THE 1995 OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBINGS

THE 1995 OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBINGS: WHAT INSPIRED THE PERPETRATORS?

Introduction

On the day of April 19, 1995, a bomb explosion occurred outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The terrorist action led to the death of a total of 168 people and hundreds more injured. The powerful explosion blew off the north wall of the building. A spirited hunt for the bombing suspects began and finally an eyewitness account led the investigating authorities to judge Timothy McVeigh 1 . McVeigh was a former United States of America Army soldier. At the time, McVeigh was already in jail for having violated a traffic offence as well as unlawfully carrying a handgun. He was identified as a prime suspect of the bombing shortly before being released. Terry Nichols, McVeigh’s close associate, surrendered to authorities in Kansas. Both McVeigh and Nichols were identified to be members of a radical right wing survivalist sect based in Michigan. There are several reasons that may have motivated Timothy McVeigh to orchestrate such a horrendous act.

The 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing 

The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The car bombing attack was planned and executed by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. The blast destroyed a third of the building killing one hundred and sixty eight people and injuring more than six hundred and eighty people 2 . Moreover, the blast damaged about 324 other buildings within a sixteen-block radius, burned eighty six cars and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings 3 . As such, the bombing caused an estimated loss of over $652 million worth of damage 4 . 

The prime conspirators, McVeigh and Nichols, met at Fort Benning during a basic training for the United States Army in 1988. They shared interests in survivalist ideology and they grew to be great friends. They constantly expressed anger about the government’s handling of the FBI stand-off at Ruby Ridge and the Waco siege. McVeigh later visited the Waco site during the stand-off and for the second time after its conclusion. As such, McVeigh began to detest the government based on the way it handles matters relating to the safety and welfare of the public. 

The selection of the target for bombing was informed by the fact that the building targeted housed several federal law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Additionally, the building targeted also housed the Secret Service, and the United States Marshalls Service.

McVeigh and his friend gathered the materials that were used to make the bomb and stored them in rented sheds. McVeigh bought several bags of ammonium nitrate from Mid-Kansas Coop in McPherson, Kansas. The fertilizers that he bought were enough to fertilize approximately 4.25 acres of farmland at a rate of 160 pounds of nitrogen per acre. He later planned to construct a bomb containing over five thousand pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer combined with about one thousand two hundred pounds of liquid nitro-methane and three hundred and fifty pounds of Tovex. 

McVeigh paid for a motel room in Junction City on April 14, 1995. He rented a truck from Ryder the following day. On April 18, 1995, McVeigh and Terry loaded the truck with the bomb supplies and drove it to Geary Lake State Park where they nailed boards onto the floor of the truck. The boards would help to hold the thirteen barrels in place 5 . They mixed the chemicals using plastic buckets. On 19 April, 1995, McVeigh drove the Ryder truck towards the Murrah federal building set for the explosion. He parked the truck in a drop off zone that was located under the daycare center 6 . He exited and locked the truck and headed for a getaway vehicle parked outside the building dropping the keys to the truck a few blocks away 7 . At exactly 9.02 am, the truck detonated outside the Murrah Federal building killing 168 people and injuring more than 658 others. 

The Gun Control Laws

The gun control laws, that were part of Bill Clinton’s election campaign promises did not impress Timothy McVeigh at all. Essentially, McVeigh acquired a penchant for guns during his teens and began honing his survivalist skills. He believed that survivalist skills would be necessary in the event of a cold war show down with the Soviet Union. McVeigh graduated from high school and enlisted in the army where he demonstrated a high degree of discipline and meticulous character as a soldier. While in the army, McVeigh befriended his fellow soldier Nichols with whom he shared his survivalist interests. 

McVeigh was very interested to join the United States Special Forces but he failed the test. He was disappointed and he consequently accepted the Army’s offer for an early discharge. Afterwards, McVeigh shifted his hatred for the communist government to a suspicion of the United States federal government because its new leader Bill Clinton had successfully campaigned for the presidency on a platform of gun control. This did not impress him because he advocated for gun rights. As a result, McVeigh began distributing pro-gun rights literature and bumper stickers to show his support for gun rights. He believed that the government was afraid of the people with guns because it will not be able to control them effectively. As such, thought that the government considered taking away guns as a means to grow more powerful. Therefore, he persuaded his closest friends including her sister to prepare to defend themselves against the government’s control. 

In his support for pro-gun movement, McVeigh attended the gun show events across over forty states visiting over eighty gun shows. He realized that the further he went west, the more antigovernment sentiment he encountered and this served to encourage him 8 . Additionally, he began selling survivalist literature to the people he came across. As such, McVeigh found a home in the gun show culture and he liked talking about the United Nations, the federal government and the possible threats to the American liberty. He felt that gun control laws had a huge potential for denying the Americans their liberty. 

Failure to Join the United States Army Special Forces 

McVeigh believed that he had done a lot for the Army and he considered himself fit to join the Special Forces. He graduated from the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia in May 1988. He was awarded a Bronze Star medal for his excellent service as a vehicle crewman during the Persian Gulf War. McVeigh also became the top scoring gunner with the 25mm cannon that were used by his First Infantry Division. He also participated in the Operation Desert Storm.

Furthermore, McVeigh received various service awards including the National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Riblon, Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, and the South West Asia Service Medal. Based on these Army service awards, he became very confident that he was a perfect candidate for the United States Army Special Forces program. However, McVeigh washed out on the second day of the 21-day assessment and selection process for the SF. This failure may have made him to loathe the government.

Government Taxes

Timothy McVeigh’s hatred for the US government was further fuelled by his experience with tax authorities. He was so disappointed by the constant tax increases by the various government administrations. For instance, he wrote letters to local newspapers registering his contempt for government taxes 9 . McVeigh had taken up obsessive gambling and he became unable to pay back the resulting debts. He took advance in a dead end job and he later defaulted in repayments. As a result, he began to look for a state without high taxes and heavy government regulation. Furthermore, he became frustrated when the government informed him that he had been overpaid over one thousand dollars while in the Army and that he was expected to pay back the money. In response, he wrote an emotionally charged letter to the government inviting them to go ahead and take everything that he owned. As such, the government taxes made him bitterer about the government and he sought for a way to avenge for his troubles. 

The Military Life

McVeigh’s military life may also have contributed to his decision to plan the bombing in Oklahoma. This is because the military mindset enables individuals to handle killing very well due to the massive exposure to deaths during war. For instance, when he spoke about his experience in Kuwait before his execution, McVeigh stated that he decapitated an Iraqi soldier with cannon fire on his first day in the war and he consequently celebrated heartily. Additionally, he was later ordered to execute surrendering prisoners and the sight of the carnage on the road leaving Kuwait City. 

The carnage on the road involving vehicles of retreating Iraqi soldiers may have presented a sorrowful spectacle for McVeigh. The American and Canadian forces attacked retreating Iraqi soldiers at Highway 80 on the night of February26, 1991 leading to the destruction of many vehicles as well as massive loss of life. The scenes of the devastation on Highway 80 remain some of the recognizable images of the war and they made an impact on McVeigh’s personal life even after leaving the military. These and some of the gory scenes of war made him capable of handling the killing of so many people in Oklahoma using a home-made bomb. The very many deaths he witnessed that he felt the United States government was responsible for, may have made him to belief that he was justified to carry out revenge.

The Ruby Ridge Incident

The Ruby Ridge incident has inspired some of the many antigovernment campaigns through the 1990s. The Ruby Ridge incident involved Randy Weaver, a white separatist, who had been targeted by the federal government after failing to appear in court to face charges related to the sale of two illegal firearms to an ATF informant. He lived with his family in an isolated cabin on Ruby Ridge in the Idaho Mountains. Randy Weaver believed that the races should live separately an ideology supported strongly by Timothy McVeigh. In fact, McVeigh had been reprimanded by the military for purchasing a ‘White Power’ T-shirt at a KKK protest against black servicemen who were wearing ‘Black Power’ T-shirts at the army base. Therefore, McVeigh would be really disappointed with the Ruby Ridge incident for two important reasons. First, the government agents were using excessive force and alienated the fundamental rights of the people. Secondly, the incident involved a white separatist like him and he felt that the government was targeting one of their own. 

Six heavily armed United States marshals sneaked onto Weavers property on August May, 1992. They killed one of Weaver’s dogs before killing one of his sons by shooting him in the back. A family friend called Harris responded to the killing by fatally shooting one of the Marshals. 

When the wounded marshal died, the commander of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team ordered federal agents to shoot any adult armed outside the cabin. As a result, over four hundred government agents swarmed in the Idaho Mountains in the vicinity of the Weaver’s cabin. The federal agents deliberately made no attempt to contact Weaver for the purpose of negotiating his surrender 10 . Randy Weaver was shot from behind by a FBI sniper. He struggled back to the cabin but his wife was unfortunately holding a baby in the doorway while calling for her husband to hurry up. The sniper fired again hitting his wife in the temple killing her instantly. The apparent brutality with which the government agents handle the people fuelled the hatred against government among the patriot movement’s sympathizers particularly McVeigh. Therefore, the 1995 Oklahoma bombing was partly inspired by such extreme brutality by the government agencies.

The Waco Siege

The Waco siege was largely responsible for the resurgence in the patriot movement during the 1990’s 11 . This was a result of the belief among the sympathizers of the movement that the government was not upholding the United States constitution to the latter. The siege of the Davidian compound remains one of the most important American events of the 1990s. Several constitutional and legal American liberties were ignored in the face of extreme government brutality against some innocent Christian Americans. The Waco massacre involved a religious group known as the Branch Davidians who lived in a compound called Mt. Carmel just outside Waco, Texas. The agents of the United States government attacked the Branch Davidians compound and murdered helpless women and children with flame throwers, battle tanks and poisonous gas. Approximately a hundred innocent individuals died during the incident. The fact that the Davidians had done nothing wrong enough to provoke the attack by the United States government makes the attack a tragedy of the most terrible proportions. 

Essentially, the Branch Davidians coexisted peacefully with the surrounding community despite the fact that they held some religious beliefs that made them different from other religious groups. However, such differences may not have been the reasons behind the attacks by the government functionaries. This is because the First Amendment of the United States constitution explicitly guarantees the right to worship according to the dictates of one’s own conscience and not the dictates of the government. Furthermore, the First Amendment states that the government shall make no law pertaining to religion. As such, it is clear that indeed, the constitutional rights of the Branch Davidians may have been ignored by the government during the attack that led to massive loss of lives. Apparently, the BATF officers were guilty of the most heinous crimes and it seems they got away with it. Based on this realization, Timothy and his friend, both sympathizers of the patriot movement were very much concerned about the conduct of the United States government regarding the protection of the rights of the citizens. 

On learning that the ATF wanted to get complete information about him and the Branch Davidians compound, he invited them to come out to Mount Carmel to investigate what they wanted. However, the ATF officers never turned up at the compound to carry out the investigations as expected. Instead, a siege began on February 28, 1993 on the Davidian compound. Approximately a hundred ATF and FBI agents stormed the compound and began to open fire with automatic weapons at the walls and at the front door oblivious of the fact that there were women and children inside.

Apparently, the ATF agents intended to serve the warrant using two approaches; one group would enter the compound through the front door while others would ascend the roof on the west side of the compound and enter through the second story windows. Additionally, three National Guard helicopters circled the compound with mounted guns. Allegedly, David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians was stockpiling weaponry in the compound and the heavily armed search warrant was inspired by the suspicion. 

The ATF agents that sprinted to the front door with the guns began shooting indiscriminately at the steel door. As a result of the shootings, Koresh was injured while his son was instantly killed. However, according to the statement from the ATF agents, it is alleged that Koresh fired. This was never proved because the ATF agents deliberately withheld the steel door from being used in the investigations to the incident. This indicated that the ATF agents were hiding something from the public. This inspired hatred among the likes of McVeigh who were infuriated about the way the government enforced the law. This is because the witnesses stated that all the bullet holes in the riddled steel door were entry holes and that there was no exit holes. 

On the western roof of the compound, the ATF agents threw concussion and smoke grenades indiscriminately into the upstairs windows before entering the rooms with guns blazing. There were several children in this wing of the compound and one of the women in the rooms was shot through the chest while nursing her baby. A 21 year old young man who was cleaning rust in the water tower exited through the top of the tower to find out what was happening when he heard the shooting. Unfortunately, he met his death when the National Guard helicopters hovering over the compound gunned him down killing the young man instantly. 

Later, a tank rammed into the wall of the dining room where twenty members of the Branch Davidians were seated killing six men and six women. Additionally, the ATF agents separated the ends of the compound using pressurized CS gas attachments 12 . The gas was a much more potent and can be deadly in large doses particularly to children. Moreover, the CS gas is flammable and can create fireballs when ignited. As a result, several children were recovered in snapped spine condition due to the dangerous effects of the CS gas. The events that transpired at Waco Texas embittered McVeigh to the extent he resolved to avenge for the suffering of the Branch Davidians. McVeigh targeted the Murrah Federal building where the ATF and FBI agents were housed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing remains one of the outstanding acts of domestic terror ever orchestrated on the American soil. Overs one hundred and sixty eight lives were lost with over six hundred and fifty eight people injured. It is clear that the various antigovernment sentiments were the motivations behind the planning and execution of the bombing. The Ruby Ridge incident and the Waco massacre remain the main reasons for the attack on Murrah Federal building. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were the brains behind the bombing that caused ripples in America. 

Bibliography

Crenshaw, Martha. "The psychology of terrorism: An agenda for the 21st century." Political psychology 21, no. 2 (2000): 405-420.

Dobratz, Betty A., Stephanie L. Shanks‐Meile, and Danelle Hallenbeck. "What Happened on Ruby Ridge: Terrorism or Tyranny?." Symbolic Interaction 26, no. 2 (2003): 315-342.

Downey, Dennis B. "Domestic terrorism: The enemy within." Current History 99 (2000): 169.

Hamm, Mark S. Apocalypse in Oklahoma: Waco and Ruby Ridge Revenged . Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997.

Memon, Amina, and Daniel B. Wright. "Eyewitness testimony and the Oklahoma bombing." The Psychologist (1999).

Prendergast, John. "Oklahoma city aftermath." Civil Engineering 65, no. 10 (1995): 42.

Russakof, Dale., Kovaleski, Serge. (June 10, 1995). “An ordinary boy’s extraordinary rage” The Washington Post

Sozen, Mete A., Charles H. Thornton, W. Gene Corley, and Paul F. Mlakar Sr. "The Oklahoma city bombing: structure and mechanisms of the murrah building." Journal of performance of constructed facilities 12, no. 3 (1998): 120-136.

Spengler, Carl. "The Oklahoma City bombing: a personal account." Journal of child neurology 10, no. 5 (1995): 392-398.

Teague, David C. "Mass casualties in the Oklahoma City bombing." Clinical orthopaedics and related research 422 (2004): 77-81.

Wright, Stuart A. "Anatomy of a government massacre: Abuses of hostage‐barricade protocols during the Waco standoff." Terrorism and Political Violence 11, no. 2 (1999): 39-68.