Nation shocked by Oklahoma blast

Tragedy struck Oklahoma City yesterday when a car bomb blew through a nine-story federal office building, killing at least 31 people. At press time, the Associated Press reported that at least 12 children were among those killed and 200 people were injured, with 58 listed in critical condition. Two hundred people were still missing. The attack is being called the deadliest U.S. bombing in 75 years. Witnesses said vibrations from the blast could be felt 30 miles away, but the shock waves from the bombing have reverberated much farther than that. They have reached Philadelphia and other cities around the country, where security has been heightened. At the Federal Court House and Federal Building at 6th and Market streets, security has been beefed-up, according to Mike Maille, captain of the Federal Protection Service. "We're are on a heightened state of alert," Maille said. But Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent Linda Vizi said that security has been tightened ever since the Gulf War crises began four years ago. Regional Science Professor Stephen Gale, an expert on terrorism, said there is speculation that possibly the Branch Davidians or Islamic fundamentalists were involved in the bombing. Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the Waco incident, in which Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raided a Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. Gale also said that there are a lot of Islamic fundamentalists living in Oklahoma City, but there has been never been any conflict between the fundamentalists and others in the city. "The style of action is something that fundamentalists Islamic groups have done in the past," Gale said. "If I wanted to do something to throw [investigators] off the trail, I would use someone else's signature. "There were no amateurs doing that," Gale added. "They were people who knew what they were doing." But Gale cautioned against making any judgment about the identity of the terrorists at this early of a stage. He said the key lesson to be learned from the Oklahoma tragedy is not that security should be heightened, but that the U.S. has to become "pro-active" in terrorism issues. He added that currently, the government does not take terrorism seriously enough. "We can't protect everything, we're not set up," Gale said. "We're way behind the learning curve on this one." He added that the United States should follow Israel's example in dealing pro-actively with terrorism. We have to design systems to prevent terrorism, he said. In addition, Gale said President Clinton's message about finding and prosecuting the perpetrators is a strong and symbolic one. But it is not the best message. Gale said the government should focus its energy on preventing further acts of terror while they are searching for the culprits in yesterday's blast. Gale speculated that the bombing in Oklahoma City could be seen as a symbolic effort by terrorists to target the heartland of America, a place usually thought to be immune from international attacks. Most would expect such attacks to be restricted to cities on the East or West Coast, he added. "By going to the heartland, you're saying nobody is safe," Gale said. "It's a statement that no one in the U.S. is far enough removed from what's going on in the world."

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