Even though I am almost always opposed to the death penalty, I cannot say I am pleased Zacarias Moussaoui has been given a life sentence. I am worried. I do not know or care if he is schizophrenic (as his defense said), but I do know the wannabe 9-11 murderer is infected by a virulent mental disorder that tells him mass terror actions and assaults on innocent people merit a place in paradise. As we all have seen, this particular mental disorder - Islamism - is highly communicable and results in megadeath. So Moussaoui must not be allowed to interact with his fellow prisoners in any way lest they be released after he has infected them with his homicidal mind-cult. I know some will find this some kind of suppression of his human rights, but the prison authorities should look at it as a public health measure. You wouldn’t put someone with the Plague with the other prisoners either.
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23 Comments
1. Anthony (Los Angeles):I agree he should be isolated; the penetration of our prisons by radical Islam is frightening, and Moussaoui could become a leader to them.
On the other hand, and even though I support the death penalty in cases of murder and treason, sentencing Moussaoui to death would have been the wrong thing to do. While I have no doubt that he’s an Islamist maniac who’d be happy to incinerate a city full of people “for the glory of Allah,” the fact is that his crimes were ones of omission, not commission. He failed to tell beforehand what he knew of the 9-11 plot, but he didn’t actually carry it out and kill anyone. Executing criminals for the things they don’t do, rather than what they do, is a line we shouldn’t cross.
May 3, 2006 - 2:29 pm 2. Kevin Peters:Roger:
But that is the problem. If authorities try to isolate him the ACLU will rush to his rescue and sue to get him into the general population and retention of his rights. And of course he will become a prison hero and begin recruiting for the cause that put him in jail. Plus the rest of world will start calling him a political prisoner and he will be a poster boy for Al Queda recruitment all over the middle east and beyond. How long before Al Jeezera does it’s ten part interview and life story? We will regret this decision. How long before some American citizen abroad is kidnapped with the threat of sawing off his head unless M is released?
May 3, 2006 - 2:31 pm 3. OJ:Just as with Dahmer, if Moussaui gets released into the general population, I doubt he will last to see the sun rise…
May 3, 2006 - 2:39 pm 4. Curmudgeon:I really think we’re going to lose this war. If that puke didn’t deserve to die, then we might as well surrender. And spare me the rhetoric about how harsh his incarceration will be. To paraphrase Sideshow Bob, sooner or later, a Democrat will be in office, and then he’ll be free.
May 3, 2006 - 2:39 pm 5. tim maguire:I think OJ has it right–if Moussaui goes into general population, he won’t survive a day.
My own preference is that every prominant jihadist live a good long life in a cell with HDTV from which he can watch us dismantle his movement.
May 3, 2006 - 2:49 pm 6. Kevin Peters:Roger:
May 3, 2006 - 2:59 pm 7. cas6039:He will have the muslim prison gangs to protect him. As he walked out he said “America lost, I won.” We won’t get any credit for keeping him alive. Watch the negative attacks that will spin out about this prisoner for the next 40 years.
There’s no reason for him to worry about martyrdom in prison; the Islamic Prison Chaplains in US prisons are predominately Wahhabi, finanaced by Saudi oil money, and just as radical as he is; he’ll fit right in. See this recent article:
May 3, 2006 - 7:32 pm 8. TomTom:http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/120venul.asp
ZM’s (unwanted) lawyers argued against the death penalty because he was schizophrenic, brown, abused by his father,had a hard life, etc., etc.
May 3, 2006 - 9:35 pm 9. Gary Rosen:While he’s bizarre, I read nothing convincing that he is psychotic.
And, even if he were,it is past time to revisit the M’Naughton Rule: it is OK to execute white males (McVeigh) but not ZM? Rational white men didn’t fly the planes.
I’m normally opposed to the death penalty and wouldn’t have minded his life sentence *if* he were just shut up in a hole somewhere and we never heard from him again. But already (according to Little Green Footballs) his family has lawyers who will try to spring him and France, unbelievably but all too characteristically, is offering him consular protection. We’ll never hear the end of it. We should have toasted him.
May 3, 2006 - 11:13 pm 10. ic:He will have the life of his co-religous who planned the first World Trade bombing killing six. (I forgot his name.) He’s in a cell in solitary confinement somewhere counting his days. He was not allowed to watch TV, he had no idea of 911.
“his family has lawyers who will try to spring him to France”. I don’t think so. Chirac won’t dare. The French are not stupid, they cooperate with us behind the scene. Their politicians will wash their collective hands. You can only extradite a suspect for trial in your country, you cannot imprison a person who has committed crime in another country, but has done nothing illegal in your country. Thus, if Moussaoui is released to France, he will go free. The French cannot afford to have him running around France agitating the French “youths”.
May 4, 2006 - 1:49 am 11. Steve M:I was surprised by the decision but think it’s a good one. As a Limey, I think this sends the right message about American civilisation to the rest of the world.
I’m also sure that the rest of his life will be hell. Good. I hope it’s a long one.
May 4, 2006 - 2:21 am 12. scott:There is no general population at the “Supermax” prison he is going to.Inmates spend 23 hours a day in their cells,one hour in a small courtyard,hands cuffed behind their backs and accompanied by 2 guards.After a while of this,I’ve read,even the most swaggering inmates are mewling.Sounds good to me:ZM can spend the rest of his life wishing that he had been executed.Maybe he can think about those virgins in paradise.Heh.
May 4, 2006 - 6:15 am 13. Jamie Irons:I’ve driven by the Supermax in Florence, Colorado a number of times; even from the road, it is an impressive looking place. I don’t think Moussaui is going to have much fun there.
But I still think it was a huge mistake to let him live.
(I’m a supporter of the death penalty for only the most heinous crimes.)
Jamie Irons
May 4, 2006 - 7:23 am 14. rosignol:But that is the problem. If authorities try to isolate him the ACLU will rush to his rescue and sue to get him into the general population and retention of his rights.
Yay for the ACLU!
I generally prefer that a man being given a death sentence actually be sentenced to death, with this guy, I’ll take what I can get.
May 4, 2006 - 7:44 am 15. paul:I don’t think that life in a Supermax was a bad outcome. The only thing missing is that he be forced to pray five times a day, every day, for the rest of his life. As Churchill pointed out in “The River War” this was considered a severe punishment, even among the followers of the Mahdi, if required for just eighteen months.
May 4, 2006 - 7:45 am 16. vegetius:Not only do we pay for his multi-million dollar trial, we now get to maintain him for the rest of his life while the court system is clogged with his appeals. This is humane?? Humane to whom??
May 4, 2006 - 7:54 am 17. Tyler Simons:This is civilized?? Is this kind of civilization worth preserving?? We are at war. War means fighting ;fighting means killing.
This reminds me of Princip(Sp?) the guy who who shot the Archduke Ferdinand. Princip got life in prison. The prisoners of the consequences of his actions got death in the trenches by the millions. This is absurd.
Islamism - is highly communicable and results in megadeath.
It’s spelled Megadeth.
May 4, 2006 - 11:26 am 18. Rosemary:Too angry to comment…
May 4, 2006 - 11:39 am 19. Kevin Peters:Roger:
May 4, 2006 - 11:41 am 20. dclydew:Everyone should get prepared for the bait and switch that’s coming. Super Max is touted as a far more civilized and harsher penalty then execution. And that is a solid argument. But it won’t take long before our super max system is going to be held up by the “Human Rights” industry as an example of why America is the greatest Human Rights violater in the world and many of the pundits who are pushing for this punishment will join the harangue. Will France try to get Moussaui released? No, but they will join the worlwide effort to paint Mous as a victim of America’s cruelty. I would say it will be about two years before the New York Times and the ACLU sue so Moussaui can be “heard’ and about 5 years before someone tries to get the super max system in front of the Hague. We are going to get beat up with this jerk for decades to come. Eventually college kids will be wearing Moussaui T-Shirts, just you wait.
What happens everytime an invasion of some form of dictatorship is considered. “No, that is uncivilized, economic sanctions are better.” Then after two to three years the eventual death and misery caused by sanctions, in the old day sanctions were called sieges and it is just another slower, sometimes crueler form of war, comes about and the sanction first crowd becomes the “how can you let these children suffer” crowd. The intellectual hypocrasy is stunning.
Anyone who asks to die should be listened to. If his religion is right, he would get to go enjoy the afterlife (and who would we be to stop him?). If Catholics are right, he’ll be tortured in worse ways than even Saddam could have dreamed up (and who are we to stop him?). If the athiests are right, then he’ll just be dead and well thats ok too, as far as I’m concerned.
I don’t think the government did a very good job with the trial (this seems to be the case more and more often). In fact, if M had kept his mouth shut I would understand the life imprisonment (he didn’t actually kill anyone). However, if the defendant asks to die, what the hell?! One less tailless monkey running around trying to mark his territory is no big loss.
May 5, 2006 - 12:13 pm 21. Parker:Would that someone would quarantine everyone infected with that most American of mental illnesses, evangelical protestantism, too.
May 7, 2006 - 3:59 pm 22. vet222:One thing that I really like about this website is the normal tone of discussion, the higher level of intelligent discussion. There are so few in-your-face religious bigots like Parker that show up on so many other sites.
I suppose the life and death nature of this topic was too much for Parker’s fragile psychological structure. Massoui want to kill you too Parker, buck up.
May 7, 2006 - 7:38 pm 23. wooler:My question is why the masses choose to blog their outrage when the ACLU fights for the rights of prisoners over law-abiding citizens. Why not rally in the streets in front of the courts where it would really do some good?
In actuality, Moussaui’s won’t have any fewer civil liberties than any other prisoner in a supermax. With a little bit of luck a patriotic prisoner will grant him his wish of martyrdom. Does any American believe he is going to ‘paradise?’ Wouldn’t it be fun to see the look on his face when he realizes there aren’t any virgins in hell?
May 9, 2006 - 12:40 pm