McVeigh Shows No Remorse

March 26, 2001 -- Timothy McVeigh, scheduled to be executed on May 16 for the worst mass murder in American history, shows no remorse for the Oklahoma City bombing in a series of prison letters to be published in the May issue of Esquire magazine.

"I have nothing against the citizens of Oklahoma … except the continuing woe-is-me crowd," he wrote. Through letters mostly written from the federal "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colo., McVeigh corresponded with former Oklahoma City weekly newspaper reporter Phil Bacharach from 1996 to 1999.

During that time, McVeigh was sentenced to death for his role in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City that left 168 dead. Bacharach is now a deputy press secretary for Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating.

McVeigh's letters, none of which directly addressed the Oklahoma City bombing, reveal an obsession with what he calls a coverup of the 1993 government raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.

While making no mention of the 19 children he killed in the Oklahoma blast, McVeigh accuses "liars" in the FBI and Justice Department of hiding "pictures of the charred remains of children's bodies" after the Waco compound burned.

"The public never saw the Davidians' home video of their cutebabies, adorable children, loving mothers, or protective fathers,"McVeigh wrote in one letter. " … Therefore, they didn't care whenthese families died a slow, torturous death at the hands of theFBI."

Survivors React

Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and 73 followers died in the Waco assault.

Prosecutors believe that anger toward the federal government led McVeigh, a decorated Gulf War veteran, to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma City on the two-year anniversary of the fiery Waco raid.

Jannie Coverdale of Oklahoma City, who lost grandsons Aaron and Elijah in the blast, said she can't understand McVeigh's mindset.

"People criticize us because we want Tim executed but this is the only answer," she said. "If Tim ever gets a chance he'd do the same thing again because as far as he's concerned he hasn't done anything wrong."

The Oklahoma City National Memorial Center museum now stands at the site of the Murrah building. Last month, President Bush spoke at the memorial's dedication.

Dr. Paul Heath, a survivor of the Oklahoma City blast who also heads a survivors' group, said the memorial stands as testament to the strength of the community, not its weakness

"The goodness in people's lives that were in the building and the rescue effort and the community support, not only for us but the Constitution, speaks louder than Timothy McVeigh can ever speak," Heath said.

McVeigh is delusional, he said, and can't comprehend the enormity of his act. "There's no way that he can ever even know how much pain he's caused by the act itself, but I hope he does," he said.

"If Timothy McVeigh complains that 'woe is me' describes the typical survivor family member that was in the Oklahoma City bombing, he's sadly misinformed," Heath said.

McVeigh, 32, scheduled to die on May 16 in the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., would be the first person executed by the U.S. government since 1963.

— ABCNEWS Radio contributed to this report.