Tuesday, April 20, 2010

April 19th, a Day for Outrage and Sorrow


April 19, a day on the calendar to most of us, but it is also a date sealed in infamy that is being exploited horribly.

For starters, April 19, 1993 was the date Federal agents under the direction of the Clinton administration ran out of patience and attacked the Branch Davidians, a group of religious extremists under the leadership of David Koresh. An armored tank was used to insert tear gas canisters into the compound. Moments later, the complex erupted in flame and the Davidians died. There is much controversy about the details, but the best accounts suggest that the Davidians poured flammable liquids about their complex causing the fire which incinerated them to death. Still, what provoked the sense of urgency, why the government agents couldn’t continue to hold them at bay and had to use force will be forever debated.

Two years later, the site was the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A yellow Ryder truck loaded with explosives was detonated ripping the front off the building killing 168 including 19 children under the age of six. 680 people were injured.

Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were found to be the conspirators who purchased fertilizer products, studied bomb making, and rented the truck used to pull off the horrific deed. These two figures were anti-American extremists steeped in what some consider extreme right wing thinking as the manifest reason to commit their horrible act against their own people. McVeigh was executed. Nichols will spend the rest of his life in jail.

That the Oklahoma City bombing was staged on April 19th, was supposed to be because Nichols and McVeigh were outraged at the government’s action at Waco. Part of their twisted reasoning was to avenge the Waco deaths.

Initially, the press and many others suspected the attack to be one of Islamic extremism cognizant of efforts to destroy the World Trade Center the first time in 1993. The whole picture changed once the pieces were put together.

While all American citizens with any morals or decency would decry this horrible event, what evolved soon thereafter, is the grounds for tremendous outrage. Given McVeigh’s military background and seeming connection with the conservative movement, increasingly the rhetoric blamed conservative talk radio and other critics to the right of the system for inciting idiots like McVeigh. They also connected the Branch Davidians with fundamentalist Christians too. They used and continue to use this kind of demagoguery to attempt to discredit anyone who they believe is too conservative for their limited level of tolerance.

Many leftists also use the Oklahoma City bombing as an attempt to relativise the dangers of radical Islam reminding that there was an episode of domestic bred terrorism and it was conducted by filthy right-wingers.

Perspective means everything on this subject. While there is no telling how many nutcases there might be out there poised to do us harm, there is no huge right wing extremist movement seeking to kill or harm fellow Americans. Suggestions that many popular talk show hosts and the Tea Party movement breed domestic terrorists is no more meaningful than most who opposed the Vietnam War and participated in antiwar activities gave rise to mad bombers like Barack Obama’s associate, Bill Ayers.

We must be diligent that threats to our security don’t come in one flavor to be sure, but if any of this distracts from the clear and present danger of Islamic Terrorism, cannot be tolerated. While short of 9/11, there has never been a more deadly episode than the Murrah Building bombing, we must not allow that there have been many other expressions of terrorism such as eco-terrorists who torched auto dealerships which sell SUV’s and burned down housing developments under construction because they disagreed with land being used for housing. Likening legitimate debate and protest to extremism is dangerous, hateful, un-American conduct none of us can tolerate.

We must be prepared for all forms of terrorism and deal with those responsible as harshly as possible.

No comments: