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Originally posted by Nic Name
So, all other things being the same, if McVeigh had been an American Muslim could you see how he could be considered a patriot ... just a misguided one?
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Yep. He's still a terrorist - don't get me wrong. But I believe his intention was to do to the government what it had done to the Branch Davidians at Waco. Obviously he couldn't hit the head honchos, but he picked a government target. His goal was not to "destroy America" or "to kill Americans whereever they are" or to fight "the Great Satan". His goal was to show the government that they can't go around killing their own citizens.
In the case of McVeigh, he is really only "worse" than the government because his body count was higher. Otherwise, what he was doing was killing people that he had no right to be killing - same as the government did at Waco.
Were the Branch Davidians nutjobs? Probably. Did they have weapons? Absolutely. Were they child molestors? No. Were they planning to topple the government? All signs point to "no". Yet the government attacked them, largely out of ignorance, and in the end was responsible for their deaths.
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I submit that many Americans' perceptions of terrorism are colored by religion and racial heritage.
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I submitted almost this very same thing in a discussion last month which I know you read. It really has nothing to do with McVeigh though - most Americans did, and still do, consider him a terrorist.