Oklahoma City Marks 15 Years Since Bombing

168 lost in attack on government building

Photo chronicle

Terror in Oklahoma City — Images from the deadly bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.

By Tim Talley

April 19, 2010

OKLAHOMA CITY — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told survivors and victims’ relatives gathered Monday for a somber ceremony to mark the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing that the city’s spirit in the wake of the tragedy served as an example to the nation.

Napolitano also warned of the need for continued vigilance against terrorists when she spoke during the 90-minute memorial to the 168 lives lost in the destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. More than 600 others were injured in the blast, which at the time was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil. …

Napolitano said the bombing anniversary was a reminder of “the continued need for vigilance against the violent ideologies that led to this attack, so that we can recognize their signs in our communities and stand together to defeat them.”

In a documentary, “The McVeigh Tapes: Confessions of an American Terrorist,” to be aired Monday on msnbc, recordings of interviews with the convicted bomber indicate he had no remorse for those whose lives he had destroyed.

Video

In McVeigh’s chilling confession, no remorse (NBC Nightly News, April 19, 2010) – In never-before heard audiotapes, Timothy McVeigh, who bombed an Oklahoma City government building in 1995 expresses no compassion for the 168 people he killed, including 19 children. (03:15)

“Throughout the history of mankind, people have killed for what they believed was the greater good and … and it’s accepted. Sometimes killing is accepted,” McVeigh told journalists Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck in comments posted on the msnbc website.

Prosecutors had said McVeigh’s plot was an attempt to avenge the deaths of about 80 people in the government siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier.

McVeigh was convicted on federal murder charges and executed in 2001. McVeigh’s Army buddy, Terry Nichols, was convicted on federal and state bombing-related charges and is serving multiple life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado.

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Extremism Explodes in America (March 3, 2010)

Video

Number of hate groups reach record level (The Dylan Ratigan Show, MSNBC, March 2, 2010) — According to a new report, militias and other extremist groups increasing 244 percent in 2009. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center and radio host Mark Williams of the Tea Party Express discuss. (08:33)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — April 19, 2009

Copyright © 1995, Charles H. Porter IV / AP

Remembering Oklahoma City

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I commemorated the 14th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing; at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, a truck bomb containing approximately 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring more than 600 at the hands of Gulf War veteran and militia movement sympathizer Timothy McVeigh. It was the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil until the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack.