Oklahoma City Bombing

The Oklahoma City Bombing occurred on April 19, 1995. Before 9/11, this was the worst terrorist attack in American history. Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the attack, was raised in New York. As a child, he trained in survival skills for what he believed was an inevitable conflict between the US and Soviet Russia. His deep hatred for communism shifted towards the United States government after being influenced by far-right radical organizations. This was compounded by earlier shoot-outs, such as the Waco siege in Texas between the Branch Davidians and the FBI, as well as the government and Randy Weaver, another survivalist.

This hatred resulted in the now famous Oklahoma City Bombing. McVeigh prepared for this act of terrorism by filling a large Ryder truck with fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other chemicals to create a massive bomb. This bomb was parked in front of a federal building, and at 9:00 in the morning exploded, destroying much of the building and killing 168 people, with hundreds more injured.

Whether a stroke of bad luck or just karma, McVeigh was quickly arrested. Ironically, this arrest was not for the bombing, but for a missing license plate, which in turn lead to the discovery of an illegal weapon. After being jailed, he matched the suspect profile for the bombing and was rapidly tried and convicted, along with his friend and co-conspirator Terry Nichols.

This is where the conclusive evidence ends and the theorizing begins. There have been numerous other theories regarding this terrorist attack, one of them being that the act had been committed, at least in part, by a third person named Kenny Trentadue. Kenny was found at the Mexican border two months after the OKC bombing and was arrested for a suspended license and promptly flown to an Oklahoma federal prison. Kenny's brother Jesse, who was then helping Kenny legally get out of jail,  would later find that the FBI at the time was not just looking for McVeigh and his friend Terry, but a third person that matched Trentadue's profile.

However, Jesse's efforts were unsuccessful as Kenny committed "suicide" in August, just six days after the brothers' phone call regarding the parole hearings. Jesse remained unconvinced, especially after seeing his brother's body. Kenny's body showed explicit evidence of both beatings and torture and was covered in both bruises and cuts. Additional digging pointed to a massive FBI cover-up, including missing or hidden evidence all suggesting that Kenny did not actually commit suicide, but was murdered by FBI agents.

Jesse believes that because 1995 was almost an election year, the government was desperate to quickly resolve the incident and not show any weakness. Because of this, the FBI had Kenny killed to prevent any complications. Although this post quickly sidetracked towards a conspiracy theory, it still has two main themes relating to the rest of US history. This first theme is the constant struggle, starting from the birth of America to now, between the federal government and American citizens. Although many had seen it strongest during the early years of the US, this conflict is very real and continues to survive today.

Another parallel is the government or president's drive to consolidate power and to quickly repress any scandals that could be potentially damaging to their reputation. This can be seen in Nixon's initial attempts to cover up the Watergate scandal, Reagan's attempts to cover up the Iran-Contra Scandal, and also Bill Clinton's attempts to cover up his relations with Monica Lewinsky.



https://www.history.com/topics/oklahoma-city-bombing

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/oklahoma-city-bombing

https://www.britannica.com/event/Oklahoma-City-bombing

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/07/search-john-doe-no-2-story-feds-never-told-about-oklahoma-city-bombing/

https://www.opdeepstate.com/2018/02/15/the-fbi-murdered-kenneth-michael-trentadue-oklahoma-city-bombing/