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Sunday, April 19, 2009

It was not a liberal who did this
Posted by Jill | 8:31 AM

Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995


Letter from Timothy McVeigh to Fox News' Rita Cosby, April 2001:

I explain herein why I bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. I explain this not for publicity, nor seeking to win an argument of right or wrong. I explain so that the record is clear as to my thinking and motivations in bombing a government installation.

I chose to bomb a federal building because such an action served more purposes than other options. Foremost, the bombing was a retaliatory strike; a counter attack, for the cumulative raids (and subsequent violence and damage) that federal agents had participated in over the preceding years (including, but not limited to, Waco.) From the formation of such units as the FBI's "Hostage Rescue" and other assault teams amongst federal agencies during the '80's; culminating in the Waco incident, federal actions grew increasingly militaristic and violent, to the point where at Waco, our government - like the Chinese - was deploying tanks against its own citizens.

Knowledge of these multiple and ever-more aggressive raids across the country constituted an identifiable pattern of conduct within and by the federal government and amongst its various agencies. For all intents and purposes, federal agents had become "soldiers" (using military training, tactics, techniques, equipment, language, dress, organization, and mindset) and they were escalating their behavior. Therefore, this bombing was also meant as a pre-emptive (or pro-active) strike against these forces and their command and control centers within the federal building. When an aggressor force continually launches attacks from a particular base of operation, it is sound military strategy to take the fight to the enemy.

Additionally, borrowing a page from U.S. foreign policy, I decided to send a message to a government that was becoming increasingly hostile, by bombing a government building and the government employees within that building who represent that government. Bombing the Murrah Federal Building was morally and strategically equivalent to the U.S. hitting a government building in Serbia, Iraq, or other nations. Based on observations of the policies of my own government, I viewed this action as an acceptable option. From this perspective, what occurred in Oklahoma City was no different than what Americans rain on the heads of others all the time, and subsequently, my mindset was and is one of the clinical detachment. (the bombing of the Murrah building was not personal , no more than when Air Force, Army, Navy, or Marine personnel bomb or launch cruise missiles against government installations and their personnel.)

I hope that this clarification amply addresses your question.

Sincerely, Timothy J. McVeigh
USP Terre Haute (IN)


Wingnut radio personality Melanie Morgan, speaking about Nancy Pelosi, November 2005:

"We've got a bull's-eye painted on her big, wide laughing eyes."

Remark by Brian Smith, a marketer from Greenville, SC to Salon's Mike Madden at a "tea party" in Washington, DC

"I love my country and I don't like what's going on...Government -- to be honest with you, and this will probably be misquoted, but on 9/11, I think they hit the wrong building. They should have gone into the Capitol building, hit out, knocked out both sides of the aisle, we'd start from scratch, we'd be better off today...Yeah, I know, they missed. The wrong sequence. If someone had to go, it should have been the Capitol building. On that day I felt differently, but today that's the way I feel."


Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann, March 2009:

'I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us, “Having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,” and the people – we the people – are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country.'


James Dobson, April 14, 2009:
There are no Timothy McVeighs out there right now.

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10 Comments:
Blogger Jennifer said...
Chilling.
4/19/09, 10:41 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...
>It was not a liberal who did this Yes, that's very profound. But then again I've never really feared that a liberal would blow me up (they're typically too scared of loud noises.) I've been more afraid that they'd raise my taxes, pass anti-gun laws, or continue working to keep kids trapped in failing government schools and the like.
4/19/09, 3:20 PM  
Blogger Bob said...
Jefferson wrote, from France om 1787 in a personal letter to Abigail Adams, "I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere."
4/19/09, 3:43 PM  
Blogger Jill said...
Yes, Barry, being willing to blow up a building full of working people and kids sure shows courage, right? So does arming yourself to the teeth, eh? The right-wing mind never ceases to amaze me.

By the way, Barry, when are you going to stop driving on roads? When are you going to stop expecting the streets in your town to be maintained, or the fire department to be there if your house burns down?

Or more to it, when are you going to stop trolling liberal blogs and join your ideological brethren, taking up arms against the federal government? YOU're the one who wants that, why are you such a fucking armchair quarterback?
4/19/09, 5:13 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...
>Yes, Barry, being willing to blow up a building full of working people and kids sure shows courage, right?As hard is this is for you to grasp, there are actually some decent, intelligent and well-meaning people out there who believe the government should be much smaller in scope and power, and who are neither racists nor homophobes, and who don't want to blow up buildings containing innocent civilians.

I'm neither a militia member nor an anarchist (to address your silliness about roads and fire departments) although I understand it's much easier for you dismiss anyone to your right with cartoonish stereotypes than to have an actual dialog.
4/19/09, 5:35 PM  
Blogger Spocko said...
The right-wing really don't want to "own" McVeigh. The new line is that he was acting on behalf of people in the Middle East.
4/19/09, 9:32 PM  
Blogger PurpleGirl said...
As I told a friend back then, McVeigh could hate the government all he wanted to, but why the hell couldn't he have picked a time when there were NO people in the building. He'd still be wrong to blow up the building but at least he wouldn't have killed people who weren't government employees (like the children). No, I'm not accepting the idea of killing government employees but trying to get across that the building might have been one thing but to kill people in it makes it a whole other crime. He had that choice and he chose to kill people, therefore he is the one case in which I was for the death penalty. I didn't (and still don't) believe he should ever had seen the sun again after what he did.

The right owns him completely.
4/20/09, 10:20 AM  
Anonymous Charlie O said...
Although many of you may find my remarks contemptible, Mr. McVeigh makes some valid points in his letter. (I don't agree with his choice of target, I would have preferred he blow up the Hoover Bldg in DC.). Law enforcement in general has become waaay to militarized in this country. Not just the Feds. Law enforcement in this country is much to willing to kill the citizenry here that anywhere in Europe. It's time for people to start fighing back. It's the main reason I support gun rights. Not to protect myself from the bad guys, but from the so-called "good guys" in blue. I find most of them dispicable. There is a great line from the movie "Sicko" from an American living in France. In France the government is afraid of the people, in the US the people are afraid of the government. Why, because government in the US, won't hesitate to kill you.
4/20/09, 12:40 PM  
Blogger Jill said...
I've always thought that McVeigh made some valid points, but chose a pretty damn dunbass way to "demonstrate" them. I have the same distrust of authority that you have, Charlie, but while I have criticized Barack Obama here for continuing much of the Bush Administration secrecy policies, the McVeigh-esque crowd was utterly silent during eight years when a REpublican was president. So their outrage now is more than a bit disingenuous. (Heh: word verification: cyncess. Is that a cynical princess?)
4/20/09, 9:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Bill Ayers
4/21/09, 1:07 AM  
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