A covenant with death
What do the life and death of Timothy McVeigh say about the United States? Not as much as many people would like to think
ON MAY 16th, barring a miracle, Timothy McVeigh will be executed in Terre Haute federal prison in Indiana. At seven in the morning he will be strapped on to a gurney and killed by lethal injection. The work will be done by volunteers from the Bureau of Prisons staff. Mr McVeigh has admitted to his crimes, halted his appeals and reconciled himself to his fate. The only person who can save him from death is George Bush, hardly a man of second thoughts when it comes to executions.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “A covenant with death”
From the May 12th 2001 edition
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