Timothy McVeigh, the most notorious American terrorist in history was put to death by lethal injection yesterday. McVeigh was sentenced to die for masterminding the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murray Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 168 people were killed in the blast.

McVeigh has said that he committed his crime in retaliation for the U.S. Government's 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compund in Waco, Texas that resulted in the death of over 80 followers of religious leader David Koresh, including Koresh himself.

McVeigh remained unrepentant to the very end, refusing to express remorse for his deeds and referring to the numerous children killed in the explosion as "collateral damage."

McVeigh waived his last words and instead chose to present a copy of William Ernest Henley's 1875 poem, "Invictus."

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.