Rot in Jail, Crazy Scumbag!

The jury in the penalty phase of Zacarias Moussaoui's trial reached a verdict: life in prison without the possibility of parole. If somehow Mohammed Atta had survived 9/11 and been brought to trial, there can be no question that he would have been given the death penalty, and few people, even at The Third Path, would have batted an eye. But Moussaoui wasn't Atta. Moussaoui wasn't a murderer, he is a wannabe murderer. He was a greater danger to al Qaeda than he ever was or ever will be to Americans. He was and is just a simple nutcase — a scumbag, yes, but a bumbling idiot of a delusional scumbag, and I'm not talking about just your ordinary garden-variety al Qaeda delusions of the global caliphate. The greatest danger Moussaoui ever posed to America was that his death might elevate him to his unearned martyrdom. Leaving him to rot in supermax is a far more appropriate fate, both for him and for al Qaeda.

Ann Woolner at Bloomberg.com put it very well in her opinion piece, "Moussaoui Verdict Is Win for U.S., Loss for Bush."

The U.S. won the more important victory [than Moussaoui's shouting, "America, you lost, you lost!"] Jurors showed that, in a civilized nation where law reigns over savagery, the government must prove to 12 people that, beyond a reasonable doubt, the accused should die. They showed that the urge for vengeance doesn't always trump a rational assessment of the evidence. And most of all, the U.S. won by showing that ordinary people have the power to say to the national government: No, you are wrong.

Perhaps the Bush administration, abjectly desperate for an al Qaeda death sentence, will now actually find and bring to trial someone worthy of execution. I'll just hold my breath until I turn blue.

Technorati tags: , Moussaoui, Life Sentence, Al-Qaeda, 9/11, Terrorism, Bush, Politics