Word: blasted
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...sense of guilty introspection swept the country when the FBI released sketches of the suspects, distinctly Caucasian John Does 1 and 2. Immediately after the Oklahoma blast, some politicians and commentators had fingered Islamic terrorists as the most likely culprits, fueling anti-Muslim sentiment and triggering calls for tougher anti-immigration measures. The feds suggested that the Does, as McVeigh seems to bear out, were members of a right-wing citizen militia targeting government agencies housed in the Alfred P. Murrah Building. Although Oklahoma police authorities were schooled in the hate groups blooming like some deadly nightshade on the fringes...
...known about the men behind the deed, what is clear is that the very institutions they despise--the FBI, the ATF--were able to mobilize their forces with astonishing efficiency. The investigation depended, certainly, on serendipity, but it also proceeded with teamwork and precision When news of the blast came, disbelief turned rapidly into a blur of activity. Pentagon aides rushed to telephones to issue instructions. One of the first orders, State Department and Pentagon officials tell Time, was to begin immediately monitoring the passports presented by passengers wishing to travel overseas from airline terminals at Oklahoma City's airport...
...blast that size also required a great deal of explosive material--4,000 lbs. by one estimate. If the terrorists bought ammonium nitrate in standard 50-lb. bags, that's 80 bags--a cumbersome load for sure, but one that would fit snugly into a midsize Ryder truck. If all the material detonated--and there is reason to believe it didn't--the explosion released more energy than the blast from a ton of dynamite...
While it is doubtful that the ANFO used in the Oklahoma blast was purchased or stolen, someone with the right kind of knowledge could have concocted it by using ammonium- nitrate fertilizer and diesel fuel. The fertilizer is not as pure a preparation as what is used for demolition work and has to be treated before it can be converted into an explosive substance. But such information is available in books published by fringe presses and on the Internet...
...while last week, something in the national mood appeared to be turning darkly against Arab Americans--at least for as long as it was supposed that the Oklahoma blast might be the work of Islamic terrorists. In a replay of the harassment they suffered during the Gulf War, mosques reported receiving telephone threats. On Larry King Live, former Oklahoma Congressman Dave McCurdy pointed to an Islamic conference, full of fire-breathing rhetoric that was held in Oklahoma City in 1992. That was one reason, he said, that he knew terrorism "could happen here...