The Pentagon’s Death Row
CNN writes about the five military inmates currently awaiting their fate on Death Row and discusses the reasons that we haven’t executed a single one since John A. Bennett was executed in 1961 for the torture and attempted murder of a Austrian girl. Ronald Gray came closest in 2008 when President Bush signed his death warrant, but he got a last minute stay from a federal court.
But a larger part of the equation appears to be the sometimes cloistered military culture, from a commanding general who can override a jury’s verdict to the routine military reshuffling of personnel, including prosecutors, defense attorneys and witnesses, every two or three years.
“The military is a community of solidarity, a brotherhood and sisterhood, all to its own,” defense lawyer Teresa Norris said. “There is a real reluctance to execute fellow soldiers unless it’s absolutely the worst kind of case and this is the only way.”
Well, that’s absolutely BS. Gray raped seven women killing four. Hasan Akbar killed two of his fellow soldiers and wounded 14 others on March 23, 2003 in the opening hours of the invasion of Hussein’s Iraq. I don’t consider either of them part of my “brotherhood” and I’m pretty sure that you’d be hard pressed to find someone in a US uniform who would.
As we’ve proved here time and again at TAH, we only honor honorable service. Raping and murdering people is not honorable service. If the Hasan jury doesn’t hand down a death sentence, it won’t be because they consider him part of the brotherhood, it’s more likely a result of the reluctance in the United States these days to sentence anyone to death.
Anyone who thinks that Hasan or Manning is part of the brotherhood, raise your hand. Yeah, I thought so.
Category: Big Army, Military issues
We haven’t executed a deserter since Eddie Slovak in WW2 and traitors since the Rosenbergs in 48′ or so.
If someone said, “Raise a hand or have them both nailed to the floor,” my response would be, “Get the freakin’ hammer!”
Perhaps they changed the meaning of death row….all people will die eventually so if they stay on death row long enough it is self fulfilling…it’s just not death by execution row, more of a death by eventual natural causes row…
Too bad…
I imagine a call for volunteers for a firing squad would find plenty of applicants
Can we just make 2014 the year we CLEAN HOUSE on death row?
“Cloistered”? Excuse me, but I don’t think CNN knows the true meaning of that word. The military is hardly cloistered.
If we are going to have a death penalty and death row, then we need to use it, and in a timely manner. Otherwise, get rid of it altogether. It’s expensive and doesn’t mean anything if the sentence isn’t carried out as ordered.
Just line them up and shoot them,they are a waste of skin,cnn blows.
I wonder if CNN sees the same kind of brotherhood among civilian capital offenders and the leftists who idolize them and move heaven and earth to try to get them freed.
An NCO I used to work for thought it was because it required the President to directly sign the order, thus bringing down all the heat on him. Just as easy to say Well hell I don’t need this aggravation. let the next guy worry about it. Not like any of them are going anywhere.
So, CNN reports that the military hasn’t executed anyone in 50 years* because of (I don’t know-some nonsense about military culture or something), but if you read the linked article about the last guy hanged they report that the old system was unfair to blacks. Most of those on military death row today are black, so if we starting carrying out those death sentences CNN would report how the awful military justice system discriminates against blacks. The media just exists to generate controversy in order to attract attention, they are ethically and intellectually bankrupt.
* never mind that the only Federal execution for about as long was McVeigh, and he practically volunteered for the needle.
CNN doesn’t see the difference between honorable soldiers and terrorists who shoot from a flag of truce or hiding behind women and children. They’re scum. They prove it over and over.
Compare their coverage of the Haditha Marines with their coverage of Hasan… Or the terrorists shelling Israeli non-combatants… Or any other “gunmen”, “militants”, or “freedom fighters” our troops have to face…
For a military person to be executed requires the POTUS to personally sign the death warrant. Not the Veep, not the CJCS, not the Service Chief.
Not putting someone to death plays well to the electorate – shows a belief in mercy and humanizes a POTUS. It is inhuman to the taxpayer, but we’re less than 50% of the electorate nowadays so who cares?
@4, I’d re-enlist if they promised me a spot on the squad…
Kinda thought we had put that misconception about all military folks walking in lock step no matter what when so many of us campaigned successfully against sKerry. But then, the media, predictably, misinterpreted what we did then, too.
Perhaps if they had a basic understanding of honor it would help. We honor all until they remove themselves from our ranks. Even then we honor their honorable service prior to their dishonorable deeds.