BUSH hopes McVeigh execution ``brings closure'' to family of victims

<br>WASHINGTON (AP) _ President George W. Bush hopes the May 16 execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh ``will bring closure'' to family and friends of the victims. <br><br>White House

Thursday, May 3rd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President George W. Bush hopes the May 16 execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh ``will bring closure'' to family and friends of the victims.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush supported Attorney General John Aschroft's decision to allow the execution to be broadcast via close-circuit television for about 300 family and friends.

``This has been a terribly difficult moment for hundreds and thousands of people in Oklahoma and, of course, all Americans. And he does hope that for those that lost their loved ones in that bombing, this will bring closure,'' Fleischer said at his daily briefing.

He would not say whether Bush supported the public viewing of all executions.

``Those are issues that are determined by the attorney general in accordance with the laws. And that's a question best addressed to the attorney general,'' Fleischer said.

McVeigh, 33, will be executed at the federal prison in Indiana for the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people. It was the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil.