Oklahoma City Bombing Essay

In the bombing of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma there was two conspirators who planned out the attack, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Timothy and Terry met in 1988 at Fort Benning during their basic training for the U.S. Army. They both shared much interest in survalisim. Timothy and Terry were very angered by the way the federal government handled the standoff with Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge as well as the Waco Siege, a 51 day standoff in 1993 between the FBI and Branch Davidian members which began with the ATF attempting to execute a search warrant which then lead to a fire fight (OK bombing 2) In March 1993, McVeigh visited the Waco site during the standoff. McVeigh later decided to bomb a federal building to deliver a message for the raids. McVeigh

McVeigh made a prototype bomb using a plastic Gatorade jug containing ammonium nitrate prills, liquid nitromethane, a piece of Tovex sausage, and a blasting cap(OK bombing 9-10). The prototype was detonated in the desert to prevent from getting any attention. On April 14, 1995, McVeigh paid for a motel room in Junction City, Kansas. The following day he rented a 1993 Ford F-700 truck from Ryder under the name Robert D. Kling, he went by that alias because he knew an Army solider named Kling with who he shared some physical characteristics with. On April 16, 1995 he drove to Oklahoma City with Terry Nichols where he parked a getaway car several blocks away from the building. The Regency Towers lobby camera recorded images of Nichols’ pickup truck as they were driving it to the building. After removing the license plate from the car, he left a note behind which covered the VIN and it said “Not abandoned, please do not tow will move by April 23.” Both men then returned to Kansas (OK bombing