THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 8, 1995 TAG: 9505050020
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
The theme of C.R. Ange's letter (``Bombings,'' April 25) seems to be that the violence in Oklahoma City was somehow justified by the U.S. government's attack on the Waco compound.
Having lived most of my life overseas, I am amazed and appalled to find that the excuse or attitude used by terrorists worldwide seems to have found a home in my country.
I heard the same type of justification used after the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the Lockerbie/Pan-Am bombing, the Belle Star disco bombing in Berlin and also after the USO bombing in Naples in which my best friend was murdered.
As a child growing up in many foreign countries, I was taught by my family two things: 1. Two wrongs don't make a right. 2. My right to believe and do what I want ends at the tip of my nose.
I did not approve of the government's actions in Waco and was upset at the outcome of the clash with the Branch Davidians. However, I do have to point out that those people were given the option of leaving the area.
The men, women and children slain in and near the federal building blast in Oklahoma City were not given a choice. Does that make the score even?
Most of the people killed in Oklahoma never knew what hit them - so it's OK to justify it with the other terrible tragedy in Waco?
Is terrorism now turning into some kind of sport, like football, with scorekeepers?
Is human life so cheap that we are willing to use them as markers in acts of revenge?
I don't think so. If the letter writer had stood in the shoes of the families, neither would he or she.
VIRGINIA CHASTAIN
Virginia Beach, April 25, 1995 by CNB