One of the things in life I thoroughly don't understand right now is the current "penalty phase" in the trial of Zacharias Moussaoui. The confessed Al-Quaeda member and "20th terrorist" from 9/11 wants to die, maybe. On the one hand, he rants about how glad he is to have caused the death and blood and pain that he has caused, and on the other, how he thinks he might save his life by talking that way. He says he can't get a fair trial "this close to the Pentagon." Probably, that's true. Does he need to die? I don't know. If anyone deserves death, it's him - but experience has taught me two thing about that: 'Deserve' simply isn't part of the equation - you die or you live, whether or not you do things that are right or wrong. I also don't think that his death will accomplish anything. He's on trial for not speaking up about 9/11 before it happened, thus failing to prevent it. Our own government did the same thing. Should they all be on trial, too? What good does any of this do? We hear more details about the horror of 9/11 - something that we would collectively never forget, even if we were allowed to, which we won't; get ready for two 9/11 movies coming out - and I can't help but wonder if this in the forefront of the news is all about refreshing the rationale behind the foreign policy decisions made by this administration. Fighting terror and religious zealotry with war and crusader's fervor. Back to Zac, though - what is the fucking point of all this? He confessed, he's glad there's suffering, terror works, he's guilty and we're all fucked because of what he didn't do. People are dead, and he likely has no further use to anyone. He is not on jihad, and he is rejected by members of his own faith. We go on and on, everyday, reminding ourselves of a tragedy, and focusing on one of our few successes in relationship to prosecuting those responsible, and this just makes everyone involved look pathetic, petty, and pointless.
Or maybe there are meds for someone like me - some of that shiny stuff with the expensive commercials. This is one of those times I'd genuinely like to hear what you guys think, so comment if it occurs to you.
