Ironic, isn’t it, that on his final day message boards all over the world are giving McVeigh precisely the kind of notoriety he sought. 
Calm down, okay so maybe I didn’t think about it all the way through next time explain it to me instead of jumping all over me.
Once again I messed up, as I can see several did it explain it to me so never mind my previous post. I apologize for my last comment. Well, I guess before I make my last post on this topic I agree with when he said:
-NHL
I think he has been given too much name recognition period. Why haven’t we learned to remove this aspect of murder by removing the fame from the individuals’ names: Lincoln’s killer, Kennedy’s killer, or even the cowardly federal building bomber? I think I’d rather almost anything than hearing this rotten *%@#$#@'s name again and again.
Jois
Jois, I’m not sure there’s a lot you can do. Hope the press don’t pick up on the story? Ask for a voluntary media blackout? Gag the media?
I always get a mixed feeling when I see people use the word coward to describe terrorists. People have been using it for years, over here in the UK, the Middle East etc etc. I wouldn’t describe them as cowards, they put their lives at risk for what they believe in (however wrong and murderous the result), how does that make them cowards? Maybe it’s inurement. A large proportion of my city centre was destroyed by a terrorist bomb (no fatalities thankfully), but I don’t think the perpetrators were cowards. I understand what they were trying to do.
As to the OP…
Remember that even as McVeigh is walking to the death chamber he isn’t dead yet. Up till the moment they pull the switch (or push the button or whatever) there is the possibility that the Governor (or the President in McVeigh’s case) could phone in and grant clemency.
As the shooter you have pre-empted the process. You do not know, for certain, that McVeigh is going to die. I’ll grant you the chances of Dubya phoning in and halting the execution are about as likely as him giving Gore a BJ but still…you never know.
As a result the shooter would almost certainly be charged with first degree murder (I don’t see how going after McVeigh at that point could ever be construed as anything else than pre-meditated).
Enjoy your prison term…you’ll likely be there quite awhile if they don’t execute you for stealing the state’s thunder.
“I always get a mixed feeling when I see people use the word coward to describe terrorists.”
As far as cowardice is concerned, there’s a big difference between a suicide bomber (almost guaranteed to die) or a shooter (risking getting wounded or killed by a cop or armed civilian) on one hand and a bomber like McVeigh on the other (set the fuse and run or walk away). Are all terrorists cowards? No. But a non-suicide bomber like McVeigh definitely is. It’s murder by remote control, just push the button and the bomb does the rest.
OK, where are all the people who consider McVeigh a “martyr”? I hear this problem all the time, that people will consider McVeigh a martyr. Give me some evidence that there are people who actually think this way.
No, the truth is that no one cares, the only people opposed to McVeigh’s execution are people who are against the death penalty. The martyr argument is a red herring.
Hi Andy,
I don’t think I can do much about having the names of serial killers or publicity seeking killers or terrorists plastered all over the news, I just wish I could. I do think the various news media have cut back on their coverage of school killings. A voluntary and I think responsible thing.
Whack-a-Mole said: “As far as cowardice is concerned, there’s a big difference between a suicide bomber (almost guaranteed to die) or a shooter (risking getting wounded or killed by a cop or armed civilian) on one hand and a bomber like McVeigh on the other (set the fuse and run or walk away). Are all terrorists cowards? No. But a non-suicide bomber like McVeigh definitely is. It’s murder by remote control, just push the button and the bomb does the rest.”
I think I could agree with that.
Jois
In the post above Jois attributed a quote to me that was actually written by John Bredin. No big deal…just clearing things up.
Well Jois, it would take a hell of a lot more guts for me to do what McVeigh did (I have no reason to think I ever would of course) than I have, so I guess that makes me a bigger coward than him. :shrug: