Posted on 06/20/2002 12:04:19 AM PDT by grimalkin
Why wouldn't you think that McVeigh is really dead?
It was an electromagnetic bomb (a few of them), not ANFO...what does that tell you?
No, I had not. Being in North Texas, we got intense news coverage almost from the moment it happened. And being an Okie, I paid very close attention.
I recall the initial speculation and official alerts dealt with ME terrorists, as did my own suspicions. "Who else would've had a reason?", was the natural response. It didn't shift until the composite sketches were released -- identifying an Anglo who turned out to be McVeigh, and a second party, who appeared Hispanic or Mediterranean, rather than Arab.
But, now, for the first time, we discover that there was a real basis for the initial official response, due to prior intelligence. It wasn't just a "Who else?" speculation. That there was, indeed, "good reason" and that we are just now finding it out strikes me as having some significance.
"...why did they pick Oklahoma City, and why did they pick the Murrah Building? Just to be able to get someone like McVeigh to do it?"
I can think of two perfectly logical reasons. First, if you already had the Nichols-McVeigh pair available to do the deed, something within a day's drive of Nichols' base of operations (Herington, KS) would make the most sense. Why drive a load of ammonium nitrate from Kansas to, say, North Carolina or Chicago? Didn't McVeigh reportedly "scout out" several federal buildings in the Colorado-Nebraska-Missouri area? The Murrah Building may well have offered the best target.
Second, isn't there some special propaganda value in striking at an opponent's heartland, rather than periphery? It's a dramatic demonstration that "there is no place to hide/nobody is safe". At the same time, such "deep penetration" has a tactical value -- forcing the opponent to spread his counter-intelligence resources "everywhere" and, thus, more thinly.
Note that the reports being circulated, the "buzz" that our counter-terrorist forces was picking up, apparently identified our "heartland" (as opposed to, say, "midwest").
To me, this report adds even more circumstantial evidence to the proposition that we have been at war with a foreign power, unknowingly (at least publicly), for almost ten years. And the pile of circumstantial evidence is getting pretty high...
Those who had working brain cells did. It was convincing the sheeple of his outright evil that was the difficult thing to do...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.