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On Wednesday May 16 the United States government will execute Timothy McVeigh. Mc Veigh is being killed, because HE killed in the Oklahoma bombing to retaliate for the Federal government’s involvement with the killing of over 80 people in the Waco massacre.
During the trial McVeigh was described as “a normal kid who fit in well.” One wonders how the “normal kid” turned into the “cruelest terrorist” in U.S. history? The answer becomes clearer upon learning he was a “notable soldier headed for a successful military career.” This notable soldier, became dissatisfied with his military career and left after the Gulf War. Was joining the world of militias, conspiracy theorists and right-wing activism a way to avenge a dissatisfied military career and perhaps anger with the government?
A military career in the U.S.
army would have taught him:
? That conflict is resolved with violence
? That taking of life is inevitable with violence so humans must be considered
“collateral damage”
? The necessary skills to build a bomb powerful enough to kill 168 people.
? That with violence giving of one’s life completes the circle of violence even
when the violence of lethal injection by the government will end his life in
what McVeigh considers “government assisted suicide”
People may counter that everyone leaving military service doesn’t use violence to control their own lives and resolve issues and for that we must be thankful. Yet, the military experience can provide a false sense of idealizing heroism through the use of violence. We raise our children to assume that laws and governments have the right answer, that they always have the best interests of people at heart and we are not instinctively challenged to disagree. Speculation suggests that McVeigh’s military experience was the catalyst for the Oklahoma bombing and the circle of violence is further advanced by the government’s willingness to execute.
We remember the victims, we pray for their families and friends, we pray for the McVeigh family, and the people whose job it has become to execute and most of all we pray that Timothy McVeigh’s death will awaken a country to understand that we will never stand together in peace and justice until violence ends.
Tuesday, May 15, 2001– Candlelight Prayer Vigil 8:00 p.m. - 9:00
p.m.
Wednesday, May 16, 2001– Witness for Life 7:45 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.
For more information call People Against the Death Penalty (PADP/CNY) 315- 637-3344
or 470-1418