The Jury Has Decided

Well, the jury has decided in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and they have given him the death penalty http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/us/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-death-sentence.html?_r=0.  I have previously said I do not believe in the death penalty, and I still do not believe in the death penalty. 

In a way, I do not blame the jurors.  They were given the opportunity, in the selection process, to let it be known if they were prepared to find for the death penalty.  They made their choice then, to be on the jury.  And from what I have heard of the way the law is written, they were compelled to follow the letter of the law which lead to this decision. That is what jurors are supposed to do. 

I have heard the reactions of some of the victims and survivors who say now they can move forward with their lives.  I am thankful for them that that will be possible.  I wonder if it will. The reality is that there will be years of appeals, and I suspect that will continue to be a burden on the victims and survivors.  And, I cannot imagine the haunt to my psyche that I knowingly wanted someone killed would provide.  It is something beyond me to imagine.

I suspect, in a way, that Tsarnaev went into his mission thinking that there was a possibility that he might die, so maybe the result is not much of a surprise to him.  I am still concerned that this will make him a martyr to the terrorist movement.  And, if it becomes known someone can come to the United States and become a martyr, does this make us more of a target?

Mostly, I am just sad that this country still allows the death penalty, which I still think, no matter what kind of due process is used, is cruel and inhumane.

Boston Marathon Bomber

I would not have qualified for the jury at the trial of the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. I do not know how objective I would have been about his innocence or guilt, although his defense team admitted he was involved in the bombing.  Of course, the defense is insisting that Dzhokhar's older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev is to blame for corrupting his younger brother, which they claim is a mitigating circumstance.

I have not heard all of the evidence, nor all of the testimony in the trial.  I will tell you, though, that I would not find in favor of the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, if he were found guilty.  Well, of course not.  I am never in favor of the death penalty, no matter how heinous the crime.  I just do not believe that a panel of 12 jurors have that power any more than one person has the power to determine that someone else should die, due process or not. And, two wrongs do not make a right. And certainly, I do not believe that two brothers have the right to kill or maim many innocent people, but with all of that said, I cannot take it upon myself to say that those persons should die at the hand of other persons. I do believe that they should die when God deems they should die.

But there is a more serious consideration regarding the imposition of the death penalty on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.  And, I am surprised that this has not been discussed in public, in the media.  If Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is condemned to death for his part in the Boston Marathon bombing, he has the potential for becoming a MARTYR, a HERO, for the fanatical Islamic fringe.

I do not believe that all people of the Islamic faith are fanatically violent against the Western World, or non-Islams.  Heck, even amongst themselves the people of the Islamic faith cannot unite:  The Shi'ite and Sunni Islams are in opposition to each other. So why would we think that either extreme faction could reconcile with Christians or Hebrews. Well, of course, we would not think so, ifwe  were reasonable people. Although we know that the moderate, calm, open-minded people of the Islamic faith are able to function in harmony with peoples of other faiths.

A colleague commented, shortly after 9/11/2001, that this part of the world (the Middle East) has been at war amongst itself for 2000 years or more. Why is it we think our (the United States) intervention will change that. It will not. 

The change will only occur when the various factions: the Sunni, the Shi'ite, the Palestinians, the Israelis, El-Qaida, the Taliban, ISIS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant and who knows who else, come to some understanding, amongst themselves, and then come to  an understanding with the other religions of the world. Although it would be nice to think that the confluence of these peoples would occur sooner than later, the likelihood is that it will not occur, or if it does, it will occur with some key participants missing. I doubt it will occur in my life time.

Fanaticism

We were talking at work about the terrorism seen in Boston this week.  One of my coworkers asked what is it about the Muslims.  My comment was that it is not Muslims that behave in this terroristic way, it is the fanatical groups like Al Qaeda.

I went on to explain that I see Al Qaeda as the Muslim version of the Klu Klux Klan.  We agreed that the Klan members claim to be Christian, but their violent racist behavior is not Christian. And even with the advances of integration in this country, the Klan still has followers and there are White Supremists in this country who are capable of that kind of terrorism.  We acknowledged that the Klan does not do international terrorism.  But it helps us to think about the difference between Muslims and Al Qaeda.

Fanaticism about anything is dangerous. "Anything in excess is too much."