Here are some key excerpts from a quite long article that someone with a scanner, or with more time on their hands than I, might want to put up:
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The institute is the third and final component in the Oklahoma City
National Memorial, a $29.1 million project that includes a symbolic
memorial and a memorial center/museum. Combining a think tank with a
memorial was an unusual step, but for many Oklahomans, the project would
not be complete without it.
Now located in the memorial foundation at the bombing site in downtown Oklahoma City, the institute will be housed with the museum across the street in the old Journal Record newspaper building. (How appropriate! ed.) The plan is to model the institute after think tanks like the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, complete with scholars, archives, a database and regular seminars. (Again, how appropriate! Let us be reminded that the fraudulent government critic, Christopher Ruddy, who, along with his website www.newsmax.com, was recently ballyhooed in the oh-so-establishment, pro-Clinton Newsweek magazine, is a "media fellow" at the Hoover Institution.) The institute comes at what many experts see as the dawn of a new era in U.S. domestic terrorism. (Oh, really? ed.) Topics the institute plans to address range from the causes of terrorism (like stealing people's land and leaving them otherwise powerless, perhaps? ed.) to building bombproof buildings to the impact of terror on civil liberties (speaking of the "causes of terrorism" ed.). "The terrorism thing is here to stay. I think we're on the cusp of something really quite dangerous," said Mr. Henriksen. "And we're already seeing the effects. For example, when I was growing up, we never had metal detectors, and now they're accepted quite easily." Most of the project's funding comes from private donations (wouldn't you love to see the list of who and how much? ed.), along with $5 million allocated by Congress and $5 million from the Oklahoma Legislature. Officials are also discussing the possibility of tapping into the Justice Department's anti-terrorism fund by serving as a research resource.... The institute held its first symposium, "How Terrorism Affects Our Freedom," in October during the weekend of the groundbreaking ceremony for the symbolic memorial. Moderated by former Secretary of Defense Dick ("Chickenhawk" ed.) Cheney, the event's speakers included White House and FBI terrorism experts. A workshop on domestic preparedness, in conjunction with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is scheduled next month. A more far-reaching symposium on terrorism issues is planned April 19, the fourth anniversary of the bombing. |
A couple of observations:
1. You'd think they'd want to know who those people were with Timothy McVeigh on the day of the Murrah Building bombing before they start drawing all these conclusions about "domestic terrorism."
2. I'll bet the expression "agente provocateur" will be about as welcome at the new memorial and institute as the word "niggardly" is in the D.C. city government.
David Martin
January 31, 1999
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