| No death penalty for Moussaoui |
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| Written by Frank McGovern -Argonaut | ||||
| Thursday, 04 May 2006 | ||||
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When it comes to the stock talking-point biggies, the death penalty is one I’m not particularly emotionally invested in. Maybe it has to do with political osmosis derivative of years in southern Idaho. I understand, and agree with, the arguments against capital punishment: we’re virtually the only developed nation still killing criminals, it doesn’t act as a deterrent, it’s patently un-Christian (well, un-New Testament) and, most importantly, our justice system is flawed and innocent people are being killed. On the other hand, I don’t lose sleep over some open-and-shut mass murderer, serial rapist or child killer getting gassed out. This semi-ambiguity aside, the jury in the Zacarias Moussaoui case decided Wednesday the terrorist in question should live out the remainder of his life in prison rather than be put to death. Good for them. Not that there are many people more deserving of a federally-sanctioned ride on the old “injected with sodium thiopental, paralytic catalyst pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride until he is dead” express. He is entirely open and unrepentant about the part he failed to play in the murder of thousands of innocents. Moussaoui is also one of the few individuals who represents both a menace to society and a clear and present danger to the security of our nation. But we shouldn’t kill him. The government views the jury’s decision as a “setback” in the war on terror, but it shouldn’t. For one, we are supposed to be better than the terrorists by transcending their barbarism. I know it’s been said a lot, but poisoning a guy for killing ours doesn’t feel like justice, it feels like revenge. Not that our secret and wholly un-secret torture chambers around the world are a beacon of American democratic ascendancy, but we have to keep trying. If Hollywood is at all a micro-manifestation of American values, it’s reflective of our need to be both fast and furious. I mean this in both the super-sweet NOS-ed up ride context and that of a societal preoccupation with quick fixes. The bad guy has to die at the end, and, while it’s tidy, it isn’t necessarily justice. That being said, Moussaoui deserves to revenged upon. The best way to facilitate this vengeance? How about a life sentence in an American prison. Hasn’t anyone seen “Oz” or any of those prison movies? Except for in “Goodfellas,” prison sucks. Moussaoui is a foreign national who admittedly wants to destroy our country. I don’t think he’s going to have a great time. On death row, he would enjoy Hannibal Lector-like isolation. When finally needled off his mortal coil many thousands of dollars and appeals later, the transformation from most-ineffectual 9-11 player (Richard Reid notwithstanding) to martyr would be tax-funded. Remember, Moussaoui was prepared and fully expecting to die anyway. He and the quick-witted shoe-bomber were going to keystone-cops their way into a plane and attempt to crash it into the White House (even though Bush was in Florida failing to make decisions). That’s what suicide bombers do is explode, and while it serves a gene-pool chlorination function, death doesn’t really seem to frighten exploders too much. In fact, to the martycidally-minded, drifting off to five grams of sodium pentothal and having your heart stopped while you’re under must glow in comparison to the alternative. He doesn’t deserve to get high before he dies. Upon hearing the verdict, Moussaoui reportedly clapped his hands and “taunted” the jury, saying, “America, you lost, I won.” It’s just that sort of sinister eloquence that really underscores how lucky we are to have caught him. We did win, at least a little, by not killing Zacarias Moussaoui and thereby surmounting the initial and understandable response to evil: doing likewise. Now that being said, if he were to live an anxious (and likely impure) decade or two in general population on Riker’s Island before being shanked with a sharpened spoon in a shower, I wouldn’t lose much sleep over that either.  Add as favorites (40) | Views: 1254
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