mcveigh. he was very unassuming. he was very literally very casual sitting on the hood of his car, very articulate. tim said, people need to watch what s happening and heed any warning signs. at the time, i thought, well, what does that mean? well, when i went back and read that in my article, it gave me chills. i thought, did that mean oklahoma city? was he foreshadowing? after camping in his car outside the branch davidian compound for a few days, mcveigh drives to terry nichols farm in northern michigan. in less than an hour, the compound that had fascinated the world for 51 days was a raging inferno. on april 19th, 1993, mcveigh and nichols watched the violent end of the waco siege on television. watching flames lick out windows, and i m watching tanks ram walls, and my eyes just welled up in tears, and tears
started coming down my cheeks, and i m watching this scene unfold, just stood there in stunned silence. what is this? what has america become? i just remember that scene. it burned into my memory. i m emotional right now as i talk about it. you know, i felt absolute rage. tim saw this as an act of war against the people. the rules of engagement if not written down are defined by the acts of the aggressor. now, what rules of engagement would you interpret in examining waco? kids are fair game? women are fair game? i think that that was the final moment for mcveigh, and he says so himself, right? after waco, now is the time for action, right? now we re going operational. many people are struggling with issues related to mental health.
for them because this is a 7,000-pound bomb they re building. they re going and making large purchases of ammonium nitrate in these 50-pound bags, you know, this granular fertilizer. they go around. they ve got various storage sites where they re storing this stuff and getting ready to pull it all together. mcveigh had nicholls totally under his control. from the beginning the plan was mcveigh s. nicholls was the ultimate player. i take full spomt for all my actions and for who i am. i m not looking in any way, shape, or form to blame on my parents or my upbringing. tim was born into a working-class family just north of buffalo, new york.
government would be doing that and would be misleading people like him to do this. then after a failed tryout for the green berets, mcveigh quits the military, citing his mixed feelings about the government. in the gulf i realized i didn t like it. it just rubbed the wrong way. that s one of the reasons that i got out of the military. upon returning home after almost four years in the army, mcveigh discovers civilian life is not as liberating as he had hoped. i was so excited to get out of the military and go home and when i got home, there was no excitement there. once you ve had that adrenaline rush, once someone s walked on the razor s edge, everything is dulled by comparison. some people get addicted to it. when tim came home, he really seemed changed.
the family he was born into was very typical american. timothy mcveigh was the first son in that family. he d had an older sister and then later a younger sister came along. growing up to me, i was taught by my family that even getting a speeding ticket was a sin-type thing. it wasn t a religious thing. i mean any breaking of the law is bad, tim. you should never break the law. after graduating from high school, mcveigh attends a local business college but gives it up after only one year. he is restless and looking for focus. he wanted excitement. he comes home. he tells his father, i m joining the army, dad. his father says, when? well, i go in tomorrow. and bill said okay. in the spring of 1988 mcveigh chops off his hair and is ship dound to ft. benning, georgia,