Zacharais Buried

Our conscience should always be troubled by the thought of purposely allowing society to kill people. The bible, in the event you are of the Judeo-Christian persuasion, is fairly unambiguous on this point. And we know human institutions like the courts, no matter how hard they aspire to perfection, have the potential to deliver flawed verdicts.

Nevertheless, when we consider the fate of our loved ones (especially children, if we have them) at the hands of predators, terrorists, or others who might willfully inflict violence upon the innocent, many people would come unhinged with a Louisville Slugger in the event we found ourselves in a secure room with a restrained individual who we had confidence perpetrated such a crime. There are certainly pacifists who have lost a loved one to violence and still cannot endorse the death penalty - but many will confess to at least entertaining the thought of vengeance.

It's still too easy, for me anyway, to meditate on the victims of 9/11, so many of whom were average schmoes at the office until the moment they were murdered. It's not hard to imagine the mothers and fathers who never came home that day, the immigrants working at Windows On the World, or the old-school style militia that formed on Flight 93. It's easy for me to consider that legacy and relish the thought of some civic servant, somewhere, strapping Zacharias Moussaoui into a chair. Anybody who has the weakest shred of sympathy for this individual should read about the trial. Moussaoui taunted the victims repeatedly, showed contempt for the lawyers assigned to his defense, and gleefully demanded the death penalty. Whatever bailiffs were assigned to court duty deserve congratulations for not unholstering on the spot and obliging him.

But he wasn't the guy flying the planes. And it looks like he was at least a second-banana, possibly a third in the ranks of Al-Qaeda - the kind of guy who ate lunch alone in the terrorist cafeteria. And, of course, his peculiar set of religious beliefs holds martyrdom in the highest esteem. If we killed him I expect his ugly mug would be added to the collage of heroes on the signs of Hamas and Hezbollah protesters, and the street throngs of Karatchi would be elated. We'll have to satisfy ourselves with the thought of Moussaoui in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day for the next forty years. And I probably speak for a plurality of Americans when I say I hope occasionally he spends that 24th hour enjoying some quality, unsupervised time with old-fashioned, patriotic American criminals.

And no, we're not sending him to France either.