POINT/COUNTERPOINT: A discussion on terrorism and the death penalty.
The accused terrorists of the Sept. 11 attacks need to stand trial in the United States, and they need to be tried with the death penalty in mind.
Over eight years ago, 2,973 people were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center. Several of the terrorists involved are now being tried in the United States after years of imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay, including the self-described “mastermind” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Opponents of capital punishment want to send these terrorists abroad to be tried, and think they should not be pursued by the death penalty, most notably Sen. Lindsey Graham. Most skeptics say the trials may not be as effective, or that death penalty would be too severe — it is not moral — and trying these terrorists in America would possibly incite more terrorism.
Come on.
Terrorists are not going to change. No matter what we do.
The correctional facilities in the world serve to correct the behaviors of misguided criminals. Terrorists do not fit this profile, and they cannot be persuaded through simple time in jail. Sentencing terrorists to life in prison will do nothing but cost Americans to pay for people who killed thousands of fellow civilians.
This is one of the purposes of the death penalty, and an example that could not fit any clearer.
Democrat and Republican politicians argue that suspects should be tried in military commissions rather than civilian courts. They say that because these terrorists committed an act of war on the World Trade Center, they should be tried on war crimes.
The Sept. 11 attacks were not acts of war. They were acts of terrorism, which, in most cases, are the result of deliberate and premeditative plan of murder.
Even so, this is beside the point. Ask yourself which is worse: an act of war in which 2,973 people are killed, or a carefully planned and executed murder in which 2,973 people are killed? You could try to pick one, but it would be tough to come up with an answer. At the end, it doesnít matter whether it was an act of war or an act of murder. Criminals should be tried the full extent of the law for their actions. It is devastating to the cause if we forget what we’re fighting for, which happens by ignoring individuals and focusing on the “war” against the organization as a whole. But it’s essential to fight the individuals also. In 2005, former President George W. Bush said, “We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them.”
As a country that speaks so highly against fighting terrorism, its citizens should have the integrity to handle our enemies ourselves. Our “War on Terror” might be the only answer we need for many people, but we need to maintain the honesty to handle criminal cases in our own country. By doing that, we are serving justice for the victims who need to be remembered.
Reach Dante at dante.graves@asu.edu
