Oklahoma City bomber Mr Timothy McVeigh says he has no regrets over the April 1995 bombing which killed 168 people. Mr Mc Veigh also revealed in a letter published today that author Gore Vidal has agreed to attend his execution.
He told The Observernewspaper, just days before he is to be executed in the United States: "Borrowing a page from US foreign policy, I decided to send a message to a government that was becoming increasingly hostile by bombing a government building and the government employees within that building who represent that government."
He explained that he had waited 'patiently' for two years for justice for the 75 people who died during a botched federal raid on the Davidian cult headquarters at Waco, Texas, in 1993.
But he said his patience ran out: "I reached the decision to go on the offensive - to put a check on government abuse of power, where others had failed in stopping the federal juggernaut run amok. Foremost the bombing was a retaliatory strike, a counter attack."
The bomber has also written to US writer Gore Vidal inviting him to attend his execution, scheduled for May 16th in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Mr Vidal has accepted the invitation, telling the Observer: "McVeigh regarded the (US) government as having committed a number of crimes. He was a highly decorated soldier in the Gulf war who became disillusioned about how it treated Iraqis and its own troops, through the use of chemicals.
"He is very intelligent and well read, particularly on constitutional law, and as I read it, acted out of a sense of justified grievance against the government. I would have preferred it if he had chosen an empty building."
McVeigh wrote to namesake reporter Tracy McVeigh, who said: "McVeigh wrote the letter to me a month after the Observer'sLife magazine published an account of his life that included photographs of him and his family. Calling me `my distant relative', he joked: "'The pictures were far better that most people have used.'"
PA