"October 13, 1991. At 9:15 yesterday morning our bomb went off in the FBI's national headquarters building. Our worries about the relatively small size of the bomb were unfounded; the damage is immense....

"My day's work started a little before five o'clock yesterday, when I began helping Ed Sanders mix heating oil with the ammonium nitrate fertilizer in Unit 8's garage. We stood the 100-pound bags on end one by one and poked a small hole in the top with a screwdriver, just big enough to insert the end of a funnel. While I held the bag and funnel, Ed poured in a gallon of oil.... It took us nearly three hours to do all 44 sacks, and the work really wore me out.

Meanwhile, George and Henry were out stealing a truck. With only two-and-a-half tons of explosives we didn't need a big tractor-trailer rig, so we decided to grab a delivery truck.... George and I headed for the FBI building in the car, with Henry following in the truck.... As we drove by the building.... we saw that the basement entrance was open and no one was in sight. We signalled Henry and kept going for another seven or eight blocks, until we found a good spot to park...."

"We were still two blocks away when the pavement shuddered violently under our feet. An instant later the blast wave hit us -- a defening 'ka-whoomp,' followed by an enormous roaring, crashing sound, accentuated by the higher-pitched noise of shattering glass all around us."

from The Turner Diaries (1978), pp. 38-39

Introduction

On April 19, 1995, a large truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 167 people, including 19 children in the building's day care center. The deadly blast - the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history - came on the two-year anniversary of the fiery culmination of the Federal government's confrontation with the Branch Davidian sect at its compound in Waco, TX. At first, law enforcement and the country at large believed the Oklahoma City explosion to be the work of international terrorists. However, within days of this tragedy, the evidence pointed to a domestic origin, and the prosecutors alleged that the first man indicted was motivated by an intense hatred of the Federal government. It was further reported that the two bombing suspects charged thus far had some contact with one of the many right-wing paramilitary "militias" that have emerged in this country over the past year.

In October 1994, the Anti-Defamation League issued a 28-page fact-finding report entitled, "Armed & Dangerous: Militias Take Aim at the Federal Government," highlighting the proliferation of militias in America. The ADL findings were based on a survey which found evidence of militia activity in 13 states. ADL surveys two weeks after the Oklahoma City bombing indicated evidence of militia activity in at least 32 states, with signs that the total number might continue to rise.

The aims of these militias involve laying the groundwork for large-scale resistance to the Federal government and its law enforcement agencies, as well as opposing gun control laws. In the view of many such extremists, America's government is the enemy, widening its authoritarian control, planning warfare against the citizenry and utilizing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Federal Bureau of Investigation as its main instruments.

An additional problem uncovered by investigation of the growing militias is the presence in some of them - even in leadership roles - of persons with histories of racial and religious bigotry and experience in political extremism.

In order to provide greater public understanding of the militias' ideology and historical context, ADL has prepared this report. It includes a summary account of two events that have fueled the growth of the militias, followed by concise discussions of selected far-right activists and organizations - a number of which have had a significant influence upon, or relationship to, the militia groups. (Anti-Defamation League, 4)

Work Cited

Anti-Defamation League. [Special Report] Paranoia as Patriotism: Far-Right Influences on the Militia Movement. 1995.

The original plaintext version of this file is available via ftp.

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