Death Penalty?

The status of the death penalty in America continues to be under question. I'm a proponent of the policy. These cases are my reason why.

Boston Bomber

He took innocent lives. Of children and adults. People died who were totally non-political, had nothing whatever to do with the terrorist’s views of the world. But still he killed them. And did it in such a manner as to horrify bystanders, many of them injured as well, and to destroy public trust and serenity. 

That was his objective after all is said and done. He was out to destroy American serenity.

In some ways he succeeded. But in the end his brother died in the attempt, and so will he die by execution following the court case that found him guilty and eligible for the death penalty.

That is well and good in my book. There is no doubt about the crime. No doubt who committed it. No doubt about the terrorist’s guilt. It’s done and over with. Now it is his turn to face life’s end because of what he did by his own hand.

Mexican Drug Lord

This case is different. The Drug Lord (DL) killed countless people by his own hand in his country and in the nations where he spread his drugs. By the hand of his own crew under his orders, still hundreds more died in Mexico and the United States. Yet more thousands died because of their use of the DL’s product. How many deaths are on his hands?  There is no way of fully knowing the toll. But thousands of lives ended is a sufficient assessment.

Then there is the toll of tens of thousands of lives negatively affected by his products trafficked over a huge swath of landscape encompassing several nations. He was found guilty of his crimes and sentenced to a long term in prison. He bought his way out of prison and is now free to continue his crime spree. His wealth is in the billions, so he could well afford buying his way out of prison.

If he is found in America I hope all law enforcement officers are ordered to shoot to kill the man. He has cost Mexico and America many lives and an enormous amount of money and resources to enforce laws, protect the public, and manage prisons. All in his name. Those public resources are spent and gone. Now we will spend many more dollars and resources to capture the jerk.

He did not provide mercy to his victims. We should not extend that mercy to him, either. Shoot to kill. This man should not be returned to prison or to the court system. Only to a coffin.

This is not revenge. It is practical action in the name and memory of tens of thousands of innocent lives he has destroyed.

Timothy McVeigh

The Oklahoma City Bombing ended with McVeigh’s execution. It took many years to process his case through the courts to protect his rights and presumption of innocence. Then in prison, the legal skirmishes continued until exhausted and the execution made the result final.

The death penalty in this case was appropriate. He killed 158 people. He maimed and harmed the lives of hundreds more. The families and friends of all of those people will live out their lives in a completely different manner because of what McVeigh did.

There was no doubt whatsoever as to his guilt or premeditation. The only doubt is who helped him with this heinous crime. All in the name of politics. All in the name of super patriotism. All in the name of a twisted religious idea. Home grown and domestic. Not foreign terrorism. Our own, from inside.

Yes, Tim got what he deserved.

9/11 Terrorists

Yet to be fully addressed but the terrorists who were aboard the planes crashed into their final resting places took them to death as well. But the network of terrorists supporting them is mostly at large.

We have found Bin Laden. We have killed him. We have killed many lieutenants, majors and captains in Al Qaeda; maybe some generals as well. The Al Qaeda organization is in disarray and scattered. Its financial network is mostly disabled as well. Yet they exist and they have morphed into various forms of mujaheddin, Taliban, and ISIS. And Hamas as well as other terrorist organizations in the Middle East hell bent on destroying anyone and anything that doesn’t support their political agenda or religious beliefs.

We have many players in all of this imprisoned in Guantanamo. For some reason we are unable to execute these players let alone process them through a court trial. In other nations and cultures these slugs would be dead by mysterious means. Not in America. We tend to hang on to our enemies endlessly and pay their perverted expenses forever.

Seems to me the death penalty is needed in egregious cases of terror, inhumanity to others, and stark premeditation and evil. If we know these folks are guilty beyond all reasonable doubt, then put them out of their misery and ours. If not, we only turn them into heroes of victimhood. And in my mind they are not heroes of any kind.

Be certain, execute them, and then forgive them. But continue our vigilance against evil and press forward. We owe our own people that respect and peace of mind.

Harsh? Much less so than the treatment they afforded us.

July 20, 2015