paul sutherland- oklahoma city, the branch davidians, and the militias of the united states

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Paul Sutherland Assignment #3 1

Oklahoma City, The Branch

Davidians, and the Militias of

the United States

By: Paul Sutherland407-902-6697

Professor Kunich

PRO 600A Advanced Counter terrorism




When buildings burn or get blown up, people start to pay attention. Whether the act of a cult, a

single individual, or a band of individuals who include themselves in what they refer to as a militia, the

cause and effect of right wing ideology is commonly the same in the United States. This paper will

address an event and a movement with the desired result of further education and enlightenment on the

topics. The event that will be covered is the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995,

and the motivations behind that bombing which may be linked to the Waco incident involving the FBI

and the Branch Davidians in 1993. The movement that will be covered is the militia movement and the

classifications placed on them as terrorist or potential terrorist organizations. As will be shown by the

end of this paper, the event and the movement have close ties that many people may not have known.

On April 19th 1995, Timothy McVeigh and his his accomplice Terry Nichols parked a rented

moving van outside the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After a few

hours of it sitting in the parking lot, it exploded, destroying most of the federal building, and killing one

hundred and sixty eight people, many of them were children who were in the daycare center located in

the building. It was the deadliest act of terrorism in the history of the United States prior to the attacks

on September 11th, 2001. The moving van was packed with over four thousand pounds of ammonium

nitrate fertilizer, and mixed with high octane racing fuel. The man hunt for McVeigh commenced

immedietly, and he was apprehended on several hours later as he drove his car down the interstate, and

was stopped because he was missing his license plate. McVeigh was tried and convicted on eleven

federal felonies, and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on July 10th, 2001.1

1 Ottley, Ted. "The Timothy McVeigh Story: The Oklahoma Bomber - Crime Library on truTV.com." truTV.com: Not

Reality. Actuality.. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/dawning_1.html




The initial question was what would have led McVeigh to commit such a horrible act of

terrorism, what organization was he part of, and what future attacks could we expect from this

organization? The second and third questions were answered together. It was found that McVeigh had

no ties to any right-wing extremist organization, and had acted in conjunction with a partner, Terry

Nichols. As for the first question, numerous stories have surfaced about why these acts of terrorism

were committed, all with possible truth. The story from McVeigh himself can not confirm what

happened, because his story was mixed and contradictory at times. What has been pieced together

through research and investigation efforts is that McVeigh was introduced to guns at a very young age,

and became deeply involved with guns rights and anti-government protests in the few years after high

school2. After high school, he entered into the Army, where he learned how to use weapons, survive in

the harshest of conditions, switch off his emotions, and kill others without fear. During numerous

interviews with TIME magazine, he indicated that hichs ability to switch off his emotions was a key

part of why he could bomb the building3. After his tours in Iraq, McVeigh tried to join the special

forces of the United States army, but failed the physical and possibly the psychological aspects of test.4

After he was discharged, McVeigh became depressed and started to dive deeper into right-wing

extremist ideology. He traveled the country looking for his old friends who he thought would have

sympathy with his cause, and when he could find none he returned home to live with his father and

sister. His father did not like what his son had become, and McVeigh was forced to leave the house

and move into his own apartment, where he became even more secluded5. It was at this time that the

2 Walsh, David. "Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh: the making of a mass murderer." World Socialist Web Site.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/mcve-a19.shtml

3 TIME. "A Look Back in TIME: Interview with Timothy McVeigh - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs,

News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,109478,00.html

4 Walsh, David. "Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh: the making of a mass murderer." World Socialist Web Site.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/mcve-a19.shtml

5 Nichols, Nicole. "Domestic Terrorism 101 - Timothy James McVeigh." Eye On hate.

www.eyeonhate.com/mcveigh/mcveigh6.html




FBI surrounded the Branch Davidians compound in Waco, Texas. McVeigh saw this as the

government being over repressive of others, just as he felt they had been to him, and he set out to the

siege at Waco. While there he distributed anti-gun control and anti-governmental literature to anyone

who would take it.6 After the siege was over, McVeigh traveled towards the northwest, following gun

shows and giving out buttons and pamphlets. He became deeply involved with the Christian Patriot

Movement and became like minded with many of the militias. He renounced his United States

citizenship, and began living on farms and in houses where members of militias would allow him to 7.

It was at this time that he decided to take action. “McVeigh believed that it was time to send the

message and sound the alarm that would rally the armed citizens of America to take action” 8. With the

help of the Oklahoma militia, on the second year anniversary of the massacre at Waco, he loaded a

moving van full of fertilizer, and detonated it at the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma

City, Oklahoma.

The connection between McVeigh and the Branch Davidians was their common belief in the

second amendment. The Branch Davidians had amassed a large stock of weapons, and believed that

the day would come when the federal government would attack them, signaling the end of the world

was starting9. McVeigh did not believe that the end of the world would occur, but he did believe that

the government was becoming to aggressive, and to controlling. He viewed the Branch Davidians as

being exactly like him in that the government had done them both wrong, and taking up arms seemed

the only logical thing to do against them. It was for this reason that he chose to detonate a bomb on a







9 Moore, Carol. "The massacre of the Branch Davidians." Firearms and Liberty.

www.firearmsandliberty.com/waco.massacre.html




government building on the anniversary of the Waco assault. He was getting revenge for those he

watched burn to death in Waco, at the same time he would be sounding the horn for everyone to rise up

against the government. His actions, did not have the desired effect.

The militia movement is not a new trend in the United States. Militias have been used through

the 20th century for numerous purposes. The militia movement that is know today is comprised of

numerous right-wing extremist organizations who call themselves militias, and are comprised mostly of

members who actively practice survivalist and paramilitary training. Their main focus is on restoring

order and lawfulness to the United States federal government, and they will use force to achieve this

goal. The modern militias did not start to come into being until the late 1980's to early 1990's. They

came into being due to events that angered them. “The events that angered them ranged from the

election of Bill Clinton to the Rodney King riots to the passage of the North American Free Trade

Agreement. More than any other issue, though, the deadly standoffs at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992 and

Waco, Texas, in 1993 ignited widespread passion. To most Americans, these events were tragedies, but

to the extreme right, they were examples of a government willing to stop at nothing to stamp out people

who refused to conform.”10 With an extreme right-wing view of the world and events going on in it,

these groups have taken to actively training themselves for the coming war with the United States

government. As described, they see Ruby Ridge and Waco as the beginning of the governments war

on the militias. To this end, the militias started to train extensively, and amassed large amounts of

weapons, food, and built large shelters to prepare for the upcoming war. The weapons that were

stockpiled are a deadly combination of automatic rifles, handguns, bombs, and even chemical and

biological weapons. In a pamphlet released by the Militia of Montana(MOM), militias are advised to

10 "The Militia Movement -- Extremism in America." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism.

http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Militia_M.asp?

LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=mm




“arm oneself with, at the very minimum, a Cold AR-15 assault rifle and six hundred rounds of .223

ammunition as well as at least one 9 mm-type Beretta automatic pistol with no fewer than two hundred

bullets. A can opener, a toothbrush, and thermal underwear are the other recommended essentials.”11

While MOM does not advocate or make reference to chemical and biological weapons, they do sell

chemical and biological suits on the website.12 Other militia groups have acquired chemical and

biological agents in the past. In March of 1995, “two members of the Minnesota Patriots Council, a

militia group, were convicted of stockpiling enough ricin to kill at least 129 people, allegedly as part of

a plan to murder IRS agents, U.S. Marshals, and local deputy sheriffs.”13 In May of 1995, “a man

described as a certified microbiologist- who also had links to the Aryan nations- was able to order a

quantity of bubonic plague agent through the mail from a Maryland Chemical Supply Firm”. 14 Finally,

in December of 1995, an “Arkansas resident with reputed ties to white supremacist survivalist groups

in the state was arrested at his farm on charges of having attempted to smuggle 130 grams of ricin into

the United States from Canada.”15

Although most militias are violent, there are a few who are not. The MOM is a Montana based

militia that does not actively engage in illegal activity, but rather sells supplies, guides, and shelters

from its internet based store. They help spread propaganda through the internet in the form of MOM

pamphlets that have been found at numerous white supremacists locations around the world.16

Numerous other organizations are violent though. These organizations include the Militia-at-Large for

the Republic of Georgia which in 1996 had members arrested for attempting to assassinate numerous

11 Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2006. p. 114

12 "tabseqip." Militia Of Montana. http://www.militiaofmontana.com/tabseqip.htm








elected federal officials.17 The North American Militia had numerous members arrested in 1997 for

being in possession of bombs and automatic weapons, while conspiring to kill federal agents.18 The

Phineas Priesthood had four members arrested and convicted of a series of bombings and bank

robberies in the Washington State area.19 Finally “in 1995, seven members of the West Virginia

Mountaineer Militia were arrested and charged with plotting to blow up the FBI's computer center in

that state.”20 These are a few examples of different militias that have used violence to further their

goals or to prepare themselves for the oncoming war with the United States federal government.

The FBI has been cautious to label many of these militias as terrorist organizations, even though

their definition of domestic terrorism would permit many of them to be on the list. To date, the militias

that have made the FBI domestic terrorist list have included the Ku Klux Klan,The Kentucky State

Militia, the North American Militia, the Michigan Militia, and the MinuteMen.21 But other than those

listed, many of the militias have died out or gone into seclusion. One of the most powerful militias still

in operation is MOM. But MOM is labeled as a potential terrorist organization. While MOM only

operates by selling supplies, they do have a large cache of weapons, believe in the cause of the militias,

and have roughly one thousand members in Montana, with contacts to other militias the world over.

This makes them a dangerous potential threat should they ever decided to act.

For the most part the militia movement has died. During the late 1990's numerous arrests of



19 Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2006. p. 10620 Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2006. p. 106

21 Sources Include:

"Biofiles: American Domestic Terrorists and Assassins." The History Guy: A Resource for History, Military History,

Politics, and Biography. http://www.historyguy.com/biofiles/domestic_terrorists_and_assassin

Walker, Devona. "A list of domestic terrorists and terrorist acts | TheLoop21.com." Black news and culture, African

American money and politics | The Loop 21. http://www.theloop21.com/news/domestic-terrorist-and-acts-domestic-

terrorism

"The Militia Movement -- Extremism in America." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism.



http://www.historyguy.com/biofiles/domestic_terrorists_and_assassin

http://www.historyguy.com/biofiles/domestic_terrorists_and_assassin




members and a disillusion of the cause within the groups caused the militias to falter and disband. 22

“At the same time, however, the movement has long demonstrated a remarkable resiliency and

durability – combined with a proclivity for sharp, sudden spasms of violence – that cannot be easily

discounted ... According to MOM's David Trochmann, the remaining organizations are no less resolute

and are still just as determined: They are just 'much more private' and careful in expressing their views

and organizational affiliations.”23

In conclusion, everything seems to be connected. The troubled life of Timothy McVeigh was

forever transformed when he encountered right-wing extremist propaganda and was once again

changed when he witnessed the fire at Waco, and traveled west where he met numerous militia groups.

He thought that he was going to fire the first shot, and start the revolution that the militias would soon

follow. He was incorrect, and fired the first, and ultimately the last shot as the militia movement died

shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing. Many applauded the bombing as an act for freedom, but the

negative press and law enforcement attention that was brought on the militias as a result is what

eventually ended up killing the movements. One can look back in history and see the downfall of so

many based on their own beliefs. It is true of American Christian Patriot movement as well, the

explosion that was to set everyone into revolution, was the explosion that destroyed the dreams of the

man who perpetrated it.

22 "The Militia Movement -- Extremism in America." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism.







Works Cited

"Biofiles: American Domestic Terrorists and Assassins." The History Guy: A Resource for History,

Military History, Politics, and Biography.

http://www.historyguy.com/biofiles/domestic_terrorists_and_assassins.html (accessed July 20,

2009).

Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2006.

Moore, Carol. "The massacre of the Branch Davidians." Firearms and Liberty.

www.firearmsandliberty.com/waco.massacre.html (accessed July 20, 2009).

Nichols, Nicole. "Domestic Terrorism 101 - Timothy James McVeigh." Eye On hate.

www.eyeonhate.com/mcveigh/mcveigh6.html (accessed July 20, 2009).

Ottley, Ted. "The Timothy McVeigh Story: The Oklahoma Bomber - Crime Library on truTV.com."

truTV.com: Not Reality. Actuality..

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/dawning_1.html

(accessed July 20, 2009).

TIME. "A Look Back in TIME: Interview with Timothy McVeigh - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis,

Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,109478,00.html (accessed July 20, 2009).

"The Militia Movement -- Extremism in America." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry andExtremism. http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Militia_M.asp?


(accessed July 20, 2009).

Walker, Devona. "A list of domestic terrorists and terrorist acts | TheLoop21.com." Black news and

culture, African American money and politics | The Loop 21. http://www.theloop21.com/news/

domestic-terrorist-and-acts-domestic-terrorism (accessed July 20, 2009).

Walsh, David. "Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh: the making of a mass murderer." World

Socialist Web Site. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/mcve-a19.shtml (accessed July20, 2009).

"tabseqip." Militia Of Montana. http://www.militiaofmontana.com/tabseqip.htm (accessed July 20,

2009).

paul sutherland- oklahoma city, the branch davidians, and the militias of the united states

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