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President Bush Addresses McVeigh Execution; The International View of the Death Penalty

Aired June 11, 2001 - 11:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the execution of Timothy McVeigh. You're look here at something we've just gotten a snapshot of. It is a late edition here, extra edition of the "Terre Haute Tribune-Star," this newspaper here now proclaiming loudly as you are seeing there: "McVeigh Executed."

You also see above that headline the last lines of what was issued as Timothy McVeigh's last words. He wrote them; he did not say them. This was a quote from an 1875 poem. The last line reads, "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

McVeigh was pronounced dead at 7:14 a.m. Central time. President Bush calls the execution of Timothy McVeigh not vengeance, but justice. Mr. Bush had more to say about McVeigh's punishment shortly after it was carried out this morning.

White House correspondent Kelly Wallace joins with us that -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, aides say President Bush felt it was important for him to make a statement to the country. And so just about 90 minutes after the execution was carried out, a very emotional-looking Mr. Bush came to the briefing room. He described this as the severest sentencing for the gravest of crimes. He referred to McVeigh as a man who met the fate he chose for himself six years ago. And of the families of those 168 victims, he said that the tears and the hurt will never go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For the survivors of the crime and for the families of the dead, the pain goes on. Final punishment of the guilty cannot alone bring peace to the innocent. It cannot recover the loss or balance the scales. And it is not meant to do so. Today, every living person who was hurt by the evil done in Oklahoma City can rest in the knowledge that there has been a reckoning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And the president saying this is a tragedy that cannot be explained, but perhaps can be redeemed by remembering those who grieve, including, the president noting, the family of Timothy McVeigh, mentioning his mother, his father and his sister.

Now, before today, the last time we heard the president talk about this case was last month when he voiced support for the decision of Attorney General John Ashcroft to delay McVeigh's execution after the discovery of those thousands of pages of FBI documents. The president saying then, and saying again today that McVeigh's rights were fully protected and that he had full access to the judicial system -- Mr. Bush noting then that the case of the convicted Oklahoma City bomber, as far as U.S. laws are concerned, is now concluded -- this being the first federal execution in nearly 40 years, it does come at a bit of an awkward time for Mr. Bush, because later today, he heads off to Europe where capital punishment is viewed as barbaric and where it is outlawed in most European nations.

Some protests of the president's strong support of the death penalty are expected -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, thank you, Kelly Wallace, at the White House live this morning -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And with more on that international perspective, let's bring in our Christiane Amanpour who is standing by now in London -- Christiane, hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, hello.

Well, indeed the European Union completely abolishes capital punishment. No European country practices it. And it's a precondition for entering the European Union that any country must abolish capital punishment. So there is distinct anti-death-penalty sentiment here in Europe. While there is no discernible support at all for Timothy McVeigh or the crime he committed, no support either or little support for executing him.

In fact, perhaps the sentiment today was best expressed by the leader of the European Union's Parliamentary Assembly, who said that Timothy McVeigh, -- quote -- "is a cold-blooded murderer who will not be missed. But the way he died was pathetic and wrong, proving the futility" he said, "of the death penalty to acting as the deterrent because," he said, "it gave McVeigh the notoriety that he sought in committing that horrendous crime."

He went on to say that "it is high time the United States changed its attitude towards the death penalty and bring its position in line with the vast majority of the free and democratic world."

Now, there were some scattered protests around Europe today, particularly in Italy. Italy abandoned the death penalty back in 1947. And it has long campaigned against the U.S. death penalty. Amnesty International is one of the leading campaigners against the U.S. death penalty. And it has recently released figures for known executions during the year 2000. And it says that that of the 14,000 -- rather, 1,457 known executions, most of those took place in China, in Saudi Arabia, in the United States and in Iran.

Now, there's been, as I say, a gathering movement against U.S. death penalty. This has really been galvanized with the inauguration of President George W. Bush, because he, as governor of Texas, is considered to have had a rather long record of signing death warrants, some 150 in total, which apparently is a record in recent times. So this movement has been galvanized during this particular president's term in office. And, in fact, during his inauguration, demonstrators in various European capitals brought bags of petition to European embassies -- to U.S. Embassies in European capitals.

Also, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Paris has warned that America's moral standing in Europe is hurt by two things, he said; one the death penalty; and the other the violence in U.S. society -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Christiane, quickly, as the president is heading to Europe on this international trip, how might this complicate that trip? And has meeting with these European leaders besides the protest that you are seeing in the street?

AMANPOUR: Well, this may -- may or may not come up in his meetings with the European leaders. Frankly, he has a lot more on his plate to the deal with when he comes over to Europe, because, as you've just been reporting, this whole business of abandoning the Kyoto climate control -- climate-control protocol, of the whole desire of the United States administration to build a missile shield, the whole issue Balkan peacekeepers. I mean, a whole range of the foreign policy initiatives are being -- under review and being questioned seriously here in Europe.

So there's a lot of question-and-answer, if you like, that's going to go on when the president is here. And he's going to face some stiff resistance by the environmentalists and particularly by people opposed to the missile defense shield.

KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour in London, thanks for that international perspective -- much appreciated.

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