Terrorism is a major political issue that is facing numerous nations around the world. It consists of the unlawful usage of violence as well as intimidation, against a nations civilians, often in the pursuit of various political aims. The United States has been at the forefront of fighting terror attacks, both domestic and abroad. This is particularly through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is the primary agencies tasked with fighting terror insurgents in the nation. Timothy McVeigh is among the most dangerous domestic terrorist that ever existed in the United States. This is a discussion of McVeighs life, his radicalization process, the success and failure of his terrorism goal, and alternative strategy that he could have used instead of perpetrating terrorism.
Timothy McVeigh
Child Hood and Education
Timothy McVeigh was the second born child of William McVeigh and Mildred Noreen, and he was born in Lock port, New York (Siegel 76). At the age of ten, McVeighs parents got a divorce. As a result, McVeigh was brought up by his father in the small city of Pendleton, New York (Martinez 276). According to his testimony, McVeigh claimed that he was bullied much in school. Consequently, this made him take solace in a fantasy world where he imagined being a hero retaliating against his bullies.
Also, during the end of his life, McVeigh believed that the United States government was his ultimate bully. Most persons who knew McVeigh during his childhood years remembered him as a withdrawn and shy person (Plaza 400). A few persons also describe him as a play full child who was outgoing but withdrawn during his adolescent years. Also, McVeigh is believed to have had only a single girlfriend during his teenage years. He later confessed to a journalist that during that period, he did not have any idea of how to impress girls.
Moreover, during his high school days, McVeigh became immensely interested in computers. During the same period, he hacked into computer systems owned by the government, through his Commodore 64, using the handle name the Wanderer (Stickney 76). The term was borrowed from a renowned song authored by Dion DiMucci. Also, during his senior year, McVeigh was recognized and awarded as being the most promising computer programmer in Starpoint Central High School. However, he continued to portray relatively poor grades until he graduated in 1986 (Plaza 400). Later, McVeigh was introduced to firearms and their usage by his grandfather.
Additionally, during this period, he had the vision to become a gun shop owner when he was much older. Also, he even carried some firearms to school as a way of impressing his friends. During the same period, McVeigh became remarkably interested in the United States gun rights. He was also interested in the Second Amendment to the Constitution. After graduating from high school, he started reading magazines such as Soldier of Fortune (Chapman & Ciment 414). Additionally, he briefly went to the Bryant & Stratton College before dropping out.
The Radicalization Process of Timothy McVeigh
Military Life
McVeigh graduated in May 1988 from the United States Infantry School of Fort Benin (Plaza 401). The school was situated in Georgia, and at the time, McVeigh was twenty years old. Also, while studying at the military school, McVeigh used much of his spare time to research on firearms, explosives, as well as sniper tactics. Additionally, at one time he was reprimanded by the United States military for buying a White Power t-shirt in a protest held by the Ku Klux Klan.
The t-shirt worn by McVeigh was a protest retaliation against the black servicemen who on their part wore, Black Power t-shirts, near the military base. Additionally, McVeigh was a top gunner, having been ranked as an expert in using the 25mm cannon, which was used on the Bradley Fighting Vehicles (History Commons 1). The Bradley vehicles were used by the 1st Infantry Division at the military base. Furthermore, McVeigh became stationed at the renowned Fort Riley, Kansas, but he was later deployed for a peace keeping mission deemed Operation Desert Storm.
In an interview done by McVeigh in Kuwait, it is evident that his love of violence was very high during his military life. In the documentary shot on McVeigh themed American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & the Tragedy at Oklahoma City, McVeigh confessed that during his first day in the war, he executed an Iraqi soldier using a cannon fire and celebrated (Plaza 401). In the interview, McVeigh also stated that he participated in the killing of surrendering Iraqi prisoners of war captured by the United States troops. Additionally, it is evident that McVeigh was good in his military career because he was awarded service awards like the National Defense Service Medal and the Kuwaiti Liberation Medal. He also attained the Southwest Asia Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal, as well as the Army Service Ribbon awards. Ultimately, McVeigh served in the army until he was honorably discharged in 1991 (Madeira 8).
Post Military Life
In 1992, after exiting the United States Army, McVeigh became increasingly transient. This is because he did not hold a single job for a long period. At first, he served as a security guard near Pendleton, near his home town. His work was to guard the Pinkerton Government Services that was situated at Calspan, in Cheektowaga (Plaza 401). While working as a guard, he spoke much to his coworker about his loathing for the government. The name of his coworker was Carl LeBron. Eventually, McVeigh decided that the Buffalo area had become too liberal for him. As a result, McVeigh left his job and started driving across the country searching out for his old friends whom he had met while in the military.
The Waco Siege and Gun Shows (1993)
In 1993, McVeigh went to Waco, Texas (Robertson 147). It was the time of the Waco Siege, and he attended it in order to show his support. At the scene, he started distributing various pro-guns rights literature as well as bumper stickers to all persons who were attending the event. The Waco Siege continued for five months, and at the time, McVeigh got a job at a gun show as an attendant. Also, at the show, he was handing out free cards condemning the actions of Lon Horiuchi, the FBI sniper who killed Randy Weavers wife when she was holding an infant (Gaines & Kappeler 27). Additionally, in the card that McVeigh was distributing, some words lobbied for any person in the Patriotic movement to assassinate Horiuchi because of his killings.
Additionally, McVeigh even wrote a letter to Horiuchi that suggested that all that goes around, eventually comes back around (Gaines & Kappeler 27). Eventually, he decided to put aside his target towards the Murrah Building and instead, he became fixated on attacking Horiuchi or any member of Horiuchis family. Also, during the same period, McVeigh became a renowned fixture of the gun show circuit. Through his work, he visited forty states in America and also attended over eighty gun shows. During this period, Horiuchi realized that the more involved he became with the gun show events and traveling, the more he encountered he became an anti-government trouper. During this time, he was so angry with the government actions, which he believed that they were despotic.
Oklahoma City Bombing
At the time McVeigh perpetrated the Oklahoma terror attack, he was working in a campground near a lakeside situated near his old Army post. Together with his partner Nichols, McVeigh created a ANNM explosive device, which they later mounted in the back of a Ryder truck that they had rented. The bomb was made up 5,000 pounds 2,300 kg of a mixture of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane (Sealey 102). McVeigh later drove the truck just at the front of the iconic Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (Sealey 102). The day was the morning of April 19, 1995 (Sealey 102). Prior to arriving at the site, McVeigh had stopped briefly in order to turn on a 2-minute fuse, which could act as the detonator.
McVeighs bomb detonated at 09:02 am, and as a result, the northern half of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was destroyed (Juergensmeyer 160). The total number of fatalities from the detonation was 168 persons. Among the fatalities were 19 were young children who were being attended to in a day care center operating on the second floor of the building (Croddy, Wirtz & Larsen 203). Moreover, 684 other persons were severely wounded from the attack (Croddy, Wirtz & Larsen 203). Later in an interview, McVeigh confessed that he had no prior knowledge that there was a daycare center on the second floor of the building. According to him, if he would have known that his actions would hurt children, he would have chosen a different building.
Arrest, Trial, Conviction, and Sentencing
After the attack, FBI detectives found the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), in the wreckage. A tracing of the number was performed, and it was ascertained that the plate belonged to a rented Ryder box truck. The truck had been hired from Junction City, Kansas. The workers at the car rental agency cooperated with the FBI in creating a facial sketch of McVeigh, who at the time had hired the truck using the alias Robert Kling (Jones & Israel 273). Additionally, after the sketch was shown to people in the area, a manager of a local motel identified the image to be that of Timothy McVeigh. Later, McVeigh was arrested and charged with 11 federal counts (Miller 1091).
The counts were inclusive of causing destruction by using of explosives, forming a conspiracy to employ and use a weapon of mass destruction as well as 8 counts of murder (Miller 1091). He was charged on August 10, 1995. McVeighs case was later transferred to the U.S. District Court in Denver that is based in Colorado, from Oklahoma City (Miller 1091). It was then presided over by Judge Richard Matsch, who was the United States District Judge at the time. Ultimately, after the hearing of his case, McVeigh was considered guilty, and he was sentenced to death through the use of lethal injection. He died aged 33 after being executed on June 11, 2001 (Ingui 218).
Timothy McVeigh Goals, Tactics, and Targets
From an interview that was conducted on McVeigh after his capture, he confessed that he chose to bomb a federal building because of several reasons. First, the bombing would act as a retaliatory strike for the cumulative raids that the government through its federal agents had participated in over the past few years. According to McVeigh, this includes the Waco movements among other events that the government had used excessive force against its citizens. Second, McVeighs goals for attacking also include a retaliation against the Hostage Rescue Team that had been formed by the FBI, among other assault teams that were managed by the FBI during the 1980s (Clark Prosecutor 1).
According to McVeigh, the actions of the FBI had increasingly become materialistic as well as violent to the extent of deploying military tanks against the nations citizens. Furthermore, according to McVeigh, his attack was also meant to send a message to the government that had become increasingly hostile to its own citizens through its law enforcing agencies. He believed that by bombing a federal building with federal employees inside it, he would show the impact that the actions of the government had on other nations such as Serbia and Iraq, where they posed their attacks. Additionally, according to McVeigh, his attack on the federal building was not personal but rather a moral equivalent of the United States military actions of reigning terror using missiles in Syria and Iraq.
Additionally, it cannot be theorized that McVeighs attack was racially inclined (Gumbel 1). This is because he chose...
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