Hasan to Face Death Penalty

[question everything]

Source: WSJ

Military prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for alleged Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was formally charged Thursday with 13 counts of premeditated murder, according to a senior Army officer familiar with the matter. The last execution of an active-duty serviceman took place in 1961.

Despite evidence that Maj. Hasan had contact with a radical Muslim cleric, the decision to file the murder charges against him in military court, rather than in a civilian one, reflects the Army's belief that the suspect acted alone and without any assistance from foreign or domestic terror groups.

After interviewing hundreds of witnesses and examining material, including a computer taken from his apartment, investigators believe that he acted without the knowledge or guidance of any terror groups, Army officials and others familiar with the probe said.

An Army official said in a separate interview that military prosecutors will seek to have Maj. Hasan put to death by lethal injection. "Given the magnitude of this crime, it's the only punishment that should even be considered," the officer said.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125804778767245615.html

---

I am still against the death penalty. Let him rot in jail for the rest of his life.

[jobycom]

1. More blood will make it all better. nt

[Rhiannon12866]

2. They've found the perfect poster boy for the death penalty.

However, I agree with you. :-(

[EFerrari]

3. No kidding. n/t

[depakid]

4. No surprise- and he'll get it, too

In some respects, it's the merciful thing to do in this case.

[proteus_lives]

5. Good.

He deserves to die for his crimes.

[Jack Fate]

6. I'm not against killing as long as the right people get killed

And this guy is certainly among the right people!

Capital punishment can legally in no way be equated with murder, as some here would have you believe. The only thing in this that I'm against is the lethal injection. Thugs like this should get a piece of rope around their necks.

[EFerrari]

9. State murder is cool because it's legal?

Good thinking.

[Jack Fate]

12. Legal killings are by definition not murder.

Learn the difference, you anti-death penalty kook. I am adamantly for the death penalty where appropriate, and so is our President. This guy will fry (well, not literally), and rightly so!

[EFerrari]

20. Well, no. Just like slavery was still slavery when it was legal

and segregation was still segregation and anti-feminism was still anti-feminism when that was legal.

But enjoy your blood lust. People need a hobby!

[geek tragedy]

35. So, is prison slavery or kidnapping? nt

[The Stranger]

39. It's imPRISONment. -- which is also a crime if performed in certain contexts.

Next question.

[maglatinavi]

27. murder

murder people to avoid people murderers ...:sarcasm: :rant:

[Fearless]

32. Agreed.

:eyes:

[Jack Fate]

41. Why do you hate Obama?

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[KamaAina]

49. Well, he may fry (or be poisoned), but

pizza is baked.

[izquierdista]

54. Legal killings

Killings are legal in the same way that shit is edible. Why don't you evolve above the level of rabbits?

[question everything]

55. Don't bother. This person is no longer on DU

Just another example of the arbitrariness of banning people here. He had only 15 posts, I searched and read most of them and he seemed to be pretty much in line with DU orthodoxy. Yes, even the DP.

(Don't know why these things happen to em. I start a thread, then coming back some hours later and someone, with fewer than 20 posts who is not that outrageous, has been banned)

:banghead:

[Turborama]

14. His intention was to get killed while carrying out the mass murders

If he's executed we'll be finishing off his job for him. That would be stupid.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

18. how dare you speak truth to stupid!

Has anyone ever stopped to wonder why Israel - while technically having the death penalty for "crimes against the jewish people" doesn't execute Islamic terrorists?

[question everything]

50. Actually, the death penatly is only against the Nazis and their allies

This is how Eichmann was executed.

The reason is more practical - without a death penalty the other fighters may consider surrendering instead of fighting to the death, taking Israeli soldiers with them.

And... having terrorists in prison can be used to trade for Israelis.

[SkyDaddy7]

33. Exactly!

All these Jihadist should be kept alive and forced to live in a cage like the animals they are! I am almost totally against the death penalty especially when states like Texas kill people they know were innocent...BUT! When I see these monsters who kidnap and rape children then kill them my death penalty hat goes back on! Because unlike the Jihadist these child raping monsters do not want to die.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Toots]

36. Well I certainly won't follow you

Life has very little value for you it would appear. Have you always been so pleasant or are you just trying to "act tough" like Republicans are so fond of doing?

[prolesunited]

43. Yep, just like McVeigh

Letting these people live would be more punishment. And sounds like Hasan is paralyzed, which might cramp his religious practice

[question everything]

47. As many have stated here a lot better than I can: it is not about the criminals;

it is about us, a society. Execution is barbaric and ours is the only industrialized country - dare I say "civilized?" - that still uses this form of punishment.

Plus, the usual reasons: it does not prevent future murders, it does not bring closure to the families of the victims and, not in this case but in others - innocent people have been condemned to death.

[Turborama]

7. Misleading title, it makes like it's been decided already.

Isn't this ultimately the Commander in Chief's decision?

[Thothmes]

29. I do not think so.

As with prosecution of any Federal crime, he has limited influence on the system. If the guy is convicted and sentenced to death, he has the ultimate authority to commute the sentence or I suppose he could also pardon if he so chooses.

[Turborama]

31. President Obama and the Supreme Court must affirm his sentence

If this article is anything to go by: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/536

I still maintain the title of the article is misleading, but what can you expect from a Murdoch rag.

[iandhr]

40. There has been a person

on military death row for 20 years. The military death penalty system is slow. The decision on weather or not to confirm a death sentence will likely fall to the guy or gal that comes after Obama

[Critters2]

44. Trust me, it's already been decided. nt

[Turborama]

48. And you know this how? n/t

[Critters2]

52. I've lived in this culture my whole life. We kill people like this.

It's what we do. Sadly.

[Eric Condon]

8. I'm sure the bloodthirsty mob will be out in full force cheering this in the comments.

DU has really shown its true colors in the last few days about this issue, and it ain't pretty.

I thought opposition to the death penalty was a bedrock liberal conviction. Apparently not.

[EFerrari]

11. There are plenty of us who are unconditionally against the death "penalty".

The thing I've noticed is that there is always a small authoritarian mob that gets their rocks off by wishing harm loudly through their keyboards. It's very similar to the freaker's "blame the victim" routine and for all I know, it's the same ten posters.

Kinky and creepy but that's not DU.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. didn't you get the memo?

failure to embrace stupid masturbatory blood lust means you aren't a moderate,

[EFerrari]

17. They don't bother to send those to me.

lol

:)

[Jack Fate]

13. Why did you think that, when even President Obama is for it?

Makes no sense. Unless you are saying that Obama is not really a liberal, which may or may not be true.

[Turborama]

15. I call BULLSHIT! Give a link to evidence that President Obama is for it.

[EFerrari]

22. He seems squishy on it like so many things and I wish I hadn't looked it up.

Obama has written that he thinks the death penalty "does little to deter crime." He supports capital punishment in cases in which "the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage." While a state senator, Obama pushed for reform of the Illinois capital punishment system and authored a bill to mandate the videotaping of interrogations and confessions. Obama disagreed with the June 25, 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawing the execution of child rapists.

http://pewforum.org/religion08/compare.php?Issue=Death_Penalty

[Turborama]

26. I retract, but in my defense...

I was a bit wound up and misread what the poster was implying. I thought they were saying he is for it in this case. Mea culpa.

[rpannier]

23. Here you go

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/06/25/obama-condemns-supreme-court-decision-in-child-rape-case/?mod=googlenews_wsj

“I disagree with the decision. I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the most egregious of crimes,” Obama told reporters at a press conference in Chicago.

[alp227]

10. This comes just 2 days after the DC Sniper was executed

John Muhammad was a convert to Islam. In several years he's getting a new BFF in hell.

[SoCalDem]

19. Suits him just fine.. people willing to die for their "actions" probably want the death penalty

a more fitting punishment might be to keep them alive for a VERY long time, and in solitary..with NO outside contact of any kind..no visitors, no phone calls, no internet, no computers, and no Koran.......you know.. like punishment... with a lifetime to reflect:)

killing a suicidal person makes no sense to me.

[EFerrari]

21. There seems to be no bottom to the sadism this culture will embrace

and unfortunately it seems to be frequently confused with justice.

[SoCalDem]

25. how is not killing him sadism?

I think he needs to spend a lifetime contemplating what he did.. killing him is not the solution..
It's highly unlikely that he can be rehabilitated, and after killing 13 people, he's not a candidate for parole..

he could not be in the general population of a prison.. we can't just wish him away:(

[paulsby]

46. nice, but unconstitutional

you cannot forbid his access to the koran, for instance.

it may be ironic that THAT is unconstitutional, but death penalty is not

but...

the law is full of irony

[DonCoquixote]

24. The bad part

Disclaimer: Yes I know that most Muslims do not subscribe to the same crap this fellow does. I grew up in Jersey City, where the Imam's kid would often get into spirited discussions with the Jesuit priests while we were all eating pizza.

However, please keep one thing in mind, to the Ladinist ( a term i coined to avoid the term Jihadist), execution is glorious. All killing this man will do is send Brer Rabbit right into the briar patch.

[shadowknows69]

28. Bingo. Martyrdom table for one. Room for many more.

[excess_3]

53. death is pardon proof .nt

[rasputin1952]

30. I am against the DP for various reasons...

but the one that stands out here is that if the DP is instituted in this case, an opportunity for evaluation and research will be lost. One of the things about the DP, you lose your subject in what should be an ongoing psychological/sociological study.

When we were authorized the use of deadly force in the Army, I always told my guards, "shoot to wound, we want intel, we want to know why this individual is here and what they wan to do".

We lose case study that may give us a heads up on how/why people go to the extremes they do.

Hasan should, (if convicted), spend the rest of his natural life behind bars, and be extensively studied.

[BennyD]

37. I think the military form of execution is by firing squad. Can't imagine it today. n/t

[Shanti Mama]

38. I'm not certain of very many things in my life, other than my love for my children.

But I am absolutely certain that I oppose the death penalty. There is no reason, no way, no excuse for taking another's life. It's no simpler than that. Doesn't matter what that person has been convicted of doing. I think Deadman Walking is what finally made me 100% certain. I am against vengeance.

I am against killing.

[Critters2]

45. + 1. nt

[ShortnFiery]

51. I BELIEVE that between the NY Show Trial and this one ... we are in essence ...

TAUNTING Al Quaeda to attack us again.

Why not? The MIC has all those machines and armaments that need to continue to be manufactured and used.

The Contractors supporting Homeland Security and the MIC will make BILLIONS upon BILLIONS if we are hit again and the American People are kept FRIGHTENED and DOCILE.

:thumbsdown:

I think we are in for a long, cold winter. :cry:

[Vidar]

56. Solitary confinement for life ,especially considering his paralysis,

might be a more suitable punishment, though it's ok with me to kill him.