Why leave the quote?
Aside from all the visceral stupidity and hate because these guys were armed, this could have ended peacefully. The occupation only lasted a month and in my opinion there was no reason not to keep negotiating for a peaceful end.
- The Waco seige lasted from February 28 and April 19, 1993.
- The Oka standoff lasted from July 11, 1990 and lasted until September 26, 1990
The protest was over re-imprisonment and grazing fees. Was that worth killing somebody? Maybe because they were cowboys with guns? Is that the reason for this visceral crap I am hearing. Bill Barillko and his call to exterminate. Damn Grumpy and his flippant, "What did they expect?"
What of it? Should we have stormed Oka after less than a month?
I don't support picking up arms against your own country as a form of protest, so I did not support the method, but I think that they may have had a legitimate protest. Grazing fees are certainly not worth taking someones life.
The militants, who had held frequent press conferences at the refuge, had called for the release of the two ranchers and for the Obama administration to relinquish control of federal lands to localities.
Here's how the eastern Oregon standoff started and how it's progressed to Wednesday, when things started winding down.
2012: Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and son Steven are
convicted of arson for setting fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006. A federal judge sentences Dwight to three months and Steven to one year in prison.
Spring 2014: A 20-year dispute between
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management over $1 million in unpaid grazing fees leads to an armed standoff.
2015: After
an appeals court overturns the Hammonds' original sentences, a federal judge issues new sentences of five years to both men, with credit for time already served.
Mid-December: Militants from states across the West begin assembling in the small town of Burns to
protest the pending re-imprisonment of the Hammonds over what they describe as unjust federal land policies.
Jan. 1, 2016: Community members meet with the protesters to voice their concerns in advance of a weekend rally.
Jan. 2: After an estimated 300 marchers parade through Burns in support of the Hammonds, a splinter group of armed protesters begins to occupy the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, about 30 miles south of Burns.
Jan. 3: Ammon Bundy, son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the leader of the refuge occupants, says the group has no intention of violence unless the government acts against them.
Jan. 4: The Hammonds report to federal prison in California but say they will seek clemency from the president. Harney County Sheriff David Ward, during a news conference, tells the occupiers to "Go home."
Jan. 5: Ammon Bundy says the occupiers won't leave until local property owners have control over the refuge, or if the community shows they're no longer welcome. Ward says law enforcement is taking steps being behind the scenes to end the standoff.
Jan. 6: The Burns Paiute Tribe, which once held land that included the refuge, calls on the militants to end the standoff. A nighttime scuffle between occupiers and an outside group sends one man to the hospital with a black eye.
Jan. 7: The sheriff and Ammon Bundy meet on neutral ground to discuss ending the refuge occupation. Gov. Kate Brown demands that the protesters "decamp immediately."
Jan. 8: Ammon Bundy says the
group doesn't plan to leave for now.
Jan. 11: After a week off,
schools reopen in Burns. The militants
destroy a portion of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fence, saying they received permission from the rancher whose cattle graze on private land adjoining the wildlife refuge.
Jan. 12: The militants
say they will reveal their exit plan at a meeting on Friday evening.
Jan. 13: Rancher Tim Puckett
says he didn't give the militants permission to destroy a publicly owned fence and is upset about what happened.
Jan. 15: The "exit strategy" meeting
doesn't happen over a dispute about where to hold the meeting. Also this day, authorities arrest the first person associated with the occupation: Kenneth Medenbach, 62, of Crescent, who drove a government pickup to Burns and was
accused of having a stolen vehicle.
Jan. 16: Occupiers
clash with conservationists during a daily briefing after showing off a pile of cameras they say were put up by law enforcement.
Jan. 18: The protesters say they've
recruited ranchers to stop paying the federal government grazing fees and plan a "signing ceremony" for later in the week. In
an evening meeting, they encourage ranchers to tear up their government grazing contracts.
Jan. 19: Conservation groups stage rallies in Portland, Eugene, Bend and La Grande to urge the occupiers to end the standoff. A
community meeting in Burns, with Ammon Bundy in attendance, is punctuated by emotional and highly personal remarks.
Jan. 21: Brown,
in a letter to top federal law enforcement officials, asks for "swift resolution" to the occupation. Ammon Bundy and the FBI
begin negotiations to end the standoff.
Jan. 22: Negotiations stumble after Bundy questions the FBI's legal authority to operate in Harney County.
Jan. 26: Oregon State Police and the FBI confront protest leaders on their way to a meeting, about 20 miles north of the Burns,
leaving one dead and taking five into custody. Two others are arrested in separate incidents.
Jan. 27: During a
law enforcement press conference, Oregon FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing says the occupiers had "ample" time to leave peacefully and that law enforcement had taken a "very deliberate and measured response" to the standoff. Ammon Bundy appears in court in Portland and tells the remaining refuge protesters, through his attorney,
to "please stand down." The remaining occupiers
begin to leave the refuge.
