In the end, McVeigh contnrols his own fate? This is the most ignorant title to a story I have ever read, and only MSNBC would be capable of publishing same. So like a good little soldier, McVeigh will go to his death - his lips are sealed and there will be the writing of many more books. He is in a cage - a canary who would not sing - a pigeon, a jail bird .....and maybe a programmed killer like little Sirhan or the Manson family or another Oswald. The poem he will recite or from which he will quote is as follows British Poetry. 1920. William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903 7. Invictus OUT of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. Now why didn't this little creep just quote a verse from the Satanic Bible and be done with it; this kamakazi killer, who failed to get away. Even Kamakazi pilots were given drugs, like the old assassins before they murdered and made themselves living sacrifices to the head man. I would like to know one thing - the explosion was set for around 11 a.m., but it was changed to 9 a.m.......was this because it was an FBI sting operation that back fired as some think? In his haste to get away, McVeigh loses a license plate and a young police officer, decided the fate of McVeigh not McVeigh becuse he was almost home free? So much for Captain of his soul and Master of his fate - sitting all alone - a canary would would not sing. So much for Gideon - the master of hit and run guerilla warfare - but who was his mentor? Did McVeigh ever have a girlfriend? He tried to get a job as a US Marshall? Think he really cared about Waco? Regardless that license plate sure had to be put on in a hurry, for it to fall off as it did - such sloppy work for a man who was allged to be so thorough and meticulous in everything he did as he was a good little soldier. He did exactly as he was told but - why did they change the time from 11:00 a.am to 9 a.m. - did somebody smell a sting operation going bad? Saba In the end, McVeigh controls his fate A security truck passes the watch towers at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., where Timothy McVeigh is scheduled to die early Monday. By Jon Bonné MSNBC June 9 — More than 6,500 people die each day in the United States. But early Monday morning, the nation's eyes will be focused on the extensively planned demise of just one. As convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh quietly prepares to meet his fate, even his victims remain divided over whether his execution will truly close one of the most painful chapters in American history. June 9 — Father Ron Ashmore of the St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Terre Haute talks with NBC's David Bloom about his ministering to Timothy McVeigh. SOME WOULD LOVE to watch him die; a few even hoped to record the event. A federal appeals court Friday denied a request from defense lawyers in an unrelated case to videotape McVeigh's execution so it could be used as evidence to argue that the death penalty constitutes what the Constitution decries as "cruel and unusual punishments." The lawyers appealed Saturday to the Supreme Court. It was not the first such request; an Internet broadcaster was shot down earlier this year, after asking to Webcast the execution. And Attorney General John Ashcroft, in announcing that victims in Oklahoma City would be able to watch the death via a secure digital transmission, expressed concerns that someone would try to steal the feed. Others, including many of those whose lives were shattered by McVeigh, have no desire to see him killed. Either way, thousands of reporters and media producers, technicans and runners will be camped out over the weekend in Terre Haute, Ind., where the federal government's death house, a squat building on a flat grass field outside the city, is located. Some two dozen people will watch from behind a pane of glass as McVeigh receives a fatal set of injections. Hundreds more will observe from a federal prison facility in Oklahoma, where 168 people died in the fatal blast McVeigh caused with a truck full of explosives. MCVEIGH CHOOSES HIS FATE Advertisement Strangely — and perhaps painfully — it was McVeigh who put his own death back on schedule. His lawyers on Thursday abandoned their appeals to delay his death so he could mentally prepare to die. Though they urged him to take his appeal to the Supreme Court, McVeigh declined. "He needed to have some certainty about his fate, and I certainly respect that," defense attorney Richard Burr told NBC's "Today" show Friday. The change in strategy came after U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch ruled against the defense, paving the way for the execution to go forward. "Once that happened," Burr said, McVeigh "needed to get himself ready." Though Burr claimed McVeigh's fate was sealed when the legal system turned "deaf to his pleas," the prolonged attempt to save the convicted bomber's life was typical of the delicate manner in which Americans approach capital punishment. After the FBI acknowledged, just days before McVeigh's original May 16 execution date, that it had misplaced thousands of pages of documents related to the Oklahoma City bombing investigation, Ashcroft extended McVeigh's wait by 30 days. In arguing why they needed more time, McVeigh's lawyers said they had just begun to review the new FBI material, which included videos and photographs they had received only recently. The lack of extra time, claimed McVeigh attorney Robert Nigh, demonstrated how "the rule of law has been brushed aside." OPINION SPLIT But the Justice Department, the courts and about half of America felt that enough, finally, was enough. Some 47 percent of Americans thought McVeigh's death should go forward on June 11, according to a Gallup poll of 1,100 people taken in late May. Though McVeigh's legal team contended that the FBI's snafu amounted to a fraud on the court, requiring a reassessment of his conviction, about half of all Americans thought it was "an honest mistake," according to the poll. Though Matsch found the FBI oversight to be "shocking" and the appeals court agreed, they insisted the overwhelming evidence against the former Army sergeant stood on its own, regardless of any new leads. Hanging over that conclusion was McVeigh's admission to his biographers that he was solely responsible for the fatal 1995 blast that devastated thousands of lives and left a nation with the stunned realization that brutal acts of terrorism could be a reality on U.S. soil. "I blew up the Murrah building," McVeigh said, "and isn't it kind of scary that one man could reap this kind of hell?" Most considered McVeigh's case firmly sealed after the book, "American Terrorist," came out in March. It contained an indelible confirmation that McVeigh was, as Matsch termed him, "the instrument of death and destruction." DEADLY COCKTAIL A very different instrument of death will bring McVeigh's life to a close. Prison officials will deliver three fatal injections to the condemned 33-year-old. More McVeigh coverage •Latest news •Full coverage •McVeigh controls his fate •Science of executions •Who is McVeigh? •New security measures •Who'll be witnessing •McVeigh book excerpt •Discuss the case With McVeigh strapped to a gurney, first will come a dose of sodium pentothal to knock him unconscious; next comes a dose of the muscle relaxant pancuronium bromide, also known as Pavulon, to collapse his lungs and stop his breathing; finally, a shot of potassium chloride will stop his heart. It is a highly clinical, regimented process. McVeigh's final days will be equally regimented, and the federal Bureau of Prisons has left nothing to chance. As early as late Friday, he can be moved from his cell in Terre Haute to a holding cell in the death house, which is located outside the main prison facility. He will be allowed to bring only a few items, including five unframed photographs and a paperback book. The new cell, his stark final home, will contain a narrow bed mounted to the wall, a small metal table and a toilet. A guard will keep watch through a large window 24 hours a day. After nearly six years behind bars, most of it at the so-called "Supermax" facility in Florence, Colo., he will be scrutinized during his last hours. At 7 a.m. local time Sunday, McVeigh will no longer be allowed to make personal calls. His only contact will be with his attorneys. Though he has been allowed contact with news media thus far, no one has yet reported a single word from him. McVeigh's final hours June 8, 2001 — MSNBC's Gregg Jarrett reports on the protocol that will be followed in the hours leading up to the McVeigh execution. FINAL MOMENTS At 5 a.m. on Monday, he will no longer be allowed contact with his attorneys — or even his family, who have already said their goodbyes and won't be present when he dies. Everyone but essential prison personnel and witnesses will be barred from what the bureau refers to as the "Execution Facility." An open phone line will be established with a Justice Department office in Washington, just in case a last-minute stay is granted. At 6 a.m., dressed in a simple khaki shirt and pants, McVeigh will be searched, restraints will be put on him and he will be taken to the execution chamber. He will be strapped down and the needles that deliver the fatal mix of chemicals will be placed in his veins. An EKG device will be used to monitor his heartbeat so officials know when he is dead. Then the drapes that surround the death chamber will be opened, so witnesses can see McVeigh. Among those who will be present: author Gore Vidal and journalist Lou Michel, who co-wrote a McVeigh biography; and three McVeigh defense lawyers — all attending at McVeigh's request. He could have a spiritual adviser present, but chose not to. Media and victims' relatives will also be there. Three separate rooms are provided for each of the witness groups. McVeigh will be allowed to make a short statement; he is expected to quote from the 1875 poem "Invictus," by William Ernest Henley. The prison warden will read parts of the order sentencing McVeigh to die, and then ask the federal marshal if he may proceed. The marshal will use the open phone line to check with the Justice Department and, assuming no stay has been granted, prison officials will begin the injections. When the third shot is done and medical personnel have confirmed McVeigh is dead, the warden will announce the time of death and close the drapes. The body will be turned over to the Vigo County coroner. Witnesses will leave; victims will leave their viewing space in an unremarkable briefing room in Oklahoma, many hoping to move on with their lives. It is far from clear, though, that his death will offer closure to the nation he stunned with his crime — and his lack of repentence. For many, including some of those who lost loved ones in the blast, it will be a final, fitting coda to the most painful part of their lives; people like Doris Jones, who will be watching in Oklahoma as the man who killed her daughter breathes his final breath. "It's like you're down and someone keeps dragging you around," Jones said. "It's time for it to be over." For others — like Bud Welch, who lost his daughter Julie in the blast — it is an unnecessary act of vengeance that doesn't erase their pain; as Welch said earlier this year: "I will deal with this for the rest of my life." The execution of Timothy McVeigh With live coverage from Terre Haute and Oklahoma City •Weekend Today Sunday: 7-8 a.m. ET •Today Monday 7 a.m. ET: Special Edition of Today -- Katie Couric in Oklahoma City, David Bloom in Terre Haute, Matt Lauer in New York. Tom Brokaw joins 8 a.m. ET. •MSNBC Cable Monday: Special Coverage 7 a.m. -- 3 p.m. ET. Anchors -- Forrest Sawyer, Brian Williams, Gregg Jarrett, Chris Jansing, Ashleigh Banfield, Mika Brzezinski. •Nightly News with Tom Brokaw 6:30 p.m. ET NBC's Pete Williams and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 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