Chilling last words of the only terrorist to be executed by the US after bombing
After blowing up a federal building with a truckload of explosives, one man became the first and last terrorist executed by the US.
Killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare centre, Timothy McVeigh, bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.
McVeigh refused to give any last message when strapped to his chair in the death chamber. After his final meal, two pints of mint chocolate ice cream, and a day of pacing around his cell, McVeigh left a final message through a hand-copied poem, with his signature at the bottom.
“Invictus” by Ernest Henley reads: "My head is bloody, but unbowed. I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul."
McVeigh said he did not believe in Heaven and Hell but added: “If there is a hell, then I'll be in good company with a lot of fighter pilots who also had to bomb innocents to win the war.”
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The blast, one of the worst terrorist attacks on US soil, killed 168 people and injured more than 500 (AFP via Getty Images)When asked about the 19 children he killed, with over 2,000 kilos of explosives, he said: “If I had known there was an entire day care centre, it might have given me pause to switch targets. That's a large amount of collateral damage.”
Reports from the time detailed McVeigh joking with court staffers and prison guards during his trial to being resigned to his fate as the day of his execution grew near.
The admitted terrorist showered and napped, watched CNN and paced around his cell, according to the report. He also tossed in bed relentlessly until the jail chaplain paid him a visit.
McVeigh was convicted on first-degree murder charges for the April 19 bombing (AFP via Getty Images)
Rescue crews and agents from several federal agencies were called in to help (AFP via Getty Images)“Inmate restless in bed, moving around, rearranging blanket, grimacing,” the log further revealed. “Six minutes later: ‘Inmate still lying on bed watching TV. Continues to be restless, but smiling."
McVeigh revealed he was afraid of being shot like Lee Harvey Oswald, the man convicted in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
McVeigh added: "I asked if they could land a chopper on the roof, so we could get out that way. They said no, I was offered up.’'
McVeigh's rented fuel-and-fertiliser truck bomb exploded in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (Corbis via Getty Images)He was executed on June 11, 2001, dressed in a shirt, khaki pants and slip-on shoes. After handing his poem to a guard, he received two IV injections of a lethal cocktail of chemicals. He remained silent and no apology was given.
McVeigh was an extremist, opposed to the American federal government in Washington as he was convinced it was plotting to disarm gun owners as they warmed up for a takeover by elite bankers.
He used a notorious right-wing novel, The Turner Diaries, as a blueprint for the attack. The wild tale describes bombing of a Washington federal building where 800 people die.
The FBI found 3,000 pages from its investigation into the bombing that it had failed to hand over to defence lawyers. The execution was delayed for 30 days to, in the words of the US attorney general, "promote and protect the integrity of our system of justice".
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McVeigh's lawyers then said they had secured his permission to ask for a judicial review after studying the documents.
Debris covered the nearby pavements (Corbis via Getty Images)However, a Denver court turned down the request, saying that the documents represented only a tiny part of the evidence amassed by the FBI. The judge added that there was nothing to cast doubt on the finding that McVeigh detonated the bomb.
In a letter he requested be sent to the Observer, McVeigh said he was "borrowing a page from US foreign policy" and had "decided to send a message to a government that was becoming increasingly hostile by bombing a government building."
McVeigh and federal investigators said he was solely responsible for the bombing. However, McVeigh may be protecting his co-terrorists. On the other side, some suggest that the US federal authorities have tried to suppress evidence of a wider terrorist conspiracy in Oklahoma, and that the conspirators are still at large.
McVeigh's former lawyer, Stephen Jones, insists there were between six and eight individuals responsible for the bombing.
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