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The Oklahoma City Bombing

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Title: The Oklahoma City Bombing


1
The Oklahoma City Bombing
  • Timothy McVeigh An American Terrorist
  • Presentation by Jeff Jones

2
902 a.m. April 19, 1995
  • Residents of Chandler, Oklahoma heard a loud
    noise.
  • Some thought it was a sonic boom.
  • Others wondered how thunder could be heard on
    such a clear and sunny day.

3
40 miles away in Oklahoma City
  • 168 dead and over 500 injured
  • 320 structures in surrounding area damaged
  • 651 million of damage

4
Timothy McVeigh
  • Born April 23, 1968
  • Western New York
  • Loved the Outdoors
  • Interested in Guns

5
Joined the Army in 1988
  • Expert Marksman
  • Gunner on Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicle
  • Served in Gulf War
  • 5 Medals for Service in War
  • Failed in Bid to Join Special Forces

6
Army Buddies
  • Terry Nichols
  • Older than other soldiers
  • Called Old Man
  • Michael Fortier
  • Fulfilling family tradition of military service

7
Disenchanted with Army
  • Passed out Copies of Turner Diaries
  • Mailing List for the KKK
  • Questioned the necessity of Gulf War
  • Turned down promotion and left army at end of 1991

8
Ruby Ridge, Idaho
  • Felt that government was intending to disarm the
    American public
  • August 21, 1992
  • Federal Agents in gun battle trying to arrest
    Randy Weaver
  • Weavers wife and 14 year old son were killed
    during standoff

9
Waco, Texas
  • February 28, 1993
  • Gun Battle between agents of ATF and members of
    David Koreshs cult, the Branch Davidians
  • 4 Agents and 6 Cult Members Killed
  • Siege followed

10
McVeigh at Waco
  • Sold Bumper Stickers
  • A man with a gun is a Citizen. A man without a
    gun is a Subject
  • Interviewed by SMU student, Michelle Rauch
  • The government is afraid. Afraid of guns people
    have because they have to have control of the
    people at all times. Once you take away the
    guns, you can do anything to the people.

11
End of Waco Siege
  • McVeigh said the federal government had murdered
    the people at Waco
  • Blood will flow in the streets, good vs. evil,
    freemen vs. socialist wannabe slaves.
  • Began to experiment with chemicals that could be
    used to make a bomb

12
September 30 and October 18, 1994
  • Terry Nichols purchased a combined total of 4,000
    pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer
  • McVeigh purchased three drums of nitromethane
    racing fuel under the pretense of using it for
    motorcycle racing

13
Planning the Truck Bomb
  • This is a drawing by Timothy McVeigh diagramming
    the placement of 55-gallon drums filled with a
    combination of nitromethane and ammonium nitrate.

14
Picking the Target
  • Criteria for Potential Attack Sites
  • Must have at least two of the following three
    federal law enforcement agencies
  • ATF
  • FBI
  • DEA
  • Additional agencies such as the Secret Service
    and US Marshals would be a bonus
  • Considered buildings in Arkansas, Missouri,
    Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas

15
Alfred P. Murrah Building
  • Opened in 1977
  • Offices for ATF, DEA, and Secret Service
  • Front of building was glass that would shatter
    creating more damage
  • Plenty of open space allowing for news photos and
    television footage
  • High Body Count
  • Likened the federal employees in the building to
    the storm troopers in the movie, Star Wars

16
McVeighs Map
17
April 14-18, 1995
  • Rented 20-foot Ryder Truck from Elliotts Body
    Shop in Junction City, Kansas
  • Spent several nights at the Dreamland Motel

18
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19
April 19, 1995
  • Original Plan was to detonate the bomb at 11 a.m.
    but changed his mind and decided to detonate at 9
    a.m. instead
  • These pictures show where the truck was parked

20
902 a.m.
  • Blast occurred and was the equivalent of 3 tons
    of TNT
  • McVeigh claimed the force of the blast lifted him
    a full inch off the ground
  • He said buildings were wobbling from side to side
    and plate glass showered down into the street
    around him
  • Every building in a sixteen block area
    surrounding the blast was damaged. Some had to
    be demolished

21
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22
  • A 4-foot long section of truck frame landed on
    the roof of a building two blocks away
  • The rear axle of the Ryder truck traveled 200
    yards away and crashed down on the hood of a red
    Ford Festiva

23
168 Killed and over 500 injured
  • 163 were in the Murrah Building
  • Nurse who rushed to the scene died while
    assisting in the rescue effort
  • Woman in Athenian building across the street
  • Man and Woman in Oklahoma Water Resources
    Building across the street
  • Woman killed as she was walking through a nearby
    parking lot
  • 20 more than the 148 Americans killed in the Gulf
    War
  • 8 were Federal Law Enforcement Agents
  • 99 worked for the Federal Government in some
    capacity
  • 19 children killed
  • Most of the dead would not be identified for
    several days several took weeks to identify
  • Ages ranged from 3 months to 73 years old

24
19 Children Killed
  • Americas Kids Day Care was on the second floor
    of the Murrah Building
  • McVeigh claimed," I didnt know there was a day
    care center. Ive never been in the building in
    my life.
  • McVeigh never expressed any remorse over the
    deaths of the many federal employees in the
    building, just the children.

25
Arrest
  • McVeigh left Oklahoma City taking I-35 North
  • Claimed he left the license plate off his car on
    purpose
  • Pulled over by Trooper Charles Hanger for the
    missing plate

26
  • McVeigh exited the vehicle and Hanger noticed
    bulge underneath the jacket
  • McVeigh announced he had a loaded gun in a
    shoulder holster
  • Hanger pulled his weapon and arrested McVeigh
  • He was taken to Noble County Jail in Perry
    Oklahoma
  • Charged with transporting a loaded firearm in a
    motor vehicle unlawfully carrying a weapon
    failing to display a current license plate and
    failing to maintain proof of insurance
  • Remained in Jail for two days awaiting his court
    appearance

27
  • Investigators found the rear axle and part of the
    rear bumper with Florida license plate
  • VIN number on rear axle along with the tag led to
    finding the truck had been rented in Junction
    City, Kansas
  • Composite sketches of Kling and another man were
    distributed
  • Dreamland Motel manager recognized Kling as
    Timothy McVeigh
  • APB showed that McVeigh was already in custody in
    Noble County on other charges

28
Federal Custody
  • He was arguably the most notorious despised
    criminal defendant in America since Lee Harvey
    Oswald. He had blown up an office building,
    killing 168 people of almost every age, race and
    religion.
  • Michel and Herbeck, American Terrorist Timothy
    McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing, 276.

29
  • Refused to plead guilty to the charges against
    him, but he made no pretense of innocence to his
    lawyers.
  • He said his actions were a justifiable response
    to the tyranny of the federal government.
  • Wanted his lawyers to craft a necessity defense
    claiming the bombing was an absolute necessity
  • Wanted to use the trial to make his case about
    the federal government

30
Guilty
  • On June 2, McVeigh was found Guilty on all eleven
    counts filed against him
  • Conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction
  • Use of such a weapon
  • Destruction of government property with
    explosives
  • 8 counts of first degree murder of the federal
    law enforcement agents killed in the blast
  • On June 13, McVeigh was sentenced to death

31
Co-Conspirators
  • Nichols was sentenced to life in prison
  • Fortier became the chief witness for the
    prosecution and was sentenced to 11 years in
    prison
  • There was no big conspiracy. It was mostly me.
    The few friends who helped me were acting under
    some duress, and none of them had any control
    over when I was going to blow up the Murrah
    building.

32
Effects of Terrorism
  • Increase a sense of vulnerability and show the
    government cannot keep us safe
  • Use media coverage to get message to a larger
    audience
  • The coverage by the media can extend the horror
    far beyond the number of people immediately
    affected by the blast.

33
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34
McVeighs Motivation
  • McVeigh viewed himself as the ultimate defender
    of America against a violent and illegitimate
    federal government.
  • His refusal to ask for clemency and his eventual
    execution gave him a great sense of historical
    accomplishment.
  • In correspondence with Gore Vidal, he compared
    the justice of his act to the justice behind
    President Harry Trumans 1945 attack on Hiroshima

35
Mahmud Abouhalima, Convicted Terrorist in 1993
WTC Bombing
  • It was done for a very, very specific
    reasonthey had some certain target, you know, a
    specific achievement. They wanted to reach the
    government with the message that we are not
    tolerating the way that you are dealing with our
    citizens. If they believe that the government
    unjustifiably killed the people in Waco, then
    they have their own way to respond. It was
    morally justified.
  • Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God The
    Global Rise of Religious Violence, 64-65.

36
McVeigh claimed that his attack also led the
Federal Agents to back down from the deadly
attacks they had formerly used at Ruby Ridge and
Waco
  • There was a standoff between federal agents and
    the Montana Freemen, a militia group who claimed
    to have established a sovereign nation on 960
    acres of land in Montana. After 81 days, the
    standoff ended peacefully with the surrender of
    23 adults and four children.
  • McVeigh said, I am convinced the Freemen would
    be dead if not for the Murrah Building bombing.
  • He also pointed to the 3.1 million settlement
    reached between the federal government and Randy
    Weaver and his surviving children. In return,
    they agreed to drop a 200 million civil suit
    they had filed against the government.

37
Further Effects of Oklahoma City Bombing
  • Unfortunately the new individual terrorist is
    much more difficult to stop. This type of
    megalomaniacal hyperterrorist is incessantly
    looking for original ways to surprise and
    devastate their enemy. They know their actions
    will foster public outrage, yet they do not care.
    They believe history will judge them in a more
    favorable light.
  • The government will need to keep a much closer
    watch on known terrorists and should increase
    investments in human intelligence aimed at
    identifying hitherto unknown or potential
    megalomaniacal foes.
  • Ehud Sprinzak, "The Lone Gunman," Foreign
    Policy, November, 2001 72-73.

38
Oklahoma City Memorial
  • The bombing brought us to our knees, but we got
    back up. If anything, it made us stronger.
  • Richard Williams, Assistant Manager of the Murrah
    Building
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