"It is really difficult to tell from the thread ... but you DO accept that McVeigh is the worst native-born terrorist in America so far, don't you, sear? With no excuse for his actions, no matter how angry he was about Waco?" g7

g7,
I don't know enough about history to know that.
Some might assert Cortez was far worse.

I doubt you meant to go back that far in American history. But your question didn't exclude it.

We don't need superlatives to acknowledge the severity of McVeigh's crime.
But we disserve our nation of 300 million plus, if we ignore the event which provoked McVeigh's attack.
"So now it was TORTURE, too, eh?" Treb

You didn't know?
First of all sir, to be crystal clear:

sleep deprivation is torture. And if you doubt that, watch how a human disassociates under severe sleep deprivation. I'd rather be water-boarded than be sleep deprived for 7 weeks.

Next, do you know how low, and at what hours those helicopter over-flights took place? And do you know how loudly such over-flights reverberate through flimsy wood frame buildings like those on Howell's compound?

And there was more than just helicopter over-fights.
To save av-gas, the government also used loud speakers to blast loud streams at the compound residence.
"So now it was TORTURE, too, eh?" Treb

Yes.
Over 7 weeks of it.
"all that any or all of the Davidians had to do was come the hell outside" Treb

All any citizen ever need do to avoid the wrath of their government is complete capitulation.
So when they come for your guns Treb, just hand them "the hell" over.
And when government comes after your free speech rights, just shut "the hell" up.
etc.
"the Davidians were FIRING ON the ATF and cops?" Treb

They had been attacked.

Treb:
If the government wanted to have a chat w/ Howell, all they had to do was either:
a) invite him into town for a chat, or
b) catch him in town as he occasionally appeared there.

But what did the government do instead?
They staged a "pre-dawn raid" at around 8:30AM.

The raiders couldn't find the address, so asked directions of a local postman.
The postman tipped the Branch Davidians off.

The raiders should not have gone forward with their initial raid. I've read they violated their own SOP in going through with it.
And human life was lost as a result.

Were the Branch Davidians angels?
I don't think so.
Did Howell (aka Koresch) think of the BD's as a suicide cult? Perhaps, even if he didn't tell his followers.

But what the government did fed into the delusions common among such insular zealots. It's difficult to imagine what more the government could have done to wipe the BD's out (& get away with it).
"You cannot protect lunatics from themselves forever." g7

These "lunatics" (is this a term you use for all Christian and pseudo-Christian groups? Or do you reserve this derision just for BD's?) were doing just fine before the federal paramilitary raid against them.
The government was out for blood.
And they got what they wanted.

"when the bigots of this world have been privileged for as long as they have, to them equality feels like discrimination." shiftless2