As the emotional reaction to the Oklahoma City bombing subsides and the investigative process grinds on, it is difficult not to see the ghost of Lee Harvey Oswald hovering around Timothy McVeigh.
Both men were arrested shortly after the commission of acts that shocked and horrified the nation. Both men were arrested within hours on unrelated offenses. Both had left obvious evidence putting them at the scene. Oswald and McVeigh were disaffected loners with ties to anti-government groups, Oswald with The Fair Play for Cuba Committee and McVeigh with right-wing militia groups. Both had bitter experiences in the armed services and may have committed their crimes with skills learned in the service. Oswald was killed while being paraded in front of the media. McVeigh was trotted out in front of a howling mob, inviting the same result.
All the while, law enforcement was giving the public what it wanted, a face and an explanation. Oswald’s guilt or even complicity in the murder of John F. Kennedy is still a matter of national debate. The recent release of James Nichols and the collapse of the John Doe No. 2 theory leads me to wonder if McVeigh and Oswald share the same fate. Two obvious patsies, served up to a vindictive public to assuage the outrage of a grieving country. The jury is still out on both men.
