# Moussaoui gets life, not death... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 3, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301 "2006-05-03T21:24:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/41 "2006-05-04T11:13:44Z")
Rune, last I checked, it was actually cheaper to keep someone in jail for life than to execute them. C’est la vie. I’ll keep an ear out for these special demands. Personally, I doubt I’ll hear them, and I think you’ve maybe got an ear bent by too much american TV. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/42 "2006-05-04T11:23:44Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Death penalty doesn’t make an (Islamic) martyr of you and it won’t give you 72 virgins. Now you have taken it upon yourself to feed and clothe and house a man who hates you all, and would rather see you all dead, for some 50-60 years and for untold millions of dollars. How many poor US citizens could you have saved from poverty and premature death for the same amount, how many schools could you have build, doctors educated and hired? Why is that a fair trade? Why should Moussaoui suck up funds that could easily have been spent on many more deserving purposes? > > Those people who admire bin Laden and such will not respect you for this. They’ll just think it proves you’re weak and effeminate and yet another example of how they can use western democracy and western liberal groups to destroy themselves. Soon you’ll hear about Moussaoui again; when his lawyers demand you supply him with a prayer rug, refurbish his cell so the toilet points away from Mecca, demand special prepared hallal food, quiet during his five times a day prayer, accommodate his special Ramadan food needs, complain someone pissed on his Koran, demand Internet access, demand to be extradited to Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia or somewhere, when terrorists demand his release in return for not decapitating the latest hostage, etc. when Amnesty International or The Red Cross demand access to his prison cell. When he publishes his online journal or hateful sermons on tapes to be spread in Middle Eastern bazaars together with snuff movies or he is respectfully interviewed by (properly veiled) CNN journalists to be aired in prime time. Perhaps after a few years and the worst scars of 9/11 will be forgotten by all but those personally involved, we’ll even live to see his case be taken up by Hollywood celebrities, conspiracy enthusiasts, and leftwing protesters. Free Mumia! Free Moussaoui! > > He should have been disposed of like a sick farm animal. Shot and his remains destroyed. That’s nonsense. First of all, it costs more to execute a prisoner than to incarcerate him for the rest of his days. Second, we can see how far John Gotti’s legal appeals got him. 23 hours a day of solitary lockdown just makes you sick and crazy. Manifestos don’t get published from the the kinds of facilities that Moussaoui will find himself in. (Cute of you to try to drag the Red Cross and Amnesty International into this.) Finally, if anyone is responsible for making a martyr of Moussaoui it is the Bush Administration. He seems to be the biggest prize they can come up with. If they had captured bin Laden like they should have, there would be no attention on this small fry. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/43 "2006-05-04T12:06:26Z")
I say that we issue him a mini-skirt & high heels and send him to the general population in the prison. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/44 "2006-05-04T13:43:39Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > I never want to hear his fucking name again. Concur with this part. However, what happens is that now, along with Moussaoui, we get to hear about his 399 roommates in Supermax. That should be a send them and forget them place. Once they are sentenced, set your editorial checks to never, ever mention their names again. Let them rot in obscurity. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/45 "2006-05-04T14:22:01Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Now you have taken it upon yourself to feed and clothe and house a man who hates you all, and would rather see you all dead, for some 50-60 years and for untold millions of dollars. Fifty to sixty years? Moussaoui is 37. You think he’s going to make it to 87 years old, much less 97, in permanent solitary confinement? I doubt it. In any case, as noted above, capital punishment is generally not a significant money-saver over life imprisonment. And personally, I’m not particularly frightened by the prospect of a man locked down in Supermax for the rest of his natural life hating me and wanting to see me dead. I don’t think we need to kill him in order to protect ourselves from his hatred. > [@Rune](#): > > Those people who admire bin Laden and such will not respect you for this. Excuse me for not really giving a hoot about winning the respect of people who admire mass murderers. > [@Rune](#): > > They’ll just think it proves you’re weak and effeminate and yet another example of how they can use western democracy and western liberal groups to destroy themselves. This can’t be what you meant to say. Surely bin-Laden admirers are not hoping (at least not consciously) to destroy **themselves** , with or without the use of western institutions. Do you mean that they’re trying to make the western institutions destroy **them** selves? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/46 "2006-05-04T14:25:24Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > Just let the guy rot, be forgotten or get Dahmered. If he gets Dahmerred at least there will be no media buildup. By “Dahmered,” do you mean “killed by another inmate,” or “raped, killed and eaten, not necessarily in that order?” If you meant the latter, then I’m with you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/47 "2006-05-04T14:30:07Z")
Moussaoui is the guy who was probably deemed _too unstable_ to participate in 9/11. He’s obviously a menace to society, and needs to be locked up somewhere, but he was never in the same league as he 9/11 terrorists. He and Jose Padilla get all the press because they’re all the U.S. has got to show for its crackerjack domestic anti-terrorist efforts. Killing him would have been a travesty. He’s a fruitcake terrorist wannabe who appeared to relish the idea of death at infidel hands. Oh, and he didn’t actually kill anyone. I have a hard time with the whole concept of capital punishment for a “conspirator” who was reportedly deemed to much of a risk by the actual perpetrators to be in on the plan. Killing someone for what they desire to do is absurd on the face of it. Certainly, put the guy in the pen and see if his illness can be treated. But death? We’d be the criminals if Moussaoui died in our justice system. He’s a pathetic lunatic with delusions of grandeur, nothing more. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/48 "2006-05-04T14:33:53Z")
I agree with the guy who called into a local radio station and said to give him his freedom. Just let us know the date and time they plan to release him in New York City’s Times Square. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/49 "2006-05-04T14:39:27Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Certainly, put the guy in the pen and see if his illness can be treated. If it can, and if after achieving mental stability he repudiates terrorism, he’ll be essentially an “anti-martyr” and an embarrassment to the Islamist-terrorist cause. Sounds good to me. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/50 "2006-05-04T16:13:55Z")
What strikes me as weird is the opinion that Moussaoui wasn’t mentally stable enough to be accepted as a real terrorist who flies passenger jets into buildings. So if he had degenerated far enough to hear anonymous voices telling him to do these things, he’d be a consensus fruitcake - but if he was convinced Allah had told him to do it, he’d be the very model of a modern major terror-loony. O-kay. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/51 "2006-05-04T16:56:38Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > What strikes me as weird is the opinion that Moussaoui wasn’t mentally stable enough to be accepted as a real terrorist who flies passenger jets into buildings. I haven’t been following the trial closely, but my impression was that what DQ’d him was not being mentally stable enough to be relied upon to **keep his mouth shut** about plans to fly passenger jets into buildings. Lunacy may be a desirable qualification in a suicide terrorist, at least from the point of view of his leaders, but only if the loony can keep a secret. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/52 "2006-05-04T17:12:22Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > How many poor US citizens could you have saved from poverty and premature death for the same amount, how many schools could you have build, doctors educated and hired? Why is that a fair trade? It’s fair because in reality, no trade is taking place. And even if it was cheaper > [@](#): > > Those people who admire bin Laden and such will not respect you for this. Do you think anyone’s taking that into consideration? I know how little I care about his take on the issue. > [@](#): > > When he publishes his online journal or hateful sermons on tapes to be spread in Middle Eastern bazaars together with snuff movies or he is respectfully interviewed by (properly veiled) CNN journalists to be aired in prime time. Do you know anything about the place he’ll be locked up in? The man who planned and carried out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing has been there for about ten years. He’s never been on TV, never inspired hostage takers or lawsuits, and certainly never had any celebrity defenders. :rolleyes: > [@Jackmannii](#): > > What strikes me as weird is the opinion that Moussaoui wasn’t mentally stable enough to be accepted as a real terrorist who flies passenger jets into buildings. Think about it in terms of reliability and trustworthiness. He may be a suicidal nut like the hijackers, but if the people who planned the attacks couldn’t rely on him to show up in the right place at the righ ttime, carry out his mission and keep quiet about it, he’s no good to them. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/53 "2006-05-04T17:15:58Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > So if he had degenerated far enough to hear anonymous voices telling him to do these things, he’d be a consensus fruitcake - but if he was convinced Allah had told him to do it, he’d be the very model of a modern major terror-loony. Put simply, the average suicide bomber isn’t remotely insane. Whatever their true affliction, if we’re to adequately understand why people are willing to blow themselves up or fly airplanes into buildings, we have to disabuse ourselves of our misleading caricatures of terrorists. That Moussaoui postures himself as just such a caricature ought to serve as a major clue to why he was not suited for the job. ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/54 "2006-05-04T17:47:50Z")
Prediction: A year from now most people won’t be able to remember his name. I can’t remember the two DC snipers’ names, and that wasn’t all that long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/55 "2006-05-04T18:07:16Z")
> [@jebert](#): > > Prediction: A year from now most people won’t be able to remember his name. Does anyone remember Mohammed Salameh? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/56 "2006-05-04T18:25:10Z")
:smack: > [@Marley23](#): > > It’s fair because in reality, no trade is taking place. And even if it was cheaper …which it isn’t, I don’t think it’s particularly moral to execute a man because he’s not worth your society’s funds. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/57 "2006-05-04T18:35:15Z")
I’m glad. I don’t want him to be a martyr, and a quick and relatively painless death is too good for him. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/58 "2006-05-04T18:57:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Think about it in terms of reliability and trustworthiness. He may be a suicidal nut like the hijackers, but if the people who planned the attacks couldn’t rely on him to show up in the right place at the righ ttime, carry out his mission and keep quiet about it, he’s no good to them. Put that way, Moose-boy sounds like a guy who wasn’t reliable enough to get a job, not a raving nut-bag. I feel a bit sorry for him. It must sting, regarding yourself as the Avenging Sword of Allah and then having the jury make sympathetic remarks about your lousy childhood. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/59 "2006-05-04T19:02:44Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Put that way, Moose-boy sounds like a guy who wasn’t reliable enough to get a job, not a raving nut-bag. > > I feel a bit sorry for him. It must sting, regarding yourself as the Avenging Sword of Allah and then having the jury make sympathetic remarks about your lousy childhood. 😃 😃😃😃 This makes me feel good! Maybe this _Schadenfreude_ ain’t such a bad thing after all … ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301/60 "2006-05-04T19:28:33Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Put that way, Moose-boy sounds like a guy who wasn’t reliable enough to get a job, not a raving nut-bag. Well, I was trying to suggest he’s not reliable enough to get this job because he’s crazy. I don’t know if he’s actually schizophrenic or what, but I do think he’s not all there. And having known a few schizophrenics, I say non-judgmentally that they’re not the kind of people you want on a covert terrorist mission. You do want somebody seething with hate and willing to die; you don’t want someone so erratic you don’t know where his mind is at from day to day. You’ve been here for 5 1/2 years, \*_Jackmannii_, I’m sure you know how many different kinds of crazy there are. A lot of Dopers say Lee Harvey Oswald can’t have been part of a conspiracy because no sensible conspiracy would hire a guy as unstable as Oswald was. It’s the same idea with Moussaoui. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moussaoui-gets-life-not-death/355301.md?page=4)