As Timothy McVeigh approaches his day of execution tomorrow, he has been dieting so that he will look like a "concentration camp victim" in postmortem photographs, according to jail diaries kept by his fellow inmates on death row in Indiana.
Diary entries posted on the Web site Death Row Speaks (www.deathrowspeaks.net) throw light on the Oklahoma City bomber's state of mind and conditions inside the federal death row buildings in the small town of Terre Haute.
Jeff Paul, 24, who is facing the death penalty for robbing and shooting dead an 82-year-old man on a mountain path in Arkansas, observed in an entry dated May 25 that the security precautions around McVeigh had been stepped up, with waste paper from his cell being shredded.
"Apparently, a staff member was caught either smuggling things out of prison with his [McVeigh's] name on it or trying to sell some things of his on the Internet. Tim [McVeigh] is not sure which but is interested in finding out," Paul wrote.
"They put him in a cell with constant video surveillance a while back and instituted a policy that anytime he comes out of his cell he'll have at least three officers present, on top of the handcuffs and chains. The video bothers him to no end, though he was under this type of thing before. He couldn't care less about the three-man policy."
Officials in Terre Haute failed to return calls about the security precautions, but officials at the bureau of prisons said that they believed the Death Row Speaks diaries to be genuine.
The diaries consist mainly of the inmates' personal reflections on their past and their jail conditions, but two of them, Paul and David Hammer, make occasional observations about their notorious prison mate.
Paul reported that "for a long time he [McVeigh] was on a vegetable diet that comes in a special tray. I asked him why and he s aid it was because he wanted to look like a concentration camp victim for the postmortem photos."
Earlier in May, David Hammer wrote: "Tim is holding up well. In the most simplistic of explanations, he is a soldier on a mission of his own choosing.
"He appears to be in a `lock-n-load' mode. His expressions and his demeanour have changed: He appears to be focused, very serious and stoic."
Hammer, who is facing execution for strangling his cellmate in a Pennsylvania prison two years ago, wrote: "My friend Tim is a troubled and misguided man. We disagree on most issues, but he is also a kind, loving and caring person with a quick smile, keen wit and a sense of humor. I will miss him and I continue to pray for his soul."
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2