Innate Act of Evil or Demonstration?

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Recommended: Analysis of Bill Clinton's Oklahoma City Bombing Speech

Do you remember where you were on April 9th 1995? Videos clips flickered images of a crumbling collapsing building. Body bags amassed high next to ambulances. Lachrymose mothers pulled up to the scene hoping and praying that it wasn’t their son. Where were you on the day of the Oklahoma City Bombing? Do you remember hanging on to every word in President Clinton’s speech? Do you remember the feeling of nationalism that overpowered you? Do you remember the hated you felt for the man who had done this to your nation?

Yet, how many remember the massacre of the Evangelical Christian group in Waco, Texas? No video clips flashed images of the 82 body bags, 25 of them containing children, piled high in the city morgue, no ambulances in sight. President Clinton didn’t address it; nationalism didn’t over power the American nation. Many of us have never even heard about this massacre, until one man, one American, spoke out about it. Although the Oklahoma City Bombing was an inexcusable act of terrorism, Timothy McVeigh, the bomber, reasoning reflects the voice of many Americans. Those who feel they have no voice, those who feel they have no say in what the government does, those who feel “ American citizens have to be vigilant to keep the government under control (qtd. in Vidal 83).”

The Oklahoma City bombing will forever be remembered as a day of the start of the controversial war. On April 19th 1995, a truck maneuvered into the parking lot of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office in downtown Oklahoma City. Inside sat Timothy McVeigh, a former Army solider, with the intentions of punishing the government for their actions (Michal and Herbeck 68). As he contemplated his next move, Timothy McVeigh thought to himself, “‘dirty for dirt...

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Clinton, William. “Tragedy of Oklahoma City 15 years Later and the Lessons for Today.” Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. June 2003: Web. 8 Feb. 2012.

Hamma, Mark S. In Bad Company: America's Terriorist Underground. Boston: Northeastern UP, 2001: Print.

Kelley, Ed. “Oklahoma City Bombing.” World Book Advanced. Dec. 2008: 5-6 World Book. Web. 2 Feb. 2012.

Michel, Lou and Dan Herbeck. American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing. New York: Harper Collins World, 2001. Print.

Steigher, Brad and Sherry Steigher. “ Oklahoma City Bombing.”Oklahoma City Articles. Points of View Refenece Center. EBSCO. Web. 8 Feb. 2012.

Vidal, Gore. Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got So Hated. New York: Thunders Mouth/Nation, 2002. Print.

Wilentz, Sean. “When leaders Change History.” Newsweek. 16 July. 2001: 26, World Book. Web. 8 Feb. 2012.

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