Transcript Timothy McVeigh - JJonesUSHIstory

The Oklahoma City Bombing
Timothy McVeigh: An American Terrorist
Presentation by Jeff Jones
9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995
• Residents of Chandler, Oklahoma
heard a loud noise.
• Some thought it was a sonic boom.
• Others wondered how thunder could
be heard on such a clear and sunny
day.
40 miles away in Oklahoma City
• 168 dead and over 500 injured
• 320 structures in surrounding area damaged
• $651 million of damage
Timothy McVeigh
• Born April 23,
1968
• Western New
York
• Loved the
Outdoors
• Interested in
Guns
Joined the Army in 1988
• Expert Marksman
• Gunner on Bradley
Armored Fighting
Vehicle
• Served in Gulf War
• 5 Medals for Service
in War
• Failed in Bid to Join
Special Forces
“Army Buddies”
• Terry Nichols
• Older than other
soldiers
• Called “Old Man”
• Michael Fortier
• Fulfilling family
tradition of military
service
Disenchanted with Army
• Passed out Copies of
Turner Diaries
• Mailing List for the
KKK
• Questioned the
necessity of Gulf War
• Turned down
promotion and left
army at end of 1991
Ruby Ridge, Idaho
• Felt that government was
intending to disarm the
American public
• August 21, 1992
• Federal Agents in gun
battle trying to arrest
Randy Weaver
• Weaver’s wife and 14
year old son were killed
during standoff
Waco, Texas
• February 28, 1993
• Gun Battle between
agents of ATF and
members of David
Koresh’s cult, the
Branch Davidians
• 4 Agents and 6 Cult
Members Killed
• Siege followed
McVeigh at Waco
• Sold Bumper Stickers
• “A man with a gun is a Citizen. A man without a gun is a
Subject”
• Interviewed by SMU student, Michelle Rauch
• “The government is afraid. Afraid of guns people have
because they have to have control of the people at all
times. Once you take away the guns, you can do
anything to the people.”
End of Waco Siege
• McVeigh said the federal
government had
murdered the people at
Waco
• “Blood will flow in the
streets, good vs. evil,
freemen vs. socialist
wannabe slaves.”
• Began to experiment with
chemicals that could be
used to make a bomb
September 30 and October 18,
1994
• Terry Nichols purchased a combined
total of 4,000 pounds of ammonium
nitrate fertilizer
• McVeigh purchased three drums of
nitromethane racing fuel under the
pretense of using it for motorcycle
racing
Planning the Truck Bomb
• This is a drawing by
Timothy McVeigh
diagramming the
placement of 55gallon drums filled
with a combination of
nitromethane and
ammonium nitrate.
Picking the Target
• Criteria for Potential Attack Sites:
• Must have at least two of the following three
federal law enforcement agencies:
– ATF
– FBI
– DEA
• Additional agencies such as the Secret Service
and US Marshals would be a bonus
• Considered buildings in Arkansas, Missouri,
Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas
Alfred P. Murrah Building
• Opened in 1977
• Offices for ATF, DEA, and
Secret Service
• Front of building was glass that
would shatter creating more
damage
• Plenty of open space allowing
for news photos and television
footage
• High Body Count
• Likened the federal employees
in the building to the storm
troopers in the movie, Star
Wars
McVeigh’s Map
April 14-18, 1995
• Rented 20-foot
Ryder Truck from
Elliott’s Body Shop
in Junction City,
Kansas
• Spent several
nights at the
Dreamland Motel
April 19, 1995
• Original Plan was to detonate the bomb at 11
a.m. but changed his mind and decided to
detonate at 9 a.m. instead
• These pictures show where the truck was
parked
9:02 a.m.
• Blast occurred and was the equivalent of 3 tons
of TNT
• McVeigh claimed the force of the blast lifted him
a full inch off the ground
• He said buildings were wobbling from side to
side and plate glass showered down into the
street around him
• Every building in a sixteen block area
surrounding the blast was damaged. Some had
to be demolished
• A 4-foot long section
of truck frame landed
on the roof of a
building two blocks
away
• The rear axle of the
Ryder truck traveled
200 yards away and
crashed down on the
hood of a red Ford
Festiva
168 Killed and over 500 injured
• 163 were in the Murrah Building
• Nurse who rushed to the scene died while assisting in
the rescue effort
• Woman in Athenian building across the street
• Man and Woman in Oklahoma Water Resources
Building across the street
• Woman killed as she was walking through a nearby
parking lot
• 20 more than the 148 Americans killed in the Gulf War
• 8 were Federal Law Enforcement Agents
• 99 worked for the Federal Government in some capacity
• 19 children killed
• Most of the dead would not be identified for several
days; several took weeks to identify
• Ages ranged from 3 months to 73 years old
19 Children Killed
• America’s Kids Day Care was on the
second floor of the Murrah Building
• McVeigh claimed," I didn’t know there was
a day care center. I’ve never been in the
building in my life.”
• McVeigh never expressed any remorse
over the deaths of the many federal
employees in the building, just the
children.
Arrest
• McVeigh left
Oklahoma City taking
I-35 North
• Claimed he left the
license plate off his
car on purpose
• Pulled over by
Trooper Charles
Hanger for the
missing plate
• McVeigh exited the vehicle and
Hanger noticed bulge
underneath the jacket
• McVeigh announced he had a
loaded gun in a shoulder
holster
• Hanger pulled his weapon and
arrested McVeigh
• He was taken to Noble County
Jail in Perry Oklahoma
• Charged with transporting a
loaded firearm in a motor
vehicle; unlawfully carrying a
weapon; failing to display a
current license plate; and
failing to maintain proof of
insurance
• Remained in Jail for two days
awaiting his court appearance
• Investigators found the rear axle and part of the rear
bumper with Florida license plate
• VIN number on rear axle along with the tag led to finding
the truck had been rented in Junction City, Kansas
• Composite sketches of Kling and another man were
distributed
• Dreamland Motel manager recognized Kling as Timothy
McVeigh
• APB showed that McVeigh was already in custody in
Noble County on other charges
Federal Custody
“He was arguably the
most notorious
despised criminal
defendant in America
since Lee Harvey
Oswald. He had
blown up an office
building, killing 168
people of almost
every age, race and
religion.”
– Michel and Herbeck,
American Terrorist: Timothy
McVeigh and the Oklahoma
City Bombing, 276.
• Refused to plead guilty to the charges
against him, but he made no pretense of
innocence to his lawyers.
• He said his actions were a justifiable
response to the tyranny of the federal
government.
• Wanted his lawyers to craft a “necessity
defense” claiming the bombing was an
absolute necessity
• Wanted to use the trial to make his case
about the federal government
Guilty
On June 2, McVeigh was found Guilty on all eleven
counts filed against him
• Conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction
• Use of such a weapon
• Destruction of government property with
explosives
• 8 counts of first degree murder of the federal law
enforcement agents killed in the blast
On June 13, McVeigh was sentenced to death
Co-Conspirators
• Nichols was sentenced to life
in prison
• Fortier became the chief
witness for the prosecution
and was sentenced to 11
years in prison
• “There was no big conspiracy.
It was mostly me. The few
friends who helped me were
acting under some duress,
and none of them had any
control over when I was going
to blow up the Murrah
building.”
Effects of Terrorism
• Increase a sense of vulnerability and show
the government cannot keep us safe
• Use media coverage to get message to a
larger audience
• The coverage by the media can extend the
horror far beyond the number of people
immediately affected by the blast.
McVeigh’s Motivation
• McVeigh viewed himself as the ultimate
defender of America against a violent and
illegitimate federal government.
• His refusal to ask for clemency and his eventual
execution gave him a great sense of historical
accomplishment.
• In correspondence with Gore Vidal, he
compared the justice of his act to the justice
behind President Harry Truman’s 1945 attack on
Hiroshima
Mahmud Abouhalima, Convicted
Terrorist in 1993 WTC Bombing
“It was done for a very, very specific
reason…they had some certain
target, you know, a specific
achievement. They wanted to
reach the government with the
message that we are not tolerating
the way that you are dealing with
our citizens. If they believe that the
government unjustifiably killed the
people in Waco, then they have
their own way to respond. [It] was
morally justified.”
– Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of
God: The Global Rise of Religious
Violence, 64-65.
McVeigh claimed that his attack also led the Federal
Agents to back down from the deadly attacks they had
formerly used at Ruby Ridge and Waco
• There was a standoff between federal agents and the
Montana Freemen, a militia group who claimed to have
established a sovereign nation on 960 acres of land in
Montana. After 81 days, the standoff ended peacefully
with the surrender of 23 adults and four children.
• McVeigh said, “I am convinced the Freemen would be
dead if not for the Murrah Building bombing.”
• He also pointed to the $3.1 million settlement reached
between the federal government and Randy Weaver and
his surviving children. In return, they agreed to drop a
$200 million civil suit they had filed against the
government.
Further Effects of Oklahoma City
Bombing
• Unfortunately the new individual terrorist is much more
difficult to stop. This type of “megalomaniacal
hyperterrorist is incessantly looking for original ways to
surprise and devastate their enemy. They know their
actions will foster public outrage, yet they do not care.
They believe history will judge them in a more favorable
light.”
• The government will need to keep a much closer watch
on known terrorists and should increase investments in
human intelligence aimed at identifying hitherto unknown
or potential megalomaniacal foes.
Ehud Sprinzak, "The Lone Gunman," Foreign Policy,
November, 2001: 72-73.
Oklahoma City Memorial
“The bombing brought us to our knees, but we got
back up. If anything, it made us stronger.”
– Richard Williams, Assistant Manager of the Murrah
Building