The Oklahoma City Bombing And The Politics Of Terror Part 4

Backing up Kifner was John Douglas of the FBI's Psychological Profile Unit, who claimed McVeigh was "asocial, as.e.xual, a loner, withdrawn, from a family with problems, strong feelings of inadequacy from early in life, an underachiever."

"I think it's a bunch of psychobable if you ask me, if you want to know the truth," said Jennifer, Tim's younger sister. "We were free to live with who we wanted. We could visit the other parent whenever we wanted. There was no bitterness between my parents."

"There's nothing there, added McVeigh himself, responding to the media's a.n.a.lysis of him in a July 3rd interview with Newsweek.

Apparently, Douglas and the so-called journalists from the New York Times never bothered to check on the fact that Tim had many friends, including several girlfriends later in life, was close to his Father and his sister Jennifer, and was a Regents Scholar.

Not to be hamstrung by such minor details [as checking on facts], the Times and the Post quickly jumped on the idea that Tim was interested in firearms. "In a region of hunting enthusiasts, it caused little stir when Tim, at 10, became interested in guns. But a close relative said that the family saw this as a bid for attention by a boy who didn't know how else to ask for it."

"He had a semiautomatic BB gun that could fire 15 rounds with the pull of a trigger," added the Post. "Other boys had only single-shot varieties. Tim used to show them at school how he held it, posing police-style with hands clasped together. During boring cla.s.ses, when other students doodled, he drew guns."

In fact, Tim's father did buy him a .22-caliber rifle, which the young McVeigh would use for target practice in the woods behind his home. Yet apparently Tim was not the young blood-thirsty adventurer the media made him out to be. "I remember starting to hunt at age 11," said his friend Keith Maurer, "and Tim never had any interest in this."

McVeigh was later able to indulge in his interests in firearms as a security guard for Burke Armored, where he worked for a year or so in 1987. Jeff Camp, McVeigh's co-worker, noted that he had a keen interest in guns, although he didn't find it unusual since most full-time security guards and law enforcement personnel owned an a.s.sortment of firearms, he said.

One story eagerly circulated amongst the press is that McVeigh showed up at Burke one day with a huge Desert Eagle pistol and bandoleers slung in an "X" across his chest. "He came to work looking like Rambo," recalled Camp. "It looked like World War III."

Yet McVeigh laughs off the tale, stating that he and some other employees were simply playing a joke on their supervisor, who was sending them on a high profile a.s.signment for the day. Apparently, their supervisor was not amused.

According to the Post, McVeigh also worked as a gun salesman at a sporting goods store in Lockport.

"Guns were the entire focal point of the 27-year-old Mr. McVeigh's life," wrote the Times' Kifner.

"This obsession with weapons - a form of power - is an overcompensation for deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy," added the FBI's Douglas, attempting to drive another nail into McVeigh's coffin.

One must wonder if an interest in stamp collecting or bird watching - other legitimate hobbies - could be construed as a "bid for attention." The author - much more of a "trouble maker" in his formative years than Timothy McVeigh - personally remembers his own interest in guns, and even military armor. Like motorcycles, fast cars or other macho symbols, such interests pa.s.s as one matures. Yet federal authorities, with the backing of the corporate-owned media, attempted to make this a cornerstone of their psuedo-psychological case against McVeigh. He was "obsessed with guns," ergo, he is a mad bomber. I doubt if all the gun enthusiasts in the country would be pleased to know they are, by a.s.sociation, being implicated as mad bombers.

Not to be deterred, Post reporters discovered that young Tim had stockpiled food, camping equipment and weapons in case of a disaster "...in case of a nuclear attack or the Communists took over the country," said an anonymous neighbor in the Post. "Perhaps it made sense that a young boy often forced to fend for himself would fantasize about fighting the world all alone," mused the Post. Fighting the world? Or developing common sense at a young age? In his Media Bypa.s.s interview, McVeigh recalled that one of his most vivid memories was the winter blizzard of 1977, which dumped 15 feet of snow on Pendelton, stranding his mother miles away, and knocking out power and phone lines for days. The young, inventive McVeigh responded by helping his father store necessities, even recommending that the older McVeigh purchase a generator.

Apparently the armchair psychoa.n.a.lysts of the mainstream press felt this indicative of early creeping paranoia, rather than the natural combination of the active imagination and common sense inherent in a remarkable nine-year old boy. If the youngster was concerned about Communists, one only need ask where such fears were incubated.

The Post, keeping with the propaganda of Timothy McVeigh as underachiever, was quoted as saying "Tim's high-school yearbook entry in 1986 listed no organized activities (he omitted the track team), rather: 'staying away from school, losing sleep, finding it in school.'"

Yet even the Post admitted that Tim's guidance counselor, Harold Smith, said that he had not missed a day of cla.s.ses from seventh through twelfth grade. Far from being an underachiever, his record indicates a young man with remarkable discipline.

Justin Gertner, who knew McVeigh since second grade recalls, "he hung around with the intelligently elite at Starpoint. Tim was in the Regent's program in our school for advanced placement students who planned on attending college. He also created and ran our computer bulletin board system."

In fact, McVeigh excelled in computers, taking every available computer cla.s.s in high school. He even designed his own computer program. "That was the age when there was no software to speak of, and it wasn't user friendly," said a teacher who asked to remain anonymous, "But Tim and some other kids went out and did this.... In a way, that was fairly advanced. This demonstrates his bright mind and his ability."

This bright mind and ability led McVeigh to Bryant & Stratton Business College in Williamsville, N.Y. to study advanced COBOL and FORTRAN programming languages. In spite of his abilities, opportunities for decent employment were uncertain in Buffalo in the mid-1980s. Buffalo, like the rest of the Rust Belt, was experiencing the worst of economic trends. Several steel and auto plants had shut down, and two major banks failed, throwing thousands of white-collar workers out of jobs and causing downturns in real-estate, advertising, law and other fields.[139]

"There are no jobs around here unless you want to work for $6 an hour or less at a McDonald's or Wendy's," said Bill McVeigh. "It's rough for anybody looking for work."

McVeigh apparently did not feel comfortable that his auto-worker father was paying for most of his college tuition. So in December 1987, he took a job with Burke Armored Truck (now known as Armored Services of America) in Cheektowaga, near Buffalo.

"He was a very alert guard." said Jeff Camp, McVeigh's co-worker. "He worked a lot of overtime and was polite with our customers." McVeigh was also moody, ranging from intense to quiet. "If someone was driving badly, cutting us off or interfering with our schedule, he could get pretty mad," added Camp. "His face would turn red and he would yell and scream inside the truck, although he calmed down pretty fast." (Similar to the way the author drives.) Camp also described an incident where a woman had hit their truck. Although the woman was upset, McVeigh calmed her down and told her not to worry, that there was no damage to the truck, and that he would even report it as their fault, which it wasn't.[140]

McVeigh worked at Burke from April of 1987 till May of 1988. By the time he was 19, McVeigh had built up a substantial savings account and he and a friend, David Darlak, acquired 10 acres of land for $7,000 at a hunting and camping retreat north of Olean, N.Y. The two young men bought the land as an investment, and to use for camping and for target practice.[141] Reported the Post: "Robert Morgan, who lives nearby, said his father Charlie once called the state police to complain about all the gunfire. 'My dad turned him in," he said. "One day it sounded like a war out there. Sometimes he'd come down during the week, sometimes the weekend. He had on hunting clothes. Camouflage.'"[142]

While the press made much out of the fact that McVeigh and his friends used the land for target practice, it should be noted that McVeigh was law-abiding and did not have a criminal record.

By the Spring of 1988, the young security guard felt he was going nowhere. He was working in a relatively low-wage job while listening to the fate of those who had been laid-off while working other jobs. Tim's father listened with concern as Tim vented his frustration, complaining that he was unemployable except at jobs that paid "no money." One night Bill McVeigh and a friend from the auto plant suggested that the younger McVeigh enter the service.

"Bill and I had both been in the service," the friend said, "and one night we said to Tim, 'That's what you ought to do: go in the service.' A week later, he had joined."

"It happened in a split second," said Tim's co-worker Jeff Camp. "He didn't tell anyone he was joining. He just came to work one day and said he was going in the Army.[143] I never saw a guy who wanted to go in the Army that bad. I asked him why the Army, and he said 'You get to shoot.' He always wanted to carry an M-16."[144]

Keith Maurer said, "I couldn't see him joining the military. He had a lot of options. He was very smart. I didn't see the military as the one he needed to take."

[But to McVeigh, who saw his career options in economically depressed Upstate New York as bleak, the Army made perfect sense.] The Army held the possibility of travel and adventure for a boy from a small town. In the Army, he could choose his specialty, indulging his interest in firearms or computers.

On May 24, McVeigh drove the 25 miles to the Army recruiting office in Buffalo, and signed up for a three-year hitch. "In a couple of days he was gone," said Camp.

Sergeant Mac McVeigh arrived at Fort Benning, Georgia on May 30, and was a.s.signed to Echo Company, 4th Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Training Brigade. The unit was a COHORT unit, an acronym for "Cohesion Operational Readiness and Training." In a COHORT unit, soldiers were supposed to stay together for their entire three-year enlistment period. The COHORT concept originated in 1980, in an attempt to correct the problem of sending in raw green recruits for those who had been killed in battle. The Army discovered that many new replacements had difficulty adjusting to a new unit in the heat of battle, resulting in a higher number of casualties. Moreover, Pentagon studies from the Vietnam War era suggested that soldiers who had developed bonds of friends.h.i.+p were more likely to perform courageously. Unfortunately, the Army soon developed a new problem: many of the soldiers became sick of each other after three years, resulting in soldiers committing suicide or going AWOL.

Although McVeigh originally wanted to try out for Army Ranger School, he didn't want to wait for an available opening, and decided to join the infantry immediately. As he sound found out, he had been misled by the Army recruiter. Once in the COHORT unit, it was not possible for him to enter Army Ranger School. Yet the disappointed young recruit quickly made the best of the situation, scoring a high 126 points on his General Technical test score, putting him in the top 10 percentile among new recruits.

"McVeigh was really motivated to be a good soldier and performed well at everything expected of him," said a.s.sistant platoon leader Glen "Tex" Edwards. "You could load that boy up with 140 pounds of gear and he would carry it all day on the march without complaining. He was thin as a rail but he never fell out of formation," said Edwards, recalling the hot Georgia summer of 1988. " It was the worst time of the year to go through the course, but it did not seem to bother McVeigh one bit."

Although McVeigh didn't have many close friends during basic training, one person he would develop a close friends.h.i.+p with was Terry Nichols. Nichols, 13 years McVeigh's senior, was promoted to platoon leader due to his age and maturity. Despite their age difference however, the two men bonded, sharing similar interests. "Terry and Tim in boot camp went together like magnets," said Robin Littleton.

By the end of basic training, McVeigh was promoted to private E-2, having managed to score higher than anyone in his battalion on his mid-cycle and end-of-cycle testing. "Any test, he'd ace it," said David Dilly. "He knew exactly what the Army wanted. It was going to be an easy life for him."

On August 25, 1988, McVeigh was awarded a certificate by his commanding officer, then in September the unit was s.h.i.+pped out to Fort Riley, Kansas, where McVeigh was a.s.signed to the 2nd Battalion, First Infantry Division, part of the "Dagger Brigade" of the famous "Big Red One" that made the a.s.sault on Normandy during WWII. While McVeigh was a.s.signed to Charlie Company, Nichols went to Bravo Company.

A mechanized infantry unit, 2nd Battalion was equipped with M-2 Bradley Armored vehicles, a more sophisticated version of the famous M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier used during the Vietnam War. In addition to ferrying troops, the aluminum Bradley has a turret-mounted 25mm cannon, a 7.62mm machine gun and anti-tank missiles. McVeigh was the gunner on one of four Bradleys attached to Charlie Company's First Platoon. Naturally, he scored higher than anyone else in the battalion. In 1989, his commander selected him as gunner on the "Division Display Vehicle," used to demonstrate the M-2 system for Pentagon officials and visiting dignitaries.

"He was without a doubt the best soldier I have ever trained with," said Staff Sergeant Albert Warnement, McVeigh's supervisor at Fort Riley. He was motivated and very interested in learning everything he could about being a professional soldier."[145]

"As far as soldiering, he never did anything wrong," said Todd Reiger, a.s.signed to McVeigh's Bradley. "He was always on time. He never got into trouble. He was perfect. I thought he would stay in the Army all his life. He was always volunteering for stuff that the rest of us wouldn't want to do, guard duties, cla.s.ses on the weekend."[146]

McVeigh studied every conceivable Army manual, including the Ranger Handbook, the Special Forces Handbook, and the Improvised Munitions Handbook. But press reports [portrayed] McVeigh as a mad bomber: McVeigh's love of guns and explosives stood out even in the Army, where gun lovers abound. In the first weeks of basic training, when soldiers learn to make explosives, recalled platoon mate Fritz Curnutte, McVeigh boasted to fellow soldiers that he already knew how to make a powerful bomb using a bottle, then told them how to make a Molotov c.o.c.ktail.[147]

According to Warnement, such knowledge is not unusual for the more serious soldiers, who routinely studied manuals on survival, evasion, resistance and escape, and improvised munitions. "You have to remember," said Warnement, "at that time, we were training to fight the Russians in Western Europe and it was expected the Red Army would probably break through our lines almost immediately. We were encouraged to learn how to improvise. Our survivability on the battlefield would likely depend on our skills in unconventional warfare."[148]

Although McVeigh's military record makes no mention of formal demolitions training, in her book, By Blood Betrayed, Lana Padilla calls McVeigh a "former Army demolitions expert."[149] But Sheffield Anderson, who served with McVeigh since basic training said "He had the same training that the rest of the outfit had."[150]

The only thing that differentiated McVeigh from the rest of the outfit was his dedication and commitment to the military. "He played the military 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Curnutte. "All of us thought it was silly. When they'd call for down time, we'd rest, and he'd throw on a rucksack and walk around the post with it."

This "silliness" led to McVeigh making sergeant ahead of the rest of his unit. "It was unusual to have sergeant stripes so soon," said Reiger. "The rest of us in the Cohort [unit] were specialists," a non-supervisory rank similar to corporal.

In fact, after the bombing, when McVeigh's records and test scores were shown to a master sergeant without revealing his ident.i.ty, he stated that the subject "would make a great infantry officer, tanker, artillery officer or combat engineer." His electronic apt.i.tude, said another official, qualified him for "repairing satellite communications."[151] "He has a very high IQ," said a federal source familiar with the suspect's military record.[152] In fact, McVeigh was rated among the top 5 percent in combat arms.

McVeigh rented a three-bedroom house in the spring of 1991 in Herrington with Corporal John Kelso and Sergeant Rick Cerney. But the arrangement was not a comfortable one for McVeigh, and he soon moved into another house which he shared with Sgt. Royal Wilcher, who served with McVeigh in the Bradley.

The Times quoted members of the McVeigh's unit claiming that he had no close friends. "He kept to himself," said Robert Handa. "He was a dedicated soldier. He loved being a soldier. I didn't. So after duty hours he'd stay in the barracks while everybody else took off, go out to town. I never saw him go anywhere. He always had a highly pressed uniform." Reiger recalls that McVeigh had a TV and a VCR and stayed in and watched movies, or occasionally went bowling.

"The whole thing is," said John Kelso, who shared a house off-base with McVeigh and fellow soldier Richard Cerney, "he couldn't have a good time."

"He was very shy of women - almost embarra.s.sed," said Anderson. "It didn't seem he was gay. He was just awkward." McVeigh disputed this a.n.a.lysis in his April 15th Time interview, stating: "I don't think there is any way to narrow my personality down and label it as one thing or another. I'm just like anyone else. Movies I enjoy, comedies, sci fi. The big misconception is that I'm a loner. Well, I believe in having my own s.p.a.ce. But that in no way means I'm a loner. I like women, social life...."

McVeigh became friends with bombing suspect Michael Fortier while stationed at Fort Riley. He and Fortier would occasionally go shooting together at a friend's farm near Tuttle Creek Lake, and stop by and visit Terry Nichols at his house near the base.

The press was quick to pick up on McVeigh owning lots of guns he kept hidden around his house. According to Wilcher, "He had a couple in the kitchen, a couple in the living room under the couch. I think there was one in the bathroom, behind the towels. As you go up the steps there was a little ledge and he kept one in there too, a .38 revolver." "I don't know if he was paranoid or what," added Wilcher. "Or maybe he had some friends that were after him. I don't know."[153]

According to an account in USA Today and the Times, McVeigh and Nichols, who by now were pretty far along in their "anti-government" beliefs, attempted to recruit other military personnel for a militia that Nichols was purportedly starting. Nichols reportedly told at least one fellow soldier that he'd be back to Fort Riley after his discharge to recruit new men, and McVeigh's co-worker at Burns Security, Carl Lebron, would later tell the FBI that McVeigh was always trying to "recruit him into an undescribed group...."[154]

According to Dave Dilly, one of McVeigh's roommates, McVeigh rented a storage locker in Junction City, stocked with weapons, military meals (MREs), and a 100-gallon jug of water - in case of disaster or a Communist attack.[155]

"He was halfway there when I knew him," said Dilly, referring to McVeigh's Patriot beliefs. During McVeigh's tenure at Burns Security, McVeigh would inundate his co-workers with Patriot literature, such as the Spotlight, articles and videos on Ruby Ridge and Waco, and books such as Detaxing America.

For his part, McVeigh says, "If you had to label what I think, then I would say I am closest to the views of the Patriot movement," McVeigh told the London Sunday Times. "For a long time, I thought it was best not to talk about my political views, he added, "but millions share them, and I believe it is gravely wrong that I should allow the government to try and crucify me just for believing what I do."

Interestingly, McVeigh would tell his friend Carl Lebron, who shared some of McVeigh's beliefs, "All the reading you do is just a hobby. You stamp your feet, but you're not doing anything."

Another issue the media focused on were race problems in Charlie Company, and with McVeigh in particular. Regier told the Post that McVeigh was criticized for a.s.signing undesirable work to black soldiers, making black specialists sweep out the motor pool, work that would have ordinarily gone to privates. Other soldiers said he made derogatory remarks about blacks. "It was pretty well known, pretty much throughout the platoon, that he was making the black specialists do that work," said Regier. "He was a racist. When he talked he'd mention those words, like n.i.g.g.e.r. You pretty much knew he was a racist." The black soldiers complained to a company commander and McVeigh was reprimanded, the only time he ever got into trouble according to Regier.[156]

Dilly said that "Race was an issue, like everywhere in America, but not one that affected anyone's promotion. McVeigh picked the best man for the job."

Yet the McCurtain Gazette discovered that McVeigh held members.h.i.+p in the Ku Klux Klan. Apparently, he boasted that it was personally approved by Thom Robb, the KKK's national chaplain. "He was a very racist person," said Wilcher.

"Charlie Company as a whole had a problem with race," said Captain Terry Guild, who served briefly as McVeigh's platoon commander after the Gulf War. "There was graffiti on the walls of the barracks' bathroom: 'n.i.g.g.e.r' or 'Honky, Get Out.' They were mild incidents. If a problem was identified, a leader in Charlie Company wouldn't let it happen again if he saw it. But it was definitely a problem in the company. And his platoon had some of the most serious race problems. It was pretty bad."

In spite of such interpersonal or racial difficulties, most of the platoon held McVeigh in high esteem for his soldiering abilities. "He could command soldiers of his own rank and they respected him," said Barner. "When it came to soldiering, McVeigh knew what he was doing."

"If we ever went to war," said Edwards, "every one of us wanted to go to war with McVeigh." [157]

During the summer of 1989, after returning from a week-long orientation session in Heidelberg with the West German Army, or Bundeswehr, McVeigh decided to try out for the Army Special Forces. To the young sergeant who had long desired to be a member of the Army's elite, the Special Forces provided the chance. It also provided McVeigh an opportunity to graduate from the COHORT unit. Yet the physical requirements to even qualify for the Special Forces are among the toughest in the military. Requirements include swimming 50 meters with full gear; 42 push-ups in two minutes; 52 sit-ups in two minutes; and running two miles in less than 15 minutes 54 seconds. To pa.s.s the grueling tests, McVeigh began training vigorously in the summer of 1989, working out constantly, and forcing himself to march 10 miles with 100 pound packs. By the summer of 1990, he had pa.s.sed the Special Forces physical fitness test, and was ordered to report to Fort Bragg, NC on November 17 to begin the Special Forces a.s.sessment and Selection Course (SFAS). Towards the end of 1990, McVeigh reinlisted for another four years. [158]

Yet McVeigh's dream of becoming a Green Beret would have to wait. On November 8th, with the conflict in the Persian Gulf coming to a head, the Pentagon canceled all leaves and training a.s.signments. McVeigh's unit was activated for deployment. Although he was the consummate military man, the gung-ho soldier, McVeigh was against the decision to go to war. "McVeigh did not think the United States had any business or interest in Kuwait," said Warnement, "but he was a good soldier. He knew it was his duty to go where he was told, and he went." He was promoted to sergeant on February 1, 1991.[159]

Unlike the steely-eyed killer the press have painted him to be, McVeigh was as scared as the rest of the platoon. "The night before the ground war kicked off, he was saying he was scared because we were going to be part of the first wave," Anderson recalled. "He was scared we weren't going to come out of it. Maybe we would get shot, blown up. It wasn't cowardly. He was just concerned. I was feeling the same way, but most people didn't express it."[160]

On February 24, 1990, the 2nd Battalion was ordered across the southern Iraqi desert to punch a hole in Iraqi defenses - a line of dug-in infantry supported by tanks and artillery. McVeigh's platoon was attached to the "Ironhorse" tank company, and McVeigh's Bradley was the lead track in the platoon. McVeigh, the "top gun," took out an enemy tank on the first day with a TOW missile.

The "Ironhorse" protected units clearing the trenches. Using tanks and trucks equipped with plows, the U.S. forces would follow behind the Bradleys, burying the Iraqis dead or alive, to create a smooth crossing point for the infantry and avoid having to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.

McVeigh's moment of glory came when his platoon encountered a dug-in enemy machine-gun emplacement and came under fire. McVeigh brought his 25mm cannon to bear on the chest of an enemy soldier 1,000 yards away, and took his head off with one shot. He followed up with a similar shot, which was followed by the raising of a white flag and the raising of more than 60 hands into the air.

For his role in the battle, McVeigh was awarded an Army Commendation Medal which read in part: "He inspired other members of his squad and platoon by destroying an enemy machine-gun emplacement, killing two Iraqi soldiers and forcing the surrender of 30 others from dug-in positions." McVeigh also earned a Commendation medal with an upgrade for valor, two Army Achievement medals, and the Bronze Star "for flawless devotion to duty."

This "flawless devotion to duty" resulted in McVeigh's unit being invited to provide personal security for General "Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf.

A much-hackneyed phrase attributed to Sergeant James Ives, which the media like to play over and over again was, "If he was given a mission and a target, it's gone." Yet Roger Barnett, who served in McVeigh's Bradley, told the Times that McVeigh never expressed any desire to kill troops who were surrendering and never seemed bloodthirsty in any way.[161]

[Yet the Times' preordained slant on McVeigh was clearly evident. While others in his outfit "served" during the Gulf War, McVeigh "killed Iraqis." [162]]

One story which appeared in Media Bypa.s.s [but predictably never made it into the mainstream press,] recounts how McVeigh saved an accident victim's life on a lonely stretch of highway. The man had been ejected from his overturned car and lay semi-conscious and bleeding. A pa.s.sing semi had stopped but was unable to find him as he lay in the darkness 50 yards away. McVeigh, who was on his way to his home town of Pendelton, had recently finished a 46-hour medical aid course at Fort Riley. Against regulations, he had taken his Combat Lifesaver Pack with him on the 1200-mile drive. As he came upon the scene, McVeigh saw that an EMS (Emergency Medical Service) crew had not yet arrived. Trained in night vision techniques, McVeigh the soldier quickly spotted the injured motorist in the gra.s.s along the median strip. Following is an excerpt from the Media Bypa.s.s article: The victim recalls that the soldier was confident, quiet and efficient. To centralize his circulation, he elevated the man's undamaged limbs and warned him to be calm to avoid going into shock. He checked his pulse and flashed a small penlight across his pupils. The man, who only moments earlier was convinced he was going to die, s.h.i.+vered in the dark and started laughing. He told the tall young stranger he was never going to buy another Chevy Blazer again.

The soldier smiled as he rolled up the victim's right sleeve and inserted the needle to start a saline IV into his veins. "You've lost a lot of blood and you risk going into shock. This is an IV to help stabilize you and keep your fluids going. Relax. You'll be fine," he told him. He placed the clear plastic IV bag under the man's hip and checked his pulse again.

In the distance, an ambulance siren screamed over the sound of the truck engines as Timothy James McVeigh quickly packed up his Army issue trauma kit and disappeared into the night. The responding EMS crew told the state police officer who arrived at the accident minutes later that they had never come upon such a potentially deadly crash to find a severely injured man relaxed and laughing, neatly bandaged with an IV dangling from his arm.[163]

In a flurry of articles, mainstream media painted McVeigh as a psychotic, attention-seeking loner with a grudge against the government and a hatred of humanity. A man with "a stunted personality," who led a "tortured path," "obsessed with weapons" and with "deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy." When the press couldn't find evidence of overt violence or hostility, his noted politeness and manners suddenly became evidence his of his psychosis. "It is a personality that a Seattle forensic psychiatrist, Kenneth Muscatel, has described as the "Smerdyakov Syndrome," announced the Times, "after the scorned half-brother in Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov who listens to the other brothers inveigh against their father until, finally, he commits patricide."[164]

McVeigh was painted as a sociopath when Lana Padilla, in her book, By Blood Betrayed, hinting that McVeigh may have been responsible for the death of 26-month-old Jason Torres Nichols - Terry and Marife's son - who accidentally suffocated to death in a plastic bag in November of 1993.[165] Yet Padilla included a photo in her book of McVeigh laughing and playing with the little boy. And according to Terry Nichols, McVeigh had tried to revive the infant for nearly half an hour, and had called the paramedics - a response apparently out-of-character with the actions of a deranged sociopathic killer.[166]

Captain Jesus Rodriguez, who commanded McVeigh during Desert Storm, described him as a friend who was "really compa.s.sionate" and "really cared" when Rodriguez's brother-in-law died in an accident.[167]

Further evidence of McVeigh's humanity can be found in a letter he wrote to the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal on March 10, 1992: (See appendix for full text) To buy your meat in a store seems so innocent, but have you ever seen or thought how it comes to be wrapped up so neatly in cellophane?

First, cattle live their entire lives penned up in cramped quarters, never allowed to roam freely, bred for one purpose when their time has come.

The technique that I have personally seen is to take cattle, line them up side by side with their heads and necks protruding over a low fence, and walk from one end to the other, slitting their throats with either machete or power saw. Unable to run or move, they are left there until they bleed to death, standing up.

Would you rather die while living happily or die while leading a miserable life? You tell me which is more "humane."

Does a "growing percentage of the public" have any pity or respect for any of the animals which are butchered and then sold in the store? Or is it just so conveniently "clean" that a double standard is allowed?

The mainstream press twisted the context of McVeigh's letter. In his [book], A Force Upon the Plain, author Kenneth Stern writes: "McVeigh said he thought a human being was, by nature, 'a hunter, a predator.' He also asked: 'Is civil war imminent? Do we have to shed blood to reform the current system?'"[168] Stern takes two unrelated letters written by McVeigh, then craftily combines them to suggest that the humane killing of animals is actually part and parcel of McVeigh's bloodthirsty desire to kill human beings.[169]

Reality paints a much different picture of Timothy James McVeigh however. In February of 1996, Ron Rice and Carol Moore of the American Board of Forensic Examiners were asked to produce a profile of McVeigh's personality based on a handwriting a.n.a.lysis.[170] Both Rice and Moore characterized McVeigh as an introverted person - what they term an "Apollonian" personality - "a steady, unemotional, organized individual who [is] not devoid of emotion/pa.s.sion, but more apt to value reason over pa.s.sion." Like Sheffield Anderson, who described McVeigh as a "thinking type person," the examiners stated that McVeigh was "head-oriented." "They tend to be distrustful of feeling in the belief that following one's feelings can lead to trouble," the report stated. "Rarely, will he allow his emotional expressions to be directed at another person out of fear of hurting them...."

The report concluded with the observation that Timothy McVeigh "is a military man... his heart and soul belongs to the military of the U.S. Government. In a non-military environment, McVeigh will not undertake any form of overt hostility that will be harmful to others or dangerous to himself.... It is not logical that he would undertake any action against our government in which others would be hurt or killed. To do so would violate everything he stands for."[171]

In April of 1991, McVeigh put his heart and soul into his long-awaited dream of becoming a Green Beret. On March 28 he reported to Camp McCall, the Special Forces a.s.sessment and Selection (SFAS) training facility west of Fort Bragg, for the grueling 21-day a.s.sessment course. But McVeigh, who had kept himself in top shape by doing 400 push-ups a day and marching around the post with a 100 pound pack was now out of shape and he knew it. The Bradley gunner who had served in the Persian Gulf for four months was also drained from the stress of combat.

As the recruits stood at attention, the instructor asked several of the recently returned war veterans if they wanted to return to their unit to get back in shape. One of the soldiers yelled that they were ready, so out of a sense of gung-ho pride, n.o.body backed out.

The first day of testing was devoted to psychological screening. McVeigh claims he had no problem with the psychological tests, which included the Adult Personality Inventory, the Minnesota Multiple Phase Personality Test, and a sentence completion exam designed by Army psychologists.

The second day of tests began with an obstacle course which McVeigh pa.s.sed with ease. After lunch, the recruits were led on a high-speed march with 50 pound rucksacks. Yet new boots tore into McVeigh's feet during the five mile march, and with the worst yet to come, he and another recruit, David Whitmyer, decided to drop out. McVeigh signed a Voluntary/Involuntary Withdrawal from the SFAS school. His single sentence explanation read: "I am not physically ready, and the rucksack march hurt more than it should."[172]

The mainstream press jumped on his initial failure to make the Special Forces. He was "unable to face the failure" stated the New York Times. "He washed out on the second day."[173]

"There were no second chances," claimed the Was.h.i.+ngton Post. "His spirit was broken."[174]

These reports suggested that McVeigh had failed the psychological screening tests. "Military officials said that preliminary psychological screening had shown him to be unfit," lauded the ever-wise voice of the New York Times. "[He] saw his cherished hope of becoming a Green Beret shattered by psychological tests."[175] "It was apparently a blow so crus.h.i.+ng that he quit the Army and went into a psychic tailspin."[176]

Media pundits quickly backed up their armchair a.n.a.lyses' with statements from several of McVeigh's former buddies.

"Anyone who puts all that effort into something and doesn't get it would be mentally crushed," said Roger Barnett, the driver of McVeigh's Bradley. "He wasn't the same McVeigh. He didn't go at things the way he normally did.... He didn't have the same drive. He didn't have his heart in the military anymore."[177]

"He always wanted to do better than everyone," said Captain Terry Guild, "and that (Green Berets) was his way of trying to do it. He took a lot of flak. He was really down on himself."[178]

McVeigh claimed "That's a bunch of bunk," in response to the allegations. "Any realist knows that if you develop blisters on the second day... you're not going to make it."[179] [Still, the self-styled psychoa.n.a.lysts of the mainstream press made much of his disappointment, a.s.serting knowingly that it was the crux of McVeigh's "burgeoning torment."]

[Apparently, the "psychojournalists" at the Times had never bothered to check with officials at the SFAS school. "McVeigh dropped out of the course on the second day," said Colonel Ken McGraw, Information Officer at the Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg. "His psychological test work would not have even been graded yet."]