# If we capture bin Laden alive, what will his punishment be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 11, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062 "2004-09-11T19:01:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/21 "2004-09-12T05:14:07Z")
I still say keep him alive. We’ve got all the time in the world to kill him. Give him to the FOX network and see what they can come up with. ---
**Author:** ![High\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8797f3/32.png) [@High\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/22 "2004-09-12T06:14:49Z")
Two words: _Running Man_. Put an inescapable cage around NYC. Take UBL and SH, after both are found guilty, of course, and release them in downtown NYC (late at night…low key). Seal the cage. After one hour, announce to all of NYC that the two are loose. Televise the subsequent menhunt live. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/23 "2004-09-12T06:27:21Z")
I truly believe the the Attorney General, US Attorneys and FBI would do absolutely anything to get a conviction and death penaly, including manufacture or suppress any evidence necessary to achieve that. So if caught and tried in the US, he will be executed, no ifs ands or buts. If caught by another nation, there is a pretty good chance that he will never make it to America – many countries will not extradite people facing the death penalty. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/24 "2004-09-12T06:27:28Z")
As had been suggested quite some time ago, he should be forced to live out the rest of his life as a woman under the Taliban regime. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/25 "2004-09-12T07:54:31Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > And imagine if the history books taught that America, having caught and convicted the man responsible for the most horrific terrorist atrocity ever seen, set an example by _not_ executing him. “If _they_ can forego the death penalty even in _that_ case” say to themselves the less civilised nations of the world , “can _we_ not do so also?” > > Pie in the sky, of course. But one can dream. If the less civilized nations of the world were capable of inferring such a lesson, then they wouldn’t be less civilized, would they? Pardon my cynicsim, but I’m pretty sure that the only thing they’ll say to themselves is, Boy, are those Americans losers or what? Frankly, I don’t think he should reach trial; it’s best he didn’t leave Afganistan alive. An argument can be made that ObL isn’t a criminal at all, but rather an enemy, and thus any trial would be inappropriate. Enemies aren’t tried, they’re defeated. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/26 "2004-09-12T10:44:47Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > And imagine if the history books taught that America, having caught and convicted the man responsible for the most horrific terrorist atrocity ever seen, set an example by _not_ executing him. “If _they_ can forego the death penalty even in _that_ case” say to themselves the less civilised nations of the world , “can _we_ not do so also?” > > Pie in the sky, of course. But one can dream. If it’s such a great example why don’t you just set him free? Give him a Mercedes too and a state paid pension for life. That’ll show ‘em! The terrorists masterminding and executing the first attack on WTC weren’t executed. They sure got the message there huh?! The Islamists will just think it another example of a weak western culture, and an evil man would have escaped his just sentence. I think Bin Laden is splattered all over some Afghan cave, but if captured alive he should naturally be executed, his corpse destroyed and the remains deposed of at a secret place so there’ll be no flocking to his grave. But I like the idea of parading him naked around New York first – like the ancient Greek city of Mieletus once did, as a deterrence, to all the women who committed suicide. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/27 "2004-09-12T11:56:01Z")
> [@](#): > > If it’s such a great example why don’t you just set him free? Because that would be a strawman argument? > [@](#): > > I’m pretty sure that the only thing they’ll say to themselves is, Boy, are those Americans losers or what? Then they just won’t _get it_, will they? _Some_ of them _might_ get it - that’s all. > [@](#): > > It occurs to me that a live captive ObL is a major incentive for a hostage taking incident. Just as his martyrdom would ‘justify’ countless revenge attacks. If the terrorists’ response even _enters_ into our decision-making process, their goal has been fulfilled. > [@](#): > > But my God, what a message this would send! > > **Sentient Meat** , I bow in respect to your wisdom. And I to yours, friend. ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/28 "2004-09-12T12:36:44Z")
I’d put him on display at Ground Zero. Just set up a little cage, let kids poke at him with sticks, make tuesdays rotten tomato day. I think we’re far better off humiliating him than locking him away or killing him, turning him into a martyr. A little public ridicule can erase everything he’s accomplished quite easily. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/29 "2004-09-12T18:59:09Z")
It’s been a while since I’ve seen THE PRINCESS BRIDE, but isn’t the phrase I’m trying to remember is “a fight to the pain”?. That would be good for OBL. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/30 "2004-09-12T19:03:05Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > If caught by another nation, there is a pretty good chance that he will never make it to America --\*\* many countries will not extradite people facing the death penalty.\*\* In Bin Ladens case ,I would put money on BL being extradited , without concern for the death penalty. Declan ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/31 "2004-09-12T19:34:23Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > In Bin Ladens case ,I would put money on BL being extradited , without concern for the death penalty. If he was caught here (or similarly in any other EU country) the situation would turn really ugly. He could not be extradited legally. I see three options in that case. [ul] [li]Not extraditing would be a foreign policy nightmare.[/li][li]Extraditing him openly and officially would be political suicide for the government and impossible to defend in the courts.[/li][li]He somehow disappears, escapes or the capture is denied and he mysteriously resurfaces in US hands. Actually I think this wouldn’t be so unlikely.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/32 "2004-09-12T19:57:12Z")
**SentientMeat** said: > [@](#): > > And imagine if the history books taught that America, having caught and convicted the man responsible for the most horrific terrorist atrocity ever seen, set an example by not executing him. “If they can forego the death penalty even in that case” say to themselves the less civilised nations of the world , “can we not do so also?” I think the perception in the Arab world would be more along the lines of, "Look how weak and indecisive those Americans are! Bin laden kills 3,000 people, and they can’t even bring themselves to execute him! Fools. ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/33 "2004-09-12T20:39:52Z")
My friend decided a suitable punishment for ObL would be to place him on a chair, cemented to the ground then errect a shed over the chair, place a bolt through his penis and testicles and into the chair, present him with a blunt rusted knife and light the shed. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/34 "2004-09-12T20:43:47Z")
In Argentina he would receive the maximum penalty, life plus an accesory of indetermined time. I am not familiar with american law but for I what I see in the media these days the standard penalty for a person responsable for the death of thousands of people seems to be reelection. We live in strange times.- ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/35 "2004-09-12T21:55:44Z")
I completely disagree with **Gest** that this is not an exercise in intellect, because that’s what I originally asked for this thread to be. It was a ‘baited hook in the water’, and to be honest, it’s raised some pretty interesting perspectives I didn’t think of: i.e. the case of if _someone else_ catches him and extradition, the point of hostage taking for his release, even the simple fact of his enemy status. This notwithstanding, I find **Little Nemo** ’s proposition very very interesting: being tried and subjected to a sentence of a court system he tried to destroy. No doubt he personally wouldn’t recognize the legitimacy of any Westernized courts (but wait until that sonofabitch tries to invoke his defense privileges–ha!). Personally, I would like to keep the jackass alive, and in a cell. This guy has contacts, like a mobster with a network–a network we can exploit! I’d like to keep him alive, fat, happy, and drunk [sub]woo![/sub] enough to find the next OBL and either ‘reeducate’ him or nix him ahead of time. Tripler I’m still open to ideas though . . . ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/36 "2004-09-13T00:38:32Z")
**If we capture bin Laden alive, what will his punishment be?** Dunno, but it should involve lots of Frankie Valli records. After the 50th consecutive playing of “Walk Like A Man”, he’ll tell us anything we want to know. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/37 "2004-09-13T01:10:02Z")
Seems fairly simple to me. Once bin Laden has been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, set him up in a jail cell like Hannibal’s in _Silence of the Lambs_. Gag the monster, and then bring in - one or two at a time - parents, husbands, children, girlfriends, and other loved ones of those who died on 9/11. Let them spend as long as they want telling bin Laden about the lives of those who died, who they were, what their favorite memories are. Let them rant at bin Laden for murdering those innocents. Let them post pictures, play videos, weep, whatever they like. When they are done, give bin Laden a test on the details of that particular victim. If he fails the test, he’s immediately executed with a bullet through the head. If he passes, then he lives to listen to the next person. If we run out of loved ones, then we can start with the survivors, the school kids, the traumatized rescue personnel, and any other person who feels the need to explain their emotions to him. Again, test him to make sure he was listening, and the first test he fails, his brains decorate his jail cell. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/38 "2004-09-13T01:56:15Z")
I am all for capital punishment, believe you me, but I think Bin Laden should be given the ‘life with no chance of parole’ treatment. I think it would be more demeaning to his followers to know that he is in our total control for the rest of his life. Whenever some terrorist tries to make a name for himself, we could trot out the example of Osama ‘Wish I had more Soap-on-a-Rope’ Bin Laden, and chuckle. Every so often, get him nice and pathetic looking and put some footage of him shuffling in chains from a van to a courthouse or something. Make him shave that ZZ-Top beard. Give him a Red Sox cap to wear. Put him in the same cell as Lyndie England. You know, _demeaning_. Let’s get some psyops value out of him. Killing him isn’t a bad option either, but I think more could be gained from having him as our national ‘The Gimp’. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Bubbington-Smythe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@Lord\_Bubbington-Smythe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Bubbington-Smythe)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/39 "2004-09-13T10:12:26Z")
Executing him would be bad - he’d end up a martyr. Life in prison with a bunch of randy lifers, that’d be suitable. Especially when the “Bin Laden in hospital with sever anal tearing” headlines are printed, week after week. A would-be terrorist can always find some sort of dignity in death. It’d be pretty hard to find some in being ass-raped day after day. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062/40 "2004-09-13T10:32:29Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > I yield to nobody in wanting to see the man taken and receive the full penalty his evil warrants. > > But my God, what a message this would send! > > **Sentient Meat** , I bow in respect to your wisdom. I too think Sentient is wise. Sometimes, however, messages are morphed in translation. “Capital punishment is a barbarism beneath us” might be heard by some ears as “our spines are too frail to punish you justly”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-capture-bin-laden-alive-what-will-his-punishment-be/264062.md?page=3)