The Hyperion Chronicles

#39 Timothy McVeigh: Hero or Traitor?

Ok, I have misled you a bit with the title. I do not plan to write a column that makes Timothy McVeigh, about to be executed for the worst act of terrorism on American soil ever, out to be a hero. But do not worry; I do plan to ruffle a few feathers before I am done.

McVeigh’s upcoming execution gives me an excuse to write about several things, involving him directly and indirectly. Specifically, I want to look at four topics:

1- Were McVeigh (and fellow conspirator Terry Nichols) alone? In other words, was this an All-American bombing?

2- McVeigh has declared himself a soldier against the United States Government, whom he maintains regularly does the same things he did against other countries and against United States citizens. Does McVeigh have a point?

3- McVeigh, and many other people, want his execution to be televised. Should it?

4- Finally, should we, as human beings, execute fellow human beings?

Over the next few days, I want to look at these four questions. Today, I want to talk about whether McVeigh and Nichols were in this by themselves.

First, let us establish one thing. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols committed the bombing in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people. They are as guilty as sin. However, were McVeigh and Nichols alone? This is a tricky question. The government wants us to believe that. These two were the only ones charged, and the government calls the case closed. Does the government have anything to hide? I think so.

For one, there is the Oswald factor. Most people realize that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy-but does anybody really think that Oswald acted alone? McVeigh and Nichols are like Oswald-they are soldiers, not generals. McVeigh was trained by the U.S. Army to carry out orders, and is very good at it. However, from what I could learn of Timothy McVeigh, he does not have the brainpower to have masterminded this on his own. But who did?

This leads us to the second piece of evidence. I spent over ten hours this weekend reading court transcripts, government duty logs, and witness statements. If you want to do this yourself, go to a search engine and type in Jayna Davis. She is a reporter for a TV. station in Oklahoma City. I will spare you the details, but the bottom line is that her team interviewed hundreds of witnesses and had scores of signed affidavits, all pointing to a connection with Osama Bin Laden, a Middle Eastern Terrorist. Bin Laden has already been linked to the World Trade Center bombing, the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole last year. When Davis tried to give the information linking Bin Laden to McVeigh to the F.B.I, they would not even take it. Why?

I will tell you why. It is not because the government did not want any help with their cases against McVeigh and Nichols. The F.B.I. would not acknowledge the evidence of a Middle Eastern Terrorist connection because the government is scared. You see, for years the world has been held hostage to terrorism while the U.S. has been largely immune. Terrorists knew that the United States was big enough and bad enough to seriously damage any enemy. But the landscape has changed. Our government can no longer protect us from terrorist extremists who want to hurt Americans. Our government is scared to let people think there is a danger, and they are terrified to let people know the truth.

Next, I will delve into McVeigh’s own words, and ask the question, can a monster speak the truth?

Until then,

Hyperion
May 7, 2001