Service Held to Mark 20 Years since Oklahoma City Bombing

Service Held to Mark 20 Years since Oklahoma City Bombing

Sunday, 19 Apr 2015 12:31 PM

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-Oklahoma-City-Bombing/2015/04/19/id/639410/

About 1,000 people gathered Sunday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil until the Sept. 11 attacks six years later.

Former President Bill Clinton and Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin were among those who spoke at Sunday's service at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building once stood.

The service started with a 168-second moment of silence to honor each of the 168 people who died in the April 19, 1995, attack. It concluded about 90 minutes later with survivors and tearful relatives of the dead reading the names of those killed.

President Bill Clinton, who attended the memorial for the sixth time, told Oklahoma's survivors that they chose to be resilient and the world needs them for that.

"You turned away all of the petty squabbles in which we engage, leaving only our basic humanity," Clinton said. "I mostly came here to thank you today."

"There's still people who somehow think they can matter more and they can make a statement by killing innocents and snuffing our possibility," Clinton said. "They're wrong. As long as people like you make the right decisions with their mind and their heart."

"This was a place of unspeakable horror and tragedy," Frank Keating, who was Oklahoma's governor at the time of the attack, told the gathering. He called the attack "unforgivable."

Timothy McVeigh, an Army veteran with strong anti-government views, planned the bombing as revenge for the deadly standoff between the FBI and Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, that killed more than 70 people on April 19, 1993 — exactly two years earlier.

McVeigh was convicted on federal murder and conspiracy charges in 1997 and executed in 2001.

His Army buddy, Terry Nichols, was convicted on federal and state bombing-related charges and is serving multiple life sentences in a federal prison.

Oklahoma City bombing

Robert M. Bryant oversaw the investigations of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, a deputy director for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, and a national counterintelligence executive for the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive.

Note: Morton H. Halperin is a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, a senior adviser for the Open Society Foundations, was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and a director, Washington office for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and the American Constitution Society.

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was a supporter for the Center for American Progress, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).

John D. Podesta is the founder of the Center for American Progress, was a temporary CEO for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a counselor for the Barack Obama administration, a director at the Center for a New American Security, and William J. Clinton’s chief of staff.

Dennis C. Blair was a director at the Center for a New American Security, and a director at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the Barack Obama administration.

Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive is a division of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

William J. Clinton is the founder of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and John D. Podesta was his chief of staff.

Eric H. Holder Jr. was a board member for the American Constitution Society, an intern at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, is a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, and the attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice for the Barack Obama administration.

James B. Steinberg is a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, was the deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of State for the Barack Obama administration, and a director, foreign policy studies for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Zoe Baird is a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Teresa Heinz Kerry is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and married to John F. Kerry.

John F. Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, the secretary at the U.S. Department of State for the Barack Obama administration, and Cameron F. Kerry’s brother.

Cameron F. Kerry is John F. Kerry’s brother, a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was an associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr was the lobby firm for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Robert S. Mueller III is a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, was a director at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and an acting deputy attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Howard M. Shapiro was a general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and is a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

Michael R. Klein was a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, and is a director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.

Debo P. Adegbile is a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, a director at the American Constitution Society, was an acting president & director-counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and an assistant attorney general nominee for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Eric H. Holder Jr. was a board member for the American Constitution Society, an intern at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, is the attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice for the Barack Obama administration, and a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age.

Robert M. Bryant is a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, a national counterintelligence executive for the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, a deputy director for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and oversaw the investigations of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.