Here’s a question for you: should someone who requests the death penalty be prohibited from receiving it?
From Friday’s New York Times:
[Khalid Shaikh Mohammed], the former senior operations chief for Al Qaeda, said he would represent himself and dared the Guantánamo tribunal to put him to death.
“This is what I want,” he told a military judge here, in his first appearance to answer war crimes charges for the terrorism attacks that killed 2,973 people and set America on a path to war.
“I’m looking to be martyr for long time,” he said in serviceable English, improved, perhaps, by five years of custody, including three in secret C.I.A. prisons.
I don’t think so. If the man wants to be a martyr, by all means make him a martyr.
I think I agree. Though I’d much prefer to say screw him and stick him in solitary in some federal prison in South Dakota… or better yet make him Traficant’s cell mate.
In general, I say that those longing for death should be granted their wish.
In this case however, I think that KSM execution is marketing gold for Al Qaeda and assorted nut jobs. Why not show our capacity for mercy by putting him Leavenworth?
its a dangerous precedent…if society allows you to put yourself to death, the Micks’ attendence is gonna plummet…
I’m pro-execution. I think it’s far more just to execute capital offenders than make the community they damaged pay for their incarceration. The only problem with this is that, with the number of appeals these scumbags get, they end up wasting the taxpayers’ money anyway. So I think it’s great if someone wants to be executed. That way, everybody wins.
As far as Al Qaeda, let them rally around it. If they believe it is a glory to die for allah (or whatever), then let us all see to it that they each get some glory!