First, of course, is Patriot's Day, the day "the shot heard round the world" was fired, starting open war between the colonies and Great Britain. I'm sure this audience knows the story, but in the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party, King George decided a military rule was needed for those unruly colonists. In more direct words, it was a military dictatorship, under General Thomas Gage. Gage directed a house-to-house search for firearms, confiscating hundreds of guns.
When Gage's spies reported that the colonists were stockpiling weapons in Concord, he sent a group of regulars to confiscate the guns. As all tyrants throughout history have understood, it is much easier to impose dictatorial rule if the general population has been disarmed. This day, thanks to Paul Revere and other patriots, the rebels were better prepared and ready, meeting the redcoats at Old North Bridge, inflicting 73 casualties upon His Majesty’s forces. Appleseed events give a great telling of the history of that day.
Apparently, it was coincidence that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) staged a dawn raid on a religious compound belonging to an obscure religious group called the Branch Davidians outside of Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993. There had been a standoff outside the compound since the end of February, when the ATF first raided the group, alleging that the Davidians were stockpiling illegal weapons, abusing children, and manufacturing illegal drugs - none of which were ever proven.
The surviving Davidians claim that it was a combination of the tanks pounding on the walls of their building, knocking over lanterns in a space filled with propane fuel (the government had cut off their electricity earlier) and CS gas that started the fires which killed most of those inside. The government, on the other hand, contends that it was Davidian leader David Koresh who ordered the fire started — either in self defense, to kill FBI agents, or in an act of mass suicide. President Bill Clinton even callously asserted, “A bunch of religious fanatics murdered themselves.”It was not a coincidence however that Timothy McVeigh (and unknown others) chose April 19th, 1995 though; they acted in revenge for Waco and attacked on the second anniversary of the ATF's attack. Their attack on the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, probably because it contained an ATF office, would be the worst act of terrorism on American soil until 9/11/2001.
David Koresh drove his truck into Waco alone once or twice a week. If ATF needed to make an arrest, they could have done it then. But that's not what they wanted. This tidbit came from a task force that I ran/commanded that included 4 ATF Special Agents, who were critical of ATF conduct.
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ReplyDeleteDavid Koresh also went out jogging alone at about the same time most mornings. Arresting him wasn't the real objective. The whole point was to make an example of "the whackos from Waco."
ReplyDeleteFor those who don't remember, the ATF attacks on gun owners continued until the Murrah building event, after which they stopped. The rise of the militias and the numerous appearances before Congress did little to get the Clintons to cease and desist. It took the mass murder of government employees (and their children) to convince them to stop murdering citizens.
The OK City bombing has always bothered me. The bomb itself could not have been built/mixed by one person yet we are supposed to believe Tim did it himself. The bomb material used was a low speed explosive that could not severe a 5' thick reinforced concrete column even if it were placed right next to it never mind being parked some distance from the building. None of the facts about the bombing make sense. The only logical conclusion would be that there were additional more compact and powerful explosives set within the building at strategic locations to do the damage we saw.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally the speed and secrecy with which the remains of the building was dismantled and removed was surprising and inconsistent with an actual investigation of what happened. It only seemed to serve one purpose and that was to bolster the official story.
Then you add into the conspiracy mix the large number of witnesses and experts that contradicted the official story. Many experts flatly stated that an AMFO bomb simply could not do this damage. Witnesses who saw Tim with others in the days leading up to the bombing. Witnesses who heard and saw the effects of two bomb events not one.
Something, more than the official explanation, happened and we deserve the truth.