of those people over the edge?
This mentality makes me very nervous.
If you give him publicity, then he surely does live. Ignore him and perhaps he will wither away.
I encounter MANY “right wing types.” I read a HUGE number of blogs and comments. The comments on blogs and other social media are made by left, right, center, libertarian, fascist, and downright weird people. I’ve read the most extreme gun rights blogs and comments. I’ve read communist gun control advocates.
I’ve done this for years.
I have NOT gone to any hate sites where one might find complete evil. But I have read such comments on mainstream sites…..those people get banned.
I have NEVER seen ANY support by ANYONE for Timothy McVeigh. Ever. By anyone.
Might there be one? Sure. But there are exceptions to every rule except gravity. Even Manson gets wedding proposals.
I am glad to hear that, Cargo. How do you feel about executing his sorry ass? I would have pulled the lever on that one and I am getting a little more particular about who we kill and who we dont kill.
I will never forget hearing about that explosion. Shudder. It seems like it was yesterday.
Oh…and to answer your question….No. Not even a little bit.
It is an irony of the information age that we have ready, easy access to tremendous troves of information, but our abilities to analyze and process it are still, for the vast majority of the population at least, if not all of us, rather rudimentary. Enter people like McVeigh, who, from what I know of him, appears to have fallen into an ideology of the militia-types (there must be some kind of accurate descriptor for these folks – “militia” isn’t really a good one). This is, proportionally, a very fringe group and I agree with CS that I don’t really come across a lot of lionization of McVeigh (I suppose its out there if one looks hard enough, but it certainly has to be on the fringe). “Left” and “Right” labels, as feeble as they are in other contexts, are really useless in this situation. The guy was just susceptible to being sucked into a destructive ideological construct, so much so that he was willing to commit mass murder. It is not, at root, a different human failing than that which lures recruits to ISIS or any other extreme terrorist group. The problem for the rest of us is that it only takes a few of these sorts, no matter how confused or manipulable they may be, to do a great deal of execution against innocent citizens.
The McVeigh mentality makes me ill at ease. Those who demonstrate their affinity for “survivalist mentality” make me more ill at ease than the average bear.
Throughout our history, our society has had “McVeigh” types, and much of how they are viewed is often shaped by your own perceptions and perspectives. The old adage “one man’s terrorist is another’s patriot”.
Look at John Brown. He thought he had a moral imperative to seize the armory at Harper’s Ferry, and use those captured/stolen/liberated weapons to arm slaves, and he wanted to lead them in their insurrection/revolution/rebellion….He was hanged by the authorities, considered a terrorist by some, a radical abolitionist by others, and an avenging angel by still others. And yet, “John Brown’s body lies a-moldering in the grave” was part of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, sung by soldiers on the march, and in churches throughout the North. How you viewed John Brown’s actions depended largely on your views on slavery, a legal institution at the time.
Reviewing some of his writings, it is clear that John Brown decided that our political system/social change wasn’t moving as quickly as it should. He resolved to engage in “direct action”
McVeigh felt strongly that the Federal governments actions at Waco, were criminal/unconstitutional, and the process historically used to restrain Federal power had eroded to the point that he had to take direct action. Some saw his actions as justified, others (me included) saw him as a criminal/terrorist murderer of innocents.
To Scout’s (great) points, someone who holds extreme (measured by a reasonable person standard) who consumes information that feeds their preconceptions, and reinforces their desires to act.
To answer the question “is there a little McVeigh in all of us”, maybe on “all”, but I would say “many”. It’s a matter of how far someone is willing to be “pushed” in their own mind, before they decide to act. Every person has a “line” that once crossed, they will respond with violence (justified or unjustified). Fortunately, for most of us, that line usually involves a direct and immediate physical threat to one’s person, or loved-ones. Even the sweetest soccer-mom would act if her kids are threatened.
But for others, like Brown and McVeigh, Bill Ayres and Bernadine Dorn, and even the Boston Marathon Bombers, they decide that peaceful protest, petition for redress of grievance, and the electoral process will not produce the desired results, or produce them quickly enough. They decide to act, in a criminal fashion, with little regard for the lives of innocent people. Their desired end, justifies their actions, in their very warped minds.
You have made some excellent points, Steve.
I am thinking of my own conflicted “heroes.” I think Jack Kavorkian should be a national hero. Other people see him as the angel of death.
As for Brown, I would have said he was zealot with a killer mentality. But then, look at what you know of my background. Fortunately, after 150 years I can step back and see those kinds of moral questions with more clarity….all sides.
There have always been crazy people among us, and always destructive people who hated themselves and others enough to commit violent acts. True.
I think there is some real phenomenon going on too where we the people are becoming less attached to reality, more detached from what’s real. That’s my observation of modern day America.
100 years ago there was some challenge involved in living, in feeding a family and keeping shelter for them. Today, there’s a social safety net. And people are free to become less rational, and to pick and choose the reality they live in.
Want to believe vaccinations are counter-productive? You can do it.
Want to pretend that the reason America has gained such debt is because poor people are abusing welfare – not because we the people rather deliberately decided not to pay in enough taxes to pay the bills? You can, and many do.
Want to pretend that the war in Iraq was about terrorism? You can.
Want to pretend that by holding hands together, we can stop the Earth from some “warming” process that is being driven by human behavior? If it makes you feel good to believe that, you can, and it can be a political issue.
Whatever you want to believe, you can. No one can stop you. Similar to religious beliefs.
@Moon-howler
“Those who demonstrate their affinity for “survivalist mentality” make me more ill at ease than the average bear.”
Survivalists? He wasn’t connected to them. Preppers are merely a range of people that seek to be prepared….some better than others…..some crazier than others.
Why would such people make you ill at ease?
Define connected. He was very interested in at least one group.
Why wouldn’t them make me ill at ease. Listen to the politics.
Moon,
Perhaps your perceptions on “peppers” is shaped too much by the media, and especially “reality” shows. The act of preparing for a natural disaster, or other disruption to one’s everyday life, isn’t necessarily political. An earthquake or hurricane, blizzard or power outrage isn’t conspiracy-theory or conjecture. Things like this do happen, and sometimes, as we saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, civil society can break down. So why would people who prepare for this sort of “worst case” make you ill-at-ease?
Yeah, some of the fringe anti-government kooks who occasionally grab headlines have been painted as “preppers”, or “survivalist”, but that neither makes them so, nor takes into account their “worst case” is a government crack-down. These types tend to be individuals,or members of very small groups.
The “occupy movement” put me ill at ease. This was a mob. You may see it differently.
I meant the kooks who do weekends in the woods and pretend to be at war with the USA. Give them a name, I will call them that.
The only thing I have watched is the McVeigh Tapes. Not sure what it was on.
I have no clue what you call people who prepare for disasters. I have no issue with them at all. They shouldn’t be compared with the groups who prepare against the government.
There are also professional conspiracy theorists who claim McVeigh was framed by the federal government. They are dangerous. That pRanoid thinking breeds people like McVeigh.
@Starry flights
I agree. McVeigh was quite candid with several writers, explained his motivations, etc. We’ve always had these types of “truthers”. The Apollo landings were faked. 9/11 was an inside job. Someone dynamited the levees in New Orleans. Area 51 types.
@Moon-howler
Those groups are not preppers/survivalists, except, perhaps, as individuals.
Those are the self described “militias.” That said, except for the brouhaha around when McVeigh was alive, those militias have been harmless. Most are a bunch of guys running around in the woods.
Some are extremist groups…but the LEO’s have those watched carefully. Still nothing.
Survivalists and preppers think about politics only in the sense that they believe its all going to come crashing down and they don’t want to be under it when everything falls.
@Steve Thomas
“The Apollo landings were faked.”
I love this response
https://youtu.be/1wcrkxOgzhU
@Cargosquid
Cargo,
Had never seen the video. Replayed it like 15 times. Pure awesomeness. Thank You.
Good for Buzz Aldrin. Anyone who calls a general officer of the United States Armed Forces a coward and a liar to his face should expect some immediate counter fire, especially from an officer who has served in the roles Aldrin has served. It’s no small thing to have been test pilot material in the 1950s and 1960s. Those guys didn’t get into a position to become astronauts by tatting doilies. Many of them also had combat experience in Korea. (haven’t researched Aldrin, but he fits the demographic).
You are spot on, Scout. Aldrin flew 66 combat missions in Korea in F-86 Sabres and shot down two MiG-15’s, including a least one, apparently, with a Soviet pilot. Aldrin must have been flying in the so-called “MiG Alley” — where the US Air Force and the Soviet Air Force were up against each other for real.
Wolve – if you want a good short read on that subject, I recommend a Memoir by James Salter, the novelist. I have it somewhere in the house and will track it down for the exact title, but I think it’s called “Burning the Days”. Slater is a gifted novelist, in my view one of the very best contemporary American novelists. Before he took up writing, he served in the Air Force and flew combat in Korea (F-86s). He was also stationed in Europe during the 1950s/early 60s and flew F-104s, a very tricky, unforgiving aircraft, from everything I’ve heard about it. Burning the Days is a lifetime memoir, so the air combat part is just one element. My recollection is that he did a more condensed treatment of his flying days in a smaller volume, which I think I also have and will come back to if I find it, that focussed more on Korea.
“The police determined that Aldrin was provoked and no charges were filed”, after this guy lured him to a hotel falsely and then pulled a Michael Moore on him, however Aldrin’s lucky he wasn’t up on assault charges.
It clearly was a battery (and where there’s battery, there is usually an assault). But I would have gladly defended Aldrin and, despite my usual reluctance to predict litigation outcomes, would have been very confident that he would be acquitted or let off with the barest minimum of sentences in these circumstances. The level of provocation is off the charts.