A comment or two

on the result of the Moussaoui trial. I for one could dance with joy at this individual's death. I wouldn't cry a tear for him, and martyring or not martyring him is not really going to impact how his jihadist buddies feel about us. They could've added his situation to a long list of imagined gripes, and they'd want to kill us all either way. So I can't say a different verdict would've disturbed me.

On the other hand, I'm not sure the life in prison deal is unacceptable either, for a few reasons. First off, him dying changes nothing. It doesn't bring back the dead, it doesn't harm the international terrorist jihad, and it doesn't change our state of war. Do we want vengeance? I imagine we do, but to what end? Soothe our troubled souls? The death of one cockroach is not going to make me feel better about thousands of innocent shattered lives. Kill him to serve as a warning to others? They WANT to die. They don't fear it. It just encourages them, and they have no sense of justice as we know it.

Second, regardless of plotting or any other activity, I don't think this guy actually did anything. Oh, he surely would have given the chance, but actual action is sort of limited. I grant you intention is worth something, but the 3,000 deaths of 9/11 were caused directly by others. Lock him up, sure, but I think I can manage with no death penalty. I don't excuse it, but it does modify the case.

Third, responsibility for 9/11 lies in far more places than him. Start with the Saudis and their promotion of Wahabbist islam. Add criminal leadership around the Arab world, leaving so many young men in poverty and loose ends, ripe for indoctrination by mullahs staying safe, warm, and wealthy back at home. Blame our own leadership for the failures of our intelligence - Administration leadership for bulding walls between our intelligence agencies in the '90s, and Congressional leadership for allowing it to happen. Blame the masterminds of this most of all. But Moussaoui's death does nothing to absolve all these from their responsibilities, and very little will be improved in this area because he's dead.

Mind you, I will say I have an opinion about his incarceration, which I think would be worse than death. Lock him up.

REALLY lock him up.

Put the guy in a 3' X 6' cell with a cot and a toilet. Wall him in the cell with brick. No windows. No light. Just a slot in the door for a food tray, on which he gets bread and water for the rest of his life. No recreation time. No books. No TV. No one goes in to see him ever. No doctors, no lawyers, no religious leaders. He gets one thing. A small speaker in the wall, playing one sound constantly.

TICK...TICK...TICK...TICK...

Just the sound of a clock, ticking away the seconds of his life. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That would suit me for the proper life this roach should have until he dies, of old age or insanity.