Informed Speculation

I sense a split decision among D’08ers on the potential execution of Zacarias Moussaoui – on the one hand is the sentiment that we are only feeding into his wish for martyrdom, as expressed by Richard Cohen of the Washington Post:

He seems determined to become a martyr. He might have slipped the noose after the government bollixed up its own case when a lawyer coached some witnesses. Had he simply not taken the stand and let his lawyers talk for him, he might have averted the death penalty. Not only did he insist on testifying, he was insulting and unfeeling and downright hateful. Here was a man crying out for execution. With the government’s help, he will attain what he always wanted — martyrdom.

If I had my way, I would deny Moussaoui his opportunity. I would do so not just because it is pretty clear the man is crazy and, on account of that, he played a marginal role at best in the 9/11 plot, but because I would not complete the plot for him. I would not grant him what he wanted from the day he stepped foot in America — his own death. If, in his case, the punishment is to fit the crime, then he would suffer most by spending the rest of his life behind bars. When he dies of old age, he will have been forgotten. In no place will people gather to mark his death. That will not happen if he is executed.

On the other hand, there is the Christopher Hitchens school of thought:

…[T]hey [jihadists] wish to be martyrs and we must help them to achieve martyrdom by every method at our disposal.

Count me in with Hitchens on this one…

UPDATE 11:06 a.m.:The Moussaoui trial continues today as Rudy Giuliani testified. Note the following:

“You cannot understand the magnitude of that day unless you hear it from the victims themselves,” Spencer said. Moussaoui smiled several times when the prosecution mentioned his enthusiasm for the attacks. [emphasis mine]

Defense lawyer Gerald Zerkin acknowledged that evidence on the impact on the victims will be overwhelming. But he urged jurors to “somehow maintain your equilibrium …. You must nevertheless open yourselves to the possibility of a sentence other than death.”

Zerkin described how Moussaoui grew up with little religious training and fell under the influence of radical Muslims when he traveled to London in hopes of becoming a businessman.

Spencer countered: “It was his choice to become a terrorist and it was a choice he was proud of.”