Despite its seeming logic, many people are surprisingly uneasy about the execution. Still others have expressed the concern that by executing him, on the date of his choosing, we are simply doing what he wants us to do, and we should naturally resist any of this murderer's wishes. Indeed, what he wants us to do is to render himself a bona fide martyr to the murderous fringe of the radical right in this country. Perhaps less appreciated, the day of the attack was also the scheduled execution date of another right-wing murderer, Richard Wayne Snell. And it was the date of the 1992 attack by federal marshals on the home of Randy Weaver, a right-wing tax resister, whose wife and son were subsequently killed by federal gunfire.
Martyrs can feel themselves rewarded by the promise of immortality.
As a cold-blooded death machine, McVeigh is America's Hitler or Eichmann. Even some passionate opponents of the death penalty have hesitated to raise objections to his execution. We too believe he has forfeited his right to a free life. We do not think so. In moral terms, in taking his life, we become too much like him.