On this date, June 11, 2001, Timothy McVeigh A.K.A as the Oklahoma City Bomber was executed by lethal injection at
the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was the terrorist
who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred
P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.
Commonly referred to as the Oklahoma City Bombing, the attack killed 168 people
and injured over 600. It was the deadliest act of terrorism within the United
States prior to the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks, and remains the deadliest act of domestic
terrorism in United States history. Let us hear from the victims’ families who
supported the death sentence for Timothy McVeigh. We will not forget them.
QUOTE 1: She said she opposed the
death penalty--until the bombing. She fears McVeigh would attract a following
of extremists in jail and end up orchestrating the killing of others, so she
wants him executed. But she's trying not to hate him. "Hatred
is a sickness," she says, the proof being what it drove McVeigh to
do in the first place. "That's why our loved ones
died. I won't put myself on Timothy McVeigh's level." She says she
hasn't forgiven McVeigh yet, but, for her own sake, she's trying.
AUTHOR: Jannie
Coverdale lost her two grandsons, Aaron, 5, and Elijah, 2, in the Oklahoma City
bombing.
QUOTE 2: Although never a supporter
of the death penalty, Apple feels now that anything less than death would be a
slap in the face to her brother and the 167 others who were killed in the
bombing. To her, she says, it boils down to the concept of making choices—one
of the most important, basic parts of life: [Timothy
McVeigh] chose to park that truck, put in his earplugs, and walk off. When he
did that, he took away the rights of 168 people to ever make decisions of their
own again. My brother and the others can't elect to work, or play, or spend
time with their families. So I don't want McVeigh to have the freedom to even
get a drink of water in his cell. If those 168 victims can't make the most
basic of choices, why should he? [He] has to pay for the choice he made on
April 19, 1995—and he has to pay with his life.
AUTHOR: Donnetta Apple whose brother was killed in the
bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma.
QUOTE 3: Before
Oklahoma City, Carolyn Templin was, by her own admission, "very much
opposed" to capital punishment. "But losing
my son-in-law made it clear how important the death penalty is," she
says. Templin's son-in-law, Scott Williams, was killed in the Murrah building
blast, three months before his daughter, Kylie, was born.
QUOTE 4: Templin now
believes that if one is "found guilty beyond a doubt, the only appropriate
way is to execute the person." And swiftly, too: Endless delays in
carrying out death sentences, she says, serve only to undermine their deterrent
effect. Templin traveled to Washington to lobby for a bill speeding up
executions for convicted terrorists on death row. The bill's passage renewed
her faith in the very federal government that Timothy McVeigh so hated. McVeigh
could have channelled his anger constructively. "Instead,
he chose to mass murder 168 families." For that, she says, he deserves to
die.”
AUTHOR: Carolyn Templin whose son-in-law, Scott Williams was
killed in the Oklahoma City Bombing.
Kathleen Treanor
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QUOTE 5: "I'm
glad I live in a country which has made an example of this man," said
Kathleen Treanor, who watched his death on the television link.”
AUTHOR: Kathleen Treanor whose
four-year-old daughter was among Timothy McVeigh's victims greeted his death
with relief.
QUOTE 6: He added: "(McVeigh) had a look of defiance and if he could do it
all again, he would."
QUOTE 7: "He had a look of defiance and that
if he could, he'd do it all over again," Whicher said. He added: "I
don't think he gave himself to the Lord. I don't think he repented and
personally I think he's in hell."
QUOTE 8: "I think today our justice system
has preserved the freedom of this country."
QUOTE 9: Janice Smith, whose
brother Lanny Scroggins died in the bombing, prayed with her children at the
Oklahoma City National Memorial, then left after getting word that McVeigh was
dead. "It's over," she said. "We don't have to continue with him anymore."
QUOTE 10: "He
will get what he deserves in the afterlife, where he will meet Hitler and
Jeffrey Dahmer," says Ernie Ross, who suffered serious injuries
from the blast while working across the street. Another survivor suggested that
McVeigh should have one leg amputated and then be suspended over sharpened,
growing bamboo shoots that would pierce his body.
AUTHOR: Ernie Ross who
suffered serious injuries from the Oklahoma City Bombing blast while working
across the street
QUOTE: Putting an end to
it--that's what so many victims' families seek. Last week, a parade of
witnesses at the Timothy McVeigh trial described the explosion's impact on
their lives. Off the witness stand, survivors expressed their belief that
killing McVeigh would be just, given their loss, and many vented their fury.
"The sooner [McVeigh] meets his maker, the sooner
justice will be served," said Darlene Welch, whose 4-year-old
niece, Ashley, was killed in the blast.
AUTHOR:
Please go to the ‘Soldier, Executioner & Pro Lifer’ Blog to learn more about Timothy McVeigh’s profile
and see this debate and the article on the death penalty of the week.
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