Sludge Report #85 – And One More Makes 169

Monday, 11 June 2001, 2:06 pm
Column: C.D. Sludge

NOTE: Authors of this report will be anonymous and wide ranging, and occasionally finely balanced. Indeed you are invited to contribute: The format is as a reporters notebook. It will be published as and when material is available. C.D. Sludge can be contacted at sludge@scoop.co.nz. The Sludge Report is available as a free email service..Click HERE - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/myscoop/ to subscribe...

Sludge Report #85

And One More Makes 169

In April 1995 in downtown Oklahoma a huge explosion set by Timothy McVeigh killed one hundred and sixty eight men women and children, and injured a further 500.

A little more than six years later, tonight, at midnight New Zealand Time, in Terre Haute Indiana Timothy McVeigh is scheduled to die by lethal injection. And with his death, the toll as a result of the 1995 bombing will rise to 169.

As he dies an estimated 85% of American citizens, according to polls, will most probably sigh with relief.

Elsewhere in the world however the impression left by the execution of McVeigh will be a quite different matter.

It will be noted in editorial columns around the world that the USA is one of a tiny minority of nations among the so-called “western democracies”, and indeed among nations as a whole, in which the death penalty is still used.

It will further, no doubt, be observed that the US Supreme Court decided today to refuse an application which would have allowed the videotaping of the execution, for use by an anti-death penalty campaigner.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

The campaigner, an inmate, had wanted a tape of the execution made to serve as evidence that death by lethal injection is a cruel and unusual punishment as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In making its ruling the US Supreme Court upheld a US law which apparently forbids the recording of death sentences being carried out. Which, of course, begs the question, why does such a law exist? Is it there to protect those who will be executed, the public, or the system?

Whatever the answer to this one thing is clear, what justice there is to be done in Terre Haute tonight is not to be allowed to be seen being done.

And in these circumstances the mass murderer McVeigh will appear, at least internationally – to those unaccustomed to state administered executions - to be yet another victim of an ethically moribund and antiquated US justice system.

Which, given that McVeigh’s stated reason for bombing the FBI building in Oklahoma was “revenge for the FBI (State) killings at Waco”, contains, Sludge thinks, a rather sublime irony.

Anti©opyright Sludge 2001

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

Contact Alastair Thompson

Top Scoops Headlines

COMMENT

Alastair Thompson: COP29 Erasure Story Update – All's Well That Ends Well

The justification for the changes was the same: There is no current UNFCCC “mandate” for the filming & publication of press conferences other than those of the Presidency, nor of other events held by civil society actors within the complex – even though many events are in fact filmed.

Binoy Kampmark: Thank You For Emitting - The Hypocrisies Of COP29

In many ways, the Baku gathering has all the hallmarks of a criminal syndicate meeting, held under more open conditions. Fair play, then, to the Azerbaijani hosts for working out the climate change racket, taking the lead from Dubai last year.

Alastair Thompson: COP29 Erasure – COP29 Media Center Crippled

The official video record of COP29 is being erased every 12 hours & nobody here knows.

Ramzy Baroud: End Of Empathy - Did The Gaza Genocide Render The UN Irrelevant?

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese is not the first person to express deep frustration with the institutional, let alone the moral collapse of the UN, or the inability of the institution to affect any kind of tangible change, especially during times of great crises.

Ian Powell: Physician Associates - A ‘Solution’ Desperately Searching For A Problem

Ian Powell discusses the controversy over the attempt by US physician associates in New Zealand to be registered under the Health Competence Assurance Act.

Binoy Kampmark: Natural Resources And Palestinian Sovereignty - Israel’s Further Isolation

While disease, hunger and death continue to stalk the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank remains under the thick thumb of occupation, deliberations in foreign fora continue to take place about how to address this hideous state of affairs. These international matters are increasingly bulking a file that is making Israel more more isolated than ever. And this is not an isolation of virtue or admiration.

Join Scoop Pro

Submit News

Become a Member