By the time I reread the Internet version of this column, Timothy McVeigh will be dead. Assuming the lack of an eleventh hour stay, the 'American Terrorist' will be lethally injected at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. He is the first person to be executed by the federal government since 1963. Other than the historic rarity of the event, what did we learn from Timothy McVeigh's actions? an executed SUIT column by Chris Jungle1. The biggest danger to America is itself--Even as President Bush touted the need for an anti-ballistic missile defense system (Star Wars to you and me), it should have been clear that the multi-million dollar defense plan would not have prevented an American vigilante from driving a Ryder truck up to a federal building. The fall of Rome was the fault of Romans. The same will occur with the United States if enough of our citizens decide to revolt.

2. The military needs to realize what they're teaching--McVeigh was far from an intelligent individual. If left at home with the Anarchist cookbook, he would have probably blown himself up, but he was a soldier who was trained for combat by the best in the business. The more correctly you teach people to kill, the more likely they will actually kill. Especially if you teach a person to kill and then discard the person as a has-been veteran who is no longer useful. The military needs to make sure their abandoned veterans develop some debilitating drug habit or catch anthrax before they can enact revenge on their government for getting screwed over.

3. The government will always deal the deck in their favor--Wen Ho Lee, Waco, Ruby Ridge, Richard Jewel, spy planes over China, submarines surfacing in Japan. The government will never admit fault with its procedures, even when it is blatantly obvious that they are in the wrong. Our government is never wrong, never sorry, and never responsible. Blowing up a federal building does nothing to change this procedure. If the government is out to get you, they will cheat, lose evidence, create facts out of thin air, and anything else they want to make sure they get the results they want. I understand the mistrust of the government when it comes to personal matters, but lashing out only brings down the hammer. The Unabomber would still be in a shack in Montana reading Joseph Conrad books if he had sent angry letters instead of bombs. If you despise the government, run to the hills and avoid contact as much as possible. They will let you stay there.

4. Martyrdom is no excuse--Jesus, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy Jr., Abraham Lincoln. These are the martyrs we know and love. We don't add David Koresh, John Whitmore or any other vigilante to the list. Timothy McVeigh thinks he made his point, and he is going to die for it. Unless his point is to prove idiot civilians can destroy as effectively as the military, I can't fathom what he wanted to accomplish. He will go down as a mass murderer, next to Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. Somewhere along the way in life, everyone needs to realize it is better to live in quiet anonymity than perform public destruction.

5. Life goes on--Oklahoma City has their memorial, the government has their man, and the public has gone on with their lives. No matter your beliefs are, violence begets violence begets violence begets violence. Just ask the Israelis and Palestinians. No matter what McVeigh thought he was proving, no one gets past the number 168. That's the number of people he killed to 'prove a point.' He says he's sorry about the children dying (aren't we all). He says he only wanted to kill cops (no real people), but real people are everywhere. Even in federal buildings. It's extremely difficult to rationalize murder for a cause during war time, and practically impossible during peace time.

The real lesson is that no matter how disgruntled, abandoned or angry you are at the actions of your government, it does not merit any action that abruptly ends the lives of innocent people. You taught us a lesson, Timothy McVeigh. You taught us what not to do and how not to be. Congratulations, you're dead now.

Chris Jungle is not interested in watching a tape of McVeigh execution.