|
|
On April 19,1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma was bombed. The explosion killed 149 adults and 19 and injured at least 500 people. Timothy McVeigh, a former U.S. Army sergeant, who was a 27-year-old white male, was the prime suspect for the bombing. McVeigh offered few reasons as to why he bombed the federal building. It is believed he did it out of revenge for the government’s attack on Waco, Rudy Ridge in 1992, and the new enforced guns laws. The Oklahoma City bombing took place on the two-year anniversary of the Waco tragedy, and it is believed the order for the assault on Waco was issued at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and is one of the reasons that building was chosen. On April 19, 1995, McVeigh was arrested for speeding, driving without a license and carrying a concealed weapon. He was later arraigned and charged with conspiracy and the murders of the Oklahoma City bombing. McVeigh did not act alone, Terry Nichols, the other man who was involved in the bombing, was found guilty and charged with involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy. His sentenced was reduced for his testimony against McVeigh. McVeigh was sentenced to die by lethal injection on June 11, 2001. First I would like to start out by giving a brief definition of what terrorism is and what a revolutionary act is. Terrorism is the organized or unorganized use of violence as a means to intimidate or coerce societies or governments, which usually leads to substantial loss of life. Motives for a terrorist attack can be due to a number of different things. A revolutionary act can be done with out violence but unusually results in violence. Its intentions are to hurt the government and targets government buildings or other properties. In other words, a person is generally perusing a revolutionary act and is looking to get the attention of the government while trying to change its policies. They question that I am faced with is, was the Oklahoma City bombing a terrorist attack or a revolutionary act. In my opinion, this is a very difficult question, and I consider it to be both, along with a governmental cover up. There are reasons to believe that it could be either or both. Although terrorist attacks can be random they usually tend to target government buildings; which is true in the case of the Oklahoma bombing. The slaughter of innocent victims is a goal of most terrorists, where as someone committing a revolutionary act may try to limit the number of innocent victims and tries to target those who they blame, but the result is usually the same. No matter how hard you try, there are always innocent victims and they, especially real terrorists, have learned to accept it. Again, this is true of the Oklahoma bombing. Many innocent people died, including 19 children. Timothy McVeigh was fully aware he was going to hurt and kill innocent people and felt no remorse when he actually did, but when he learned of the daycare and the deaths of children he did show some sign of regret but still classified them as collateral damage.
|
