"Relatives of the Oklahoma City bombing victims were upset that the Bureau of Prisons will permit Timothy McVeigh to name celebrity author Gore Vidal as one of his "friend" witnesses to his execution. Vidal intends to write an article for Vanity Fair magazine.

"Were letting this thing get so out of hand," said Tom Kight, whose stepdaughter died in the April 19, 1995, explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. "It's just ludicrous."

According to the Bureau of Prisons' "Execution Protocol," McVeigh is permitted to designate six witnesses, specifically listed as one spiritual adviser, two attorneys and "three adult friends or relatives."

McVeigh, who has selected only five, will not have a spiritual adviser or a family member present on May 16. In addition to two lawyers, he has identified as witnesses Lou Michel, the co-author of a recent book on McVeigh, and Vidal. Rob Nigh Jr., one of McVeigh's attorneys, declined to name the fifth witness.

When contacted at his home in Italy yesterday and asked if he was a "friend" of McVeigh, Vidal said: "It's difficult to be a friend or family member if I don't know the man."

Vidal, 75, said he and McVeigh have exchanged letters since 1998. And while the author condemned the bombing, he indicated that he is sympathetic to McVeigh's skepticism toward the federal government.

Daniel Dunne, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons, said that, when it comes to witness selections made by inmates, "the primary focus is that they would have an established relationship and that there be no safety concerns raised in having that person as a witness."

Dunne added that the protocol does not define "friend" and that the exchange of letters between McVeigh and Vidal is considered a prior relationship. In addition, Dunne noted that because this will be the first federal execution in 38 years, policy is still evolving.

Paul Rothstein, a law professor at Georgetown University, cautioned that to deprive McVeigh of his choice of witnesses could backfire on the government by giving credibility to MeVeighs view of the government as oppressive.

But McVeigh's wishes matter little to the relatives of his 168 victims.

"If he has no friends and doesnt not want his family there, then those seats should go empty," said Kathleen Treanor, whose 4-year-old daughter was killed.

Said Kight: "They should stick with the guidelines as written. There should be no exception for him."

Oklahoma Gov. Frank A. Keating (R) said the government should not bend the policy because that is simply unfair and would suggest an upside-down policy that is not sustainable. "BOP should not give one inch of latitude to someone like Tim McVeigh."

In addition to McVeigh's witnesses, the government will accommodate 10 media witnesses, 10 victim witnesses and a limited number of government witnesses at the execution in the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind.

Vidal concedes that he is going, in part, to see the circus-like atmosphere that is expected. Vidal, whose role at the execution was initially reported in yesterday's Daily Oklahoman, said he first heard from McVeigh after McVeigh read his artide in Vanity Fair titled "The War at Home," in which Vidal takes the position that the government is trampling on the Bill of Rights. The author said he found McVeigh to be well-read and "intelligent."

"I'm interested in his view of justice--if that's what he was operating on," Vidal said. He said he agreed with McVeigh on certain subjects, such as the government's botched raid on a religious sect near Waco, Tex., in which 80 people died, and the siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in which federal agents killed the wife and son of separatist Randy Weaver.

McVeigh has said that he bombed the federal building to avenge these government actions.

Vidal has a particular interest in the story, he said, because his grandfather, Thomas Gore, was the first U.S. senator from Oklahoma. "I assure you that if this were about Salt Lake City, I would not be doing this," Vidal said.

Vidal described himself as "fanatically anti-death penalty" and said he expects the execution to be "awful." Nonetheless, he said, he is going to watch McVeigh die to "bear witness" as a historian" (Lois Romano, The Washington Post, May 7, 2001).