Timothy McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was the main perpetrator in the Oklahoma City Bombing on April 19, 1995, which killed 168 people in the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history. McVeigh justified the deaths as "collateral damage" as his revenge for the Waco massacre. He was pulled over that afternoon by Lieutenant Charles Hanger for driving without a license plate, and arrested after Lt. Hanger found an unregistered firearm in his car.[1] McVeigh was a veteran of Operation Desert Storm. Contrary to the popular and oft-repeated belief among liberals and atheists, McVeigh was not a right-wing evangelical Christian. In fact, McVeigh was raised Roman Catholic, but professed agnosticism.[2] His political beliefs were libertarian.
Obsessed with his hometown NFL team, McVeigh gambled "all of the very little money he had, and then some, on a victory for the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII in 1993."[3] He lost, and in his despair became obsessed with the highly publicized standoff between the government and the Branch Davidians less than a month later, as explained by Politico.com.[3]
Motivations
McVeigh intended to avenge the deaths among the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas, a third of which were members of minority groups, including 30 blacks, as well as 6 Hispanics and 7 Asians and including a number of interracial marriages.[4] McVeigh's accomplice, Terry Nichols was himself married to a Philippine national despite widespread allegations spread through the mainstream media of racial motivations behind the bombings. McVeigh was politically profiled in Brandon Stickney's All-American Monster - The Unauthorized Biography of Timothy McVeigh. In an interview with Lawrence W. Myers in Media Bypass magazine:
| “ | McVeigh said he considers unfair and unfounded the notion that the mainstream press has classified him as a racist simply because he had read The Turner Diaries. He said he responded to a gun magazine advertisement for the book around 1988 because it was being billed as a novel about what may happen when the government comes to confiscate privately owned firearms.
McVeigh also pointed out, and his sergeant confirms, that while in the Army he served alongside black soldiers without incident or problem, and when he lived off base, he and Michael Fortier routinely gave rides to work to two fellow soldiers who were black. Although there were no African-Americans in McVeigh’s graduating class, and few in his hometown, according to the U. S. Army there are no reported incidents of him having any professional problems as a soldier dealing with other races. Furthermore, McVeigh’s platoon sergeant was black and his platoon leader was black, and both gave him the highest ratings an infantry soldier can attain.[5] |
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Leftist conspiracy theories
Following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing Leonard Zeskind teamed with James Ridgeway, who writes about right-wing politics for various liberal and leftist serials, and they produced a conspiracy theory of their very own.
| “ | There is every reason to believe that the attack was a call for revolution by the far right wing of this country, organized through the widespread militia movement and carried out by one of the leaderless terror cells created by that movement.
It is probable that the three men being held in connection with the bombing—Timothy McVeigh, James Nichols and his brother Terry Nichols—are all members of that same militia cell.[6] |
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None of this proved true, and one of the most intensive investigations in FBI history has failed to link these three to any militia organization in any significant way whatsoever. In addition, James Nichols was not even a defendant in the case. The article also refers to the Posse Comitatus, a radical tax protest group of mythical proportions, as a precursor to the militias.
In 1996 Zeskind was also a contributor along with Chip Berlet and others to Conspiracies: Real Grievances, Paranoia, and Mass Movements, edited by Eric Ward and published by PeanutButter Publishing. The general thrust of their contributions was to attack conspiracy theories of the right while ignoring those of the left.[7]
Other theories
McVeigh's first lead defense counsel Stephen Jones coauthored a book titled Others Unknown: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing Conspiracy in which he suggests that McVeigh's co-conspirator Terry Nichols had connections to Islamic terrorists in the Philippines, among other possibilities.
Some have suggested that Jose Padilla bears a resemblance to John Doe #2, who was initially identified as a suspect in the bombing.[8]
Execution
McVeigh was executed by the federal government on June 11, 2001.
References
- ↑ http://www.nleomf.com/TheFund/programs/OOM/hanger_oct01.htm
- ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/jun/11/mcveigh.usa4
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/02/how-football-fed-timothy-mcveighs-despair-219625
- ↑ David B. Kopel and Paul H. Blackman, No More Wacos: What’s Wrong With Federal Law Enforcement and How To Fix It, Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1997, 409-411.
- ↑ Lawrence W. Myers, Tim McVeigh: An Interview, Media Bypass, February 1996, pg. 36.
- ↑ James Ridgeway and Leonard Zeskind, Revolution U.S.A., Village Voice, 2 May 1995.
- ↑ Eric Ward, editor, Conspiracies: Real Grievances, Paranoia, and Mass Movements, (Washington: Peanut Butter Press, 1997) See also: James A. Jones, Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. (NY: The Free Press, 1981).
- ↑ [1]