OK, if this has already come up in other threads, I apologize. Anyway, I have never followed this case very closely, so I have the following assumptions:
Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Federal Building because a) it was revenge for the *Federal barbecue held at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco a two years earlier, and b) it was meant as a warning shot across the bow that the American people would not stand idly by and let the black helicopters and UN-led shock troops do their dirty work when the invasion began.
Now, that’s all inferential on my part. Did anything come out in testimony as to his “real” reason? I know that the attorney(s) tried to say there was “another” bomber, so I don’t know that McVeigh himself ever said anything to contradict it.
*I’m aware of the fact that the natives actually started the fires, but I think he probably assumed it was the Feds.
McVeigh has always maintained that there was no John Doe #2 and if there was, Jones - his former trial attorney who keeps insisting there is - would be dead by now for not keeping his mouth shut. [yes, I know. You’ll need a cite for that. I’ll try and find it]
Well, the CNN story that I think had that quote from McVeigh is no longer there. My apologies also for the above link to the Times. That was from yesterday’s story, not today’s.
I didn’t write the title, and wouldn’t have used that word. His tone is marginally less abrasive than his prior quotes about ‘collateral damage’. Just didn’t want you to think that my posting was an attempted defense of him. Just an attempt to answer the OP’s question.
Why that building? Why blow up a building full of citizens, women and children? Why not park his van outside of a federal building in Washington? Why not blow up a BATF or FBI facility, since they were the actual agencies in charge?
I’m curious why he chose a relatively obscure building in Oklahoma.
A: It was a Federal Building with FBI offices. It was the deaths of the Federal Agents that got him tried for murder in Federal court.
B: Because it was in Oklahoma. One of those places where people say, “Oh, things like that never happen to us, they happen to other people in places like New York, Washington, and LA.” It made it all the more horrifying that it occured in the Heartland.
Now, I’m not going to close this. I would, however, like to ask that we just let this thread die. McVeigh wanted to get attention for what he did. Let’s not give him what he wants, OK?