Oklahoma City bombing

===Planning===
====Motive====
[[File:Mountcarmelfire04-19-93-l.jpg|thumb|right|alt=An aerial view from a helicopter of the Mount Carmel Center building. Large columns of smoke are arising from the left side of the building from a fire. One side of the building shows extensive damage. The building is surrounded by dirt paths.|McVeigh and Nichols cited the federal government's actions against the [[Branch Davidian]] compound in the 1993 [[Waco siege]] (shown above) as a reason why they perpetrated the Oklahoma City bombing.]]
The chief conspirators, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, met in 1988 at [[Fort Benning]] during [[Recruit training|basic training]] for the U.S. Army.<ref name="1988McNichols">{{cite news
 |last         = Swickard
 |first        = Joe
 |url          = https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19950511&slug=2120431
 |title        = The Life of Terry Nichols
 |date         = May 11, 1995
 |work         = The Seattle Times
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120927221940/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950511&slug=2120431
 |archive-date = September 27, 2012
 |url-status   = live
 |access-date  = May 23, 2023
}}</ref> McVeigh met Michael Fortier as his Army roommate.<ref name="PBSRoommate">{{cite news
 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/may97/trial_5-13.html
 |title=Bombing Trial
 |work=Online Focus
 |date=May 13, 1997
 |publisher=[[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]]
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125163535/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/may97/trial_5-13.html
 |archive-date=January 25, 2011
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> The three shared interests in [[survivalism]].<ref name="Militia">{{cite news
 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-16-militia-movement-on-the-rise_N.htm
 |title=As Okla. City date nears, militias seen as gaining strength
 |last=Johnson
 |first=Kevin
 |work=[[USA Today]]
 |date=April 16, 2010
 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105124606/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-16-militia-movement-on-the-rise_N.htm?csp=34
 |archive-date=January 5, 2013
 |url-status=live
 |access-date=May 23, 2023
}}</ref><ref name="Militia2">{{cite news
|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/tampatribune/access/38315217.html?dids=38315217:38315217&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+20%2C+1996&author=MARIANNE+MEANS&pub=Tampa+Tribune&desc=Search+for+meaning+produces+scapegoats&pqatl=google
|format=Fee required
|title=Search for meaning produces scapegoats
|last=Means
|first=Marianne
|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]
|date=April 20, 1996
|access-date=May 25, 2010
}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> McVeigh and Nichols were radicalized by white supremacist and antigovernment propaganda.<ref name="Belew2019">{{Cite book |last=Belew |first=Kathleen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qIPWDwAAQBAJ&q=McVeigh+White+Power |title=Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America |page=210 |date=2019 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-23769-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="SPLC">{{Cite web|title=25 years later, Oklahoma City bombing still inspires antigovernment extremists|url=https://www.splcenter.org/news/2020/04/17/25-years-later-oklahoma-city-bombing-still-inspires-antigovernment-extremists|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|language=en}}</ref> They expressed anger at the federal government's handling of the 1992 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) standoff with [[Randy Weaver]] at Ruby Ridge, as well as the Waco siege, a 51-day standoff in 1993 between the FBI and [[Branch Davidians|Branch Davidian]] members that began with a botched [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms]] (ATF) attempt to execute a [[search warrant]]. There was a firefight and ultimately a siege of the compound, resulting in the burning and shooting deaths of [[David Koresh]] and 75 others.<ref name="Waco76">{{cite news
 |last=Caesar
 |first=Ed
 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5324263.ece
 |title=The British Waco survivors
 |date=December 14, 2008
|work=The Sunday Times
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629115153/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5324263.ece
 |archive-date=June 29, 2011
|location=London
 |url-status=dead
}}</ref> In March 1993, McVeigh visited the Waco site during the standoff, and again after the siege ended.<ref name="WacoVisit">{{cite news
 |last=Baker
 |first=Al
 |author2=Dave Eisenstadt
 |author3=Paul Schwartzman
 |author4=Karen Ball
 |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1995/04/22/1995-04-22_revenge_for_waco_strike_form.html
 |title=Revenge for Waco Strike Former Soldier is Charged in Okla. Bombing
 |work=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]]|location=New York
 |date=April 22, 1995
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110227225536/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1995/04/22/1995-04-22_revenge_for_waco_strike_form.html
 |archive-date=February 27, 2011
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> He later decided to bomb a federal building as a response to the raids and to protest what he believed to be US government efforts to restrict rights of private citizens, in particular those under the Second Amendment.<ref name="WacoRubyMcN"/><ref name="TimeWeight">{{cite magazine
 |url         = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986240-1,00.html
 |title       = Oklahoma City: The Weight of Evidence
 |last        = Collins
 |first       = James
 |author2     = Patrick E. Cole
 |author3     = [[Elaine Shannon]]
 |magazine        = [[Time (magazine)|Time]]
 |pages       = 1–8
 |date        = April 28, 1997
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120211193636/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986240-1,00.html
 |archive-date = February 11, 2012
|url-status     = dead
}}</ref><ref name="FOXLetter">{{cite news
 |url         = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,17500,00.html
 |title       = McVeigh's Apr.&nbsp;26 Letter to Fox News
 |date        = April 26, 2001
 |publisher   = [[Fox News Channel]]
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110209151723/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,17500,00.html
 |archive-date = February 9, 2011
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref><ref name="WASHPostOrdinary">{{cite news
 |last=Russakoff
 |first=Dale
 |author2=Serge F. Kovaleski
 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/bg/mcveigh.htm
 |title=An Ordinary Boy's Extraordinary Rage
 |newspaper=The Washington Post
 |date=July 2, 1995
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131234415/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/bg/mcveigh.htm
 |archive-date=January 31, 2011
|url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Tan|editor-first=Andrew T .H. |last= Brannan|first=David|date=2010 |title=Politics of Terrorism: A Survey|chapter=Left- and Right-wing Political Terrorism| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXerAgAAQBAJ&q=false&pg=PA68|publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=68–69 |isbn=978-1-85743-579-5}}</ref> McVeigh believed that federal agents were acting like soldiers, thus making an attack on a federal building an attack on their command centers.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E2DC1339F934A15757C0A9679C8B63 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714023654/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E2DC1339F934A15757C0A9679C8B63 | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 14, 2012 | work=[[The New York Times]] | title=McVeigh Says He Considered Killing Reno | first=Susan | last=Saulny | date=April 27, 2001 | access-date=March 28, 2010 }}</ref>