I had my doubts. I don’t understand why it took so long for Attorney General Holder to do the right thing but the end result is what matters. He is going to make Dzhokhar Tsarnaev face the death penalty. I didn’t think he would do it. I didn’t understand how he couldn’t but I described myself as a cynic. I must be more trusting in my fellow-man. A jury will decide whether he is to be executed after it hears all the facts of the case.
That is as it should be. Anyone who is charged with committing a terrorist act on American soil that ends up murdering people should face the death penalty. I’d have preferred that having joined the enemy he be shipped off to Guantanamo for a trail but keeping the death penalty option open lessens my disappointment.
There is another side of this to keep in mind. Tsarnaev being in this position may be more of a mind to cooperate with the federal authorities in return for spending the rest of his life in prison. From what I understand his attitude to the present time has been one of defiance and hostility. Whether the federals will accept his cooperation and make a deal with him is their business.
What is important here is the setting of the marker. The Obama Administration and Attorney Eric Holder deserve our thanks for setting it right. My apologies to them for not thinking they would do so.
Executing Dzokar Tsarnaev will just make a martyr of him. Better he should be entombed at ADX. There is a very real possibility that his death at Federal hands could inspire, rather than dissuade, the next group, or, individual, bent on a terrorist act. Dzokar is nineteen years old. He could live to be eighty. Facing the next sixty years alone in a cement box might make him pray for the needle.
Pyramid
Strap him to a gurney.
Put a needle in his arm.
Time has grown short.
A clock ticks away
final moments.
Cold figures stand the watch;
no compassion, empty souls.
Aztec priests, gift givers,
administer vengeance.
Fly on burdened spirit.
Sleep dog, sleep.
Khalid:
I’m indifferent to whether they execute him or not. That’s the jury’s call. He’s already a martyr of sorts, or I should say a hero to many who have a dislike of all things American. I don’t see executing him would inspire more people like himself but would be a deterrent. Keeping him in prison may result in someone at some day in the future taking hostages to see if his release can be procured in exchange for them. Osama bin Laden’s execution didn’t cause any uproar in terrorist activity so I don’t suppose Tsarnaev’s would. Nice poem.
Matt- I think you were correct in doubting Holder, he is a master of deception and is known to drag his feet. I think he is a sneaky cold calculating politician.
Matt,
Just maybe a new wind is blowing. Although I have had no direct response from AG Holder to my December 6,2013 letter, and therefore I have just posted a follow up letter to him on nhjustice.net; I have been making progress with US Department of State and US Social Security, which are necessary first steps…I too am cautiously optimistic that the rule of law is still a protected national treasure to be used against threats from within and a far. Thanks for giving credit when credit is due.