Timothy McVeigh is going to be murdered because 168 people were murdered on April 19, 1995, and they were murdered because 86 people were murdered on April 19, 1993, and they were murdered because 4 people were murdered on February 28, 1993, and, it didn't hardly begin there.
If you were to look up the definition of war in the dictionary, you would find that the word well describes the actions and reactions effecting our lives so dramatically, today. Those actions and reactions have only occasionally resulted in death, but they nearly always involve destruction and suffering. I know this because I was raided and arrested by the FBI's Domestic Terrorism Unit on May 1 [1997]. I am a prisoner of that war because my arrest represented part of the FBI's reaction to the Oklahoma City bombing.
But, the term war is almost never used by us to describe the environment in which we live. The actions and reactions going on around us, that are both taking lives and destroying lives, are removed from their proper perspective. As events of violence occur, the tendency is to write the events off as "incidents" with no cause or effect. Without the proper perspective, reactions to actions are not seen for what they really are. Without the proper perspective, I would have believed that I was arrested simply because someone said I had the wrong kind of guns. Without the proper perspective, the patriot movement has much to fear from its enemies, and more to fear from itself.
In the case of the Oklahoma City bombing, people in the patriot movement wasted valuable energy and resources trying to show the world that the bombing had nothing to do with them, the movement, or anything that anyone felt strongly about. We blamed the bombing on the US government, the Japanese, or insane maniacs that we shared absolutely nothing in common with. The fact that the bombing represented a reaction to the action of the federal government's attack on Waco was largely missed at the time. It was a fact that was not only missed, but avoided all together by most people. The fact is, the vast majority of the people in the patriot movement just took the easiest way out. Patriot clubs disbanded, militias changed their names to appear less militant, and the movement, as a whole, back-peddled itself right off of the map.
The trial of Timothy McVeigh is over. He was convicted by a jury, and the jury decided that he will be put to death. Now I hear that people in the patriot movement are, in many cases, and in many ways, throwing in the towel. If the trend continues, the patriot movement in the United States will meet a truly humiliating and disgraceful end.
Speaking from my position in federal custody, the knowledge that my compatriots are backing down in the face of the McVeigh verdict turns my stomach. I hated the reaction that Timothy McVeigh was a part of, and I hate the fact that I am now a prisoner as an indirect result of the bombing. Like any rational human being, I hate violence, but these things happen in a war-like environment, and now I have to deal with what is happening both to me and in this country with my head held high. Why? Not because I support violence or enjoy my environment (which, now, is prison), but because I am right, we are right, the patriot movement and what it stands for is right. As true patriots, we must understand, as General Sherman did, that "war is Hell." and we're right in the middle of it.
What all of this means to the average patriotic American is that they need to learn that they can understand the actions and reactions created by a warlike environment without supporting or condoning the inevitable acts of violence that will surely effect us. We all would now be much better off if the patriot movement, in general, had understood the actions of Timothy McVeigh two years ago, as we should have. Instead of coming off as foolish conspiracy wackos, the movement could have directed international attention upon the worst act of terrorism ever committed against the American people by their own government. Not only could we have brought needed attention to Waco, but we could also have done much to prevent another Oklahoma City bombing.
It would do us well to understand that we are all a part of a movement, not an organization. As such, we do not have the ability to cast individual people away because we dislike a part of their political ideology or because we are horrified by their tactics. The fact is that anyone who empathizes with the general cause automatically becomes a part of our movement. Such is the case with any movement, and Timothy McVeigh was, and is a part of the patriot movement, simply because he supports the movement's tenets in his own mind. It is the responsibility of the movement, therefore, to recognize the potentially violent fringe and attempt to control it as best we can. Why? Because throwing people to the dogs, even before they are found guilty of a crime, only serves to further frustrate the potentially violent fringe. Trying to disassociate ourselves from everything we don't completely support may be the easiest way of dealing with inconvenient problems, but, in the long run, will probably bring about more death and destruction.
Buildings full of children are rarely blown up by people acting rationally. Those who have committed such acts, like Timothy McVeigh, do so out of sheer desperation. The established system in the United States failed McVeigh. He, naturally, turned to the patriot movement for constructive solutions. But, the movement in those days, like today, lacked direction and possessed no reliable leadership. The fact that the movement offered no constructive solutions should be obvious, as the deaths of 168 people clearly indicates. That is not to say that we should consider ourselves responsible for those deaths, but we cannot ignore the potentially violent fringe and hope that they will go away. Everyone within the movement suffers mounting frustration because we offer nearly no constructive solutions, direction, or leadership. It should go without saying that there are there are those who possess shorter fuses than the rest.
Trying to throw those with shorter fuses out of the movement, even if we could identify these people, is both unrealistic and counterproductive. The only solution is to provide everyone with a united and strong patriot movement that is capable of providing leadership and constructive solutions. Anything less will generate more frustrated people. Some of whom will resort to irrational acts of violence, and the world will blame all of us for it.
As far as Timothy McVeigh is concerned, his name will be added to the growing list of human beings who have been killed in the war-like environment we are living in. There are those in the movement who applaud his pending execution as a means of making themselves look better. I have even more to gain by vilifying McVeigh. As I sit here in prison, I know that I could see my family again a lot sooner if I appeased the prosecutors in my case by saying the things that they want me to say. But, I will not cheer the murder of one of my countrymen no matter what he did. I may rot in prison for the rest of my life, but I'll rot with my head held high.
How patriots dealt with the Oklahoma City bombing two years ago is now water under the bridge, but how we deal with Timothy McVeigh's conviction and execution will do much to determine our collective future. More importantly, we must decide now how we will look upon the actions and reactions going on around us. Then, and only then, will we be able to build a movement based on experience, not ideology, and offer constructive solutions to those who seek our guidance and direction. What we do now will determine the future of the patriot movement with all of its professed high ideals. As one of the people, what you decide will either give the desperate some rational recourse, or leave them with no alternative but to remain desperate, and to act desperately.
Ron Cole #27523-013
Federal Correctional Institution
9595 West Quincy Avenue
Littleton, Colorado 80123
Associated Press
