The anniversaries of three American tragedies occur this weekend.
Friday marks the 31st year since the end of the Waco siege and the 29th since the Oklahoma City bombing. Saturday will be the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.
The events of those days, which collectively took 257 lives, have served as landmarks in American history demonstrating the capabilities of far-right terrorists and the unofficial beginning of the age of school shootings.
The siege at Waco was cited by the man primarily behind the Oklahoma City Bombing, Timothy McVeigh, who believed that what happened to the Branch Davidians at Waco was "dirty" and wanted to "give them dirty back," said investigative journalist Mike Boetchetter.
"The main driving force to McVeigh was retribution," said Boetchetter, who was featured in the documentary "An American Bombing." "After he achieved that retribution, he wanted to be the person that jump started the antigovernment movement and then do what he dreamed would be the overthrow of the United States government."
David Cullen, author of "Columbine," wrote that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold would likely have seen the coverage of Waco and Oklahoma City. Cullen also noted that Harris described wanting to top McVeigh in his journal.
The Columbine attack was originally planned to be on the 19th though the true connection between the horrors was a rage that drove the men to inflict violent terror.
"Most terrorists target symbols of the system they abhor—generally, iconic government buildings. Eric (Harris) followed the same logic. He understood that the cornerstone of his plan was the explosives," Cullen wrote. "Eric (Harris) didn’t have the political agenda of a terrorist, but he had adopted terrorist tactics."
Here's what you need to know about the Waco siege, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Columbine shooting.
2024-12-24 09:501766 view
2024-12-24 08:441205 view
2024-12-24 08:22785 view
2024-12-24 08:151932 view
2024-12-24 08:12584 view
2024-12-24 07:312441 view
The wait is over. The Duttons are back.Paramount Network announced in June the second part of Season
Mandy Moore, mother of two, is not ruling out trying for her own big three.The This Is Us alum, who
Intense fighting in the devastated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut continued Friday, one year after the en