What would Timothy McVeigh think of the Bush administration?

[Syrinx]

I just came across an interesting article by Gore Vidal, written shortly before 9/11. It is, this month, an archive feature on Vanity Fair's website.

To be clear, the Oklahoma City bombing was heinous, no matter the specific circumstances of the plan to carry it out. However, Vidal points out a number of things that were done, and a number of things that were said, that, especially with the Bush administration's record largely in the rear-view mirror, make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

He quotes Bill Clinton a couple of times. Clinton spoke words that many of us would have protested, had they come from the mouth of George Bush.

We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.

A lot of people say there’s too much personal freedom. When personal freedom’s being abused, you have to move to limit it.

He quotes former CIA director William Colby talking about the "militia movement."

“They are dangerous because there are so many of them. It is one thing to have a few nuts or dissidents. They can be dealt with, justly or otherwise so that they do not pose a danger to the system. It is quite another situation when you have a true movement—millions of citizens believing something, particularly when the movement is made up of society’s average, successful citizens.”

Does that description remind you of anything in particular?

He mentions a letter that McVeigh wrote to his sister, in which he tells her that he has joined a “Special Forces Group involved in criminal activity.”

Gore Vidal writes about the clear suppression of evidence in the McVeigh case by the federal government, and about how the government was so surely wrong in its handling of the Ruby Ridge and Waco situations. He writes clearly (though I admit that a few of his literary references fly about a mile over my head), about a federal government that is becoming more and more authoritarian, under the guise of protecting the American people. And, remember, this was written before 9/11 and all the Bush legislation that followed.

Read the full article here.

[cali]

1. Fascinating and provocative. Thanks for posting.

Love Vidal, and find those quotes of Clinton's very interesting indeed- though I'd love to see the full context.

[Syrinx]

2. thanks

Yeah, I started wondering about that one Clinton quote after I posted. It sounds like he was quoted out of context. But I started thinking, and I think I remember him saying it. In that context. But a decade can play havoc with the memory.

[Oregone]

3. He would think: Get this damn worm out of my frontal lobe.