If 9/11 Changed Everything, Why Did Oklahoma City Change Nothing?

[struggle4progress]

by Chris Edelson

In 1995, more than 160 people were killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. Right-wing talk show hosts blamed Middle Eastern terrorists, “towelheads“, as they put it, for the deadly act. Of course, it turned out they were absolutely wrong–the main culprit was Timothy McVeigh, a radical anti-government extremist with ties to the militia movement.

What if the over the top talk radio hosts had been right? Would Oklahoma City have “changed everything”, as the Bush administration later claimed 9/11 did? Oklahoma City was a much smaller scale attack than the 9/11 attacks, and far fewer people died. But, if 9/11 “changed everything”, why didn’t Oklahoma City change anything when it comes to dealing with radical right wing terrorists in the United States?

A few months before the Oklahoma City bombing, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Morris Dees wrote to then-Attorney General Janet Reno, warning about the danger posed by extreme right-wing militia groups. earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning of right wing extremism, including the danger of violent acts by anti-abortion extremists and anti-Semites.

Although DHS wilted in the political heat generated by its report, and Secretary Janet Napolitano ended up actually apologizing for it, we’ve seen that the report was, unfortunately, one that should have been heeded. An extreme anti-abortion fanatic murdered Dr. Tiller in Wichita and, this week, an anti-Semitic white supremacist killed a guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. These murders follow events in Pittsburgh last April and in Knoxville in July 2008. The Pittsburgh killer apparently accepted right wing talking points that the Obama administration was going to take away his guns, and the Knoxville killer, in a four page document he wrote, described his act as “a hate crime. I hate the damn left-wing liberals….This was a symbolic killing. Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate and House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg’s book. Liberals are a pest like termites. The only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is to kill them in the streets" ...

http://mwcnews.net/content/view/31223/26/

[BR_Parkway]

1. Couldn't find anyone dark enough to blame it on.

[struggle4progress]

2. They tried. For days after Oklahoma City, media in my town sought to blame "Arabs"

[baldguy]

3. Clinton didn't need an excuse to start a war & McVeigh was a white Republican.

[Enthusiast]

4. Double standards.

The MSM clearly takes right wing excesses less seriously. When Reagan was president there was a women's clinic bombed nearly every week and the news media hardly covered it. Reagan as good as gave this domestic terrorism his blessing. But that was Saint Ronnie.

[Demeter]

5. Why Not, Indeed!

Because Timmy and friends were "insiders", not "Others". They were Of the People, By the People, For the People....for some of the People, anyway. Because we all must fear the White Man with a Gun.

And we do....those of us who AREN'T White Men....

[Mythsaje]

6. I knew what it was about within minutes of the news report..

NOT Islamic terrorists, but a disaffected American. I mean, why would THEY bomb Oklahoma City? NY seems to be their target of choice. I'd imagine if they were going to hit anywhere else, it would either be D.C. or Hollywood. NOT Oklahoma anything.

I had a few arguments about it in those first few hours after the bombing. I had a feeling it was some anti-government RW nut and, well, what do you know?

Unfortunately, they've got a massive amount of cover from both our media AND our government--even our allegedly Democratic administration and Congressional majority. No one wants to aggravate the haters. Unfortunately, you can't play nice with these people. They don't understand "nice."

[Jade Fox]

7. One of the reasons....

so many Americans got worked up enough to accept two stupid wars after 9/11 is because it allowed us to FORGET Oklahoma City, and once again aim our anger outward toward the foreign and brown-skinned.

McVeigh was a white, blond, military veteran, and a Republican, and that made many in this country (especially conservatives, obviously) damned uncomfortable.

[Politicalboi]

8. It should have changed everything

Timmy couldn't had done it all by himself. A preview of 9/11 but we weren't paying attention. Timmy and his accomplice had terrible lawyers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_u3FpEseNA&feature=related

[troubledamerican]

9. The next OK City will change nothing. The next 9/11, if GOP is President, will change everything

[democracy1st]

10. kick

[Raster]

11. Why didn't OKC change anything? Well, for starters, McVeigh wasn't on the payroll.