MCVEIGH PORTRAYED AS TERRORIST, VICTIM OF SYSTEM AS TRIAL OPENS.

Byline: Michael Fleeman Associated Press 

Seething with rage against his own government, Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in a twisted plot to spark a second American revolution, a prosecutor said in opening statements Thursday.

``McVeigh liked to consider himself a patriot,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Hartzler said. ``Our forefathers did not fight innocent women and children. . . . They didn't plant bombs and run away wearing earplugs.''

Jurors listened grim-faced as Hartzler, who has multiple sclerosis, leaned forward in his wheelchair and spoke softly about the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil.

``It was an act of terror intended to serve selfish political purposes,'' Hartzler said. ``The truck was there to impose the will of Timothy McVeigh on the rest of America . . . by murdering innocent men, women and children in hopes of seeing blood flowing in the streets of America.''

But in equally forceful terms, McVeigh attorney Stephen Jones declared in his opening statement: ``My client is innocent.''

Jones accused the government of trying to elevate McVeigh's political beliefs - which Jones said many share - into a motive for mass murder. And he lashed out at scientists at the beleaguered FBI lab for practicing ``forensic prostitution'' by slanting scientific work in favor of the prosecution.

Making no effort to soften the emotional power of the bombing, he began by spending six minutes reading off the names of each of the 168 people killed when the April 19, 1995, truck bomb tore apart the nine-story building.

As Jones solemnly read the names, bombing victims' relatives quietly cried in their special section of the packed second-floor courtroom.

``It was upsetting,'' Marsha Kight, whose grown daughter died in the blast, said later. ``It tore my heartstrings.''

McVeigh, wearing a plaid shirt and khakis, showed little emotion in court. He leaned forward to listen, sometimes resting his head on his folded hands as the prosecutor portrayed the 29-year-old Gulf War veteran as a selfish, deluded coward.

Hartzler said that on the day of the bombing McVeigh was wearing a T-shirt that bore the Thomas Jefferson quote: ``The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.''

Hartzler contended that McVeigh's hatred of the federal government was fueled by what he saw as the government slaughter of innocents at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, two years to the day before the bombing.

``He told people the government deliberately murdered people,'' the prosecutor said, adding that McVeigh described Waco as the ``government's declaration of war against the people.''

McVeigh was arrested on traffic charges 90 minutes after the explosion, and when federal agents searched his car they found slips of statements quoting ``The Turner Diaries,'' a 1978 fictional account of an attack on a federal building that is eerily similar to the Oklahoma City bombing. Hartzler said the book ``served as a blueprint.''

McVeigh planned the bombing for months, the prosecutor said, and hoped it would rival the American Revolution's first shots, which also were fired on an April 19 - in 1775.

``He envisioned he would bring liberty to this nation,'' Hartzler said. ``Well, this was not just talk for McVeigh. He was ready for action. He knew from literature how to make a bomb and how to get the ingredients.''

In a new revelation, Hartzler said federal agents later found a file in his sister's computer that ``McVeigh obviously wanted them to read.'' It was marked ``ATF READ.''

``You'll see the chilling words, `All you tyrannical m----- f------ will swing in the wind some day for your treasonous actions against the Constitution. . . . Die, you spineless, cowardice bastards.''

Hartzler said McVeigh and co-defendant Terry Nichols, who is to be tried later, ``became friends in part because they both shared a distaste for the federal government.''

In detail, the prosecutor explained how they worked together to get materials to build the fuel oil and fertilizer bomb. He said they bought the nitromethane fuel at a raceway, 2 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer at a farm supply store and stole five blasting caps from a nearby rock quarry.

To get the other ingredients, Hartzler said, they ``picked up the phone book and let their fingers do the walking.''

In the fall of 1994, McVeigh showed his plans to Army buddy Michael Fortier and his wife in their kitchen, drawing diagrams and stacking Campbell's soup cans to show how to arrange the barrels in the truck for maximum destruction.

The prosecutor said Fortier, who pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for his testimony, will testify that McVeigh compared the building's occupants to the storm troopers in the movie, ``Star Wars.''

McVeigh told Fortier, ``Even if they are innocent, they work for an evil system and have to be killed,'' Hartzler said.

Hartzler also briefly addressed the potentially weakest part of the prosecution's case, acknowledging the FBI crime lab has come under criticism but asserting that: ``None of the people who have been criticized for their work at the FBI lab will be witnesses in this case.''

Jones' presentation offered none of the elaborate theories of international conspiracy that he had floated before the trial. Instead, he focused on what he said were the shortcomings of the government's evidence and the contradictions among witnesses, including those who said they saw McVeigh rent the truck used in the bombing.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Prosecutor Joseph Hartzler opens his case.

(2) The defense's Stephen Jones makes a point.

Associated Press