There are 2 more ideas which are intermingled in the article. This is significant for what I am about to say in the next few comments. The core ethical value, if there is one, is not centered on humans, it is centered on God. The first commandment is the core ethical value, if there is a core at all. At least Augustine, Ambrose, Luther, and Calvin think so.
War is always regrettable, but can be just - just in a legal, ethical, and spiritual sense.
Simply 'cause McVeigh thinks he is engaged in a war, does not mean he is. He is engaged in criminal activity, and he is a hardened criminal, with no moral, ethical, or legal difference between him and Dahmer, Manson, or Bundy. Those are McVeigh's peers and contemporaries. War Criminals are not the peers of McVeigh. McVeigh is not comparable to Hitler, Stalin, Goebbles, or Milosoviech.