Why I support the death penalty for the soldiers who committed torture

Some of you may not like to hear this. If that's the case, either don't read this post, or saddle up for a tough ride.

We don't know yet for sure whether or not this was just a few bad apples or a part of a more systematic pattern of abuse and torture. What is important is that justice be done to the perpetrators and their commanding officers, and that justice be swift, sudden and severe. The whole world is watching to see how we deal with these criminals. Will justice be swift, sudden and severe, or will the criminals get a slap on the wrist and a few months of house arrest? We need to show the world that what happened will not only be "not tolerated", but severely punished. Major prison reforms must also commence at once as well.

Why should they be executed? We need to show the Arab world that we believe the torturers are worthy of the ultimate punishment under our system of laws. That's how seriously we take their actions. I am aware that Europeans do not look favorably upon the death penalty. While the whole world is watching, I'm much more interested in showing the Arab and Muslim world that we will punish the torturers. Over the long run, it's much more important that we have the support and cooperation of the Middle Eastern people, rather than the fastidious Germans and French. Whether we pull out of Iraq or not (that is a separate issue) we will have to repair our image in the Arab and Muslim world, and that process can only begin by punishing the torturers to the maximum extent of American law. Half-hearted apologies from white guys in suits are not going to cut it on Arab television.

TYY

that anyone besides us and a few lawmakers give a rat's ass what the world thinks.

If not, then why do you think only the lower level goons who were encouraged/allowed to do this should be murdered by the state?

Don't you think that jail time would be somehow more, uhm appropriate.

:-)

Please put pistol back in holster, take a deep breath and think about your thought.

Punishment can be swift, punishment can be harsh, but execution? This seems way off from a just solution.

We're liberals, we don't just go around killing people for punishment. That's SO pug-lickin'.

who did not receive the death penalty.

Do you think maybe your idea is a little radical?

If you can find 5% of Americans who would approve your idea, that would be a lot.

penalty....We "fastidious" Canadians and most other democracies are against it also....Prison terms for the guilty would be sufficient, in my opinion....:)

re: "Why should they be executed? We need to show the Arab world that we believe the torturers are worthy of the ultimate punishment under our system of laws."

Our 'system of laws' doesn't include provisions for ex-post-facto decisions to execute people.

This post is a good example of why we need to oppose the death penalty in absolute terms on abstract moral grounds. Otherwise there's always going to be something --some special case demanding extra-special punishment. It's like the dial in SPINAL TAP that goes to eleven.

Even if we lopped the heads off the guilty soldiers on live tv, I don't think it would do the kinds of things suggested. It might even be harmful, we have a different culture than the Arab world and they don't expect us to bow down to their ways of justice.

Its application is never swift (and many now freed, innocent people are thankful for that). It takes an average of, I think, 11 or 12 years for those on death row to have their sentence "executed." If society can afford to pay for the lawyers fees and housing/feeding these inmates for 12 years, they can afford to pay for only the inmate costs for another 30.

Just as other countries do not want to set their laws and policies based upon US wishes, I don't think most Americans want to base their policies on the responses of those in other countries. It wouldn't be a good precedent.

Honor killings here thankfully.

The Hague is where they should be. Any I use the term "they" loosely. Bush, his Cabinet, some advisor's, and the Joint Chiefs Of Staff all need to be turned over for prosecution immediately. Give them a fair trial and keep the maximum penalty as it is now. Life imprisonment.

Don

I think that it would be extremely fitting for these clowns to all end up in the same place, and never be released. That would be cool, as far as I am concerend.

the punishment should be them sentenced to life in prison with no possibility for parole. An example needs to be made of them, and this would be the best way to do it.

I think we should execute the guilty troops in a Baghdad soccer stadium as a show of solidarity with the new Democracy in Iraq. It doesn't have to be brutal, we could do it quick just by hanging them. Then we level the prison.

Consider it cross-cultural communication.

It would save lives of American troops in the end.

JMO but I think herr bush and dumsfeld would embrace your solution.

I think the individuals that carried out the torture are weak, miserable failures as human beings because they should have had some backbone... but as far as I am concerned they were just following orders.

bush and company would love nothing more than to lay the whole thing in the laps of the misguided fools that did their dirty work.

If you ask me they should be given an opportunity to "cut a deal" in exchange for telling the truth and testifying against bush and cohorts (just like the hit men in the mob are allowed to "cut deals") then they should be given the equivalent of a witness protection program.

Bringing the scum at the top to justice would be far more equitable in the "Arab street's" eyes IMO

just like the nazis? the same ones we hung?

But on the other hand...just to get people conditioned to kill (other people that they don't know no less) the military has to use brainwashing techniques against the rank and file enlisted person.

Obviously most people are taught throughout their life in American society that they should never kill except for in the case of self defense (unless they were raised by the Manson family)

These people are in a strange land, most of the peons wouldn't have known an Arab in general if they bit them in the ass until they landed in Iraq, so they buy the line...these are "evil people" they want to kill you, they planned 911 etc etc.

Never mind that it's BS about 911--It's all brainwashing.

The soldiers are the worker bees and the queens are bush et al

I am not saying the soldiers were in the right, or that they were moral (or smart) I am just saying, it is what it is and shit rolls downhill...the people at the top were ultimately responsible for this disgusting debacle and they should carry the burden of blame.

I am saying that the penalty for complicity in this should be death, whether you are a queen bee who directly ordered this behaviour or if you are drone bee who carried thru. I understand its not the most popular of stances, but I think it would be a good gesture to the Iraqis and the Arab world that we are serious about justice, rather than just paying lip-service to the notion.

hang that grim general bitch whats-her-face in charge of that wing after we get all the info on how high this goes.

What would executing them prove to a world already lost to us? That we're just as bloodthirsty about our own as we are about them?

No.

The death penalty is barbaric.