Attack raises US concerns for justice

Seven years ago the country was gripped by one of the worst mass killings in our nation’s history. For three weeks in October of 2002, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo had the country on its knees in fear and claimed the lives of ten D.C. area residents. Yesterday evening justice was finally served as John Allen Muhammad was put to death in a Virginia correctional facility.

For the survivors of the attacks and the families of those killed, this has been a very long-awaited day. Earlier in the week the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt  the execution, as did the governor of Virginia. Muhammad’s lawyer says that his client is severely mentally ill and should serve his time in a mental institution. While each and every person on this earth should be entitled to a fair trial, people like Muhammad and Malvo who show no regard for human life should not be granted any mercy. I am sure that it is painful enough for families that Malvo, who is just as guilty of pulling the trigger, is dodging the fate of Muhammad by spending the rest of his life in prison. But, as much as many people who want Malvo dead as well, this is the sentence that the courts handed down.

This case has raised so many questions about so many things: are gun regulations strict enough, why are so many veterans suffering from severe mental illness and why isn’t the military doing more, and could have law enforcement found the killers sooner. So many questions are raised and have yet to be answered and may never be. The D.C. sniper attacks are always going to be a very sore spot because we as a nation are still shaken from 9/11. 

Muhammad’s execution will always be remembered as bittersweet though, as it occurred on the same day as the ceremony held at Fort Hood in Texas for the 13 killed and scores wounded after an Army psychiatrist went on his own rampage. Again, justice will be served and relatives for victims will know that their loved ones will not have died in vain. We live, we learn, and we remember. We will never forget those who lost their lives to three crazed men. We are America, and we will never sleep until justice has been served.  
 

3 comments

Your name

Thu Nov 12 2009 09:06

I find it disgusting how in the supposedly most advanced and civil society in the world, families of murdered victims still find cause for celebration when the perpetrator of crimes is also killed. I thought we were supposed to be a high-and-might, moral nation that doesn't practice eye-for-an-eye?

Jeremy Aaron: "We are America, and we will never sleep until justice has been served."

*Gag* What is this, "Team America?" Do you consult some sort of dictionary of cliches? Leave the jingoistic garbage at home, and learn to wean yourself off of the military-industrial complex.

gjdagis

Wed Nov 11 2009 13:28

You state, "This case has raised so many questions about so many things: are gun regulations strict enough, why are so many veterans suffering from severe mental illness . . . "

I think the case raises many questions too, although they're different:

"Are gun regulations ridiculously strict so that people are unable to protect themselves and even the ARMED service is DISARMED", and "What do we do about terrorists since political correctness has destroyed our ability to function rationally in protecting American citizens."

Your name

Wed Nov 11 2009 11:36

I find it is interesting that you raise probably the most salient point about the case "why are so many veterans suffering from severe mental illness and why isn’t the military doing more", and then go on to state that "justice has been served" in the face of yet another mass rampage committed by someone who is suffering a mental illness in the military. No doubt when Hasan is executed you will celebrate that, and when the next one occurs, and so on and so forth, holding your hands over your eyes as you celebrate "justice" as crimes continue to occur. No "justice" has been served because no one has examined nor confronted the cause of these crimes.

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