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opinion:
manifesto
Don't let McVeigh
become a martyr
A word to every man,
woman and child in America: be afraid, be very afraid.
Timothy McVeigh,
convicted of the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma
City that killed 168 people, will be put to death next Wednesday
for his role in this heinous case of domestic terrorism.
McVeigh chose not
to appeal his execution sentence any further and wants to
go through with the lethal injection. He did not quit because
he would have fought a losing battle to get his sentence overturned
or commuted. He did it because he has a calculated plan of
dying a martyr.
McVeigh wants to
be a martyr to anti-government militias, neo-fascists and
paranoid, gun-toting hatemongers who have the gall to refer
to themselves as "patriots."
For this fringe
of society, there's no better way to become a martyr than
by dying at the hands of the "evil" United States
of America.
Martyrdom has a
weird effect on people. When it comes to someone like McVeigh,
who launched a heinous offensive against the government and
succeeded in causing death and destruction, this would stir
passions in the anti-American fringe that would encourage
others to commit similar attacks.
Be afraid, be very
afraid.
There is no doubt
that some fringe group exists that wants to massacre innocent
lives in a "war" against the government. McVeigh's
execution just might embolden them.
No one knows for
sure where it would happen or what the rationale is behind
selecting a target site, not even the FBI. After all, why
did McVeigh choose the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in
Oklahoma City for his bombing?
He could have drove
that infamous Ryder truck to any government building. So why
didn't he target a bigger city and cause a larger catastrophe?
Did he choose Oklahoma City because larger cities have better
security measures?
The randomness
is frightening. This could happen anywhere in America. It
could be a federal building. It could be a post office. It
could be a Social Security office. It could even be a school.
Worst of all, the
next attack may just try to top McVeigh's in terms of deaths,
monetary damage or physical and emotional suffering.
Law enforcement
agencies at all levels of government should be extra cautious
after McVeigh is executed, since the probability of a similar
attack in the name of martyrdom is very high.
An FBI agent told
CNN in March that after McVeigh was arrested in 1995, the
agency found plans that more attacks may have been planned
and kept agents on alert to prevent a repeat bombing.
Similar precautions
should be taken after next Wednesday, and not just for a few
days, weeks or months after the execution. The next attack
may be when the government and the people have their guard
down.
That is when McVeigh's
vile comrades could seize the opportunity for the perfect
attack.
Be afraid, be very
afraid.
Chris Ledermuller
is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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