A Personal Message to the Fort Hood Murderer

[Andy Moynihan]

This is what I posted to my facebook notes. Many of you made points in seperate threads here which I added to my own feelings and this is what I came up with .

To the Fort Hood Murderer( I refuse to address you as "Major" or "Sir", or even to use your name, because that is the way in which I remember TRAITORS):


As the details of your actions trickle in and are sorted out after having been cycled through a news media better at garbling the truth than reporting it, It becomes increasingly clear to me, especially having once been a soldier myself, that there is no punishment on this mortal Earth harsh enough to repay your deeds.


I do not care about your heritage or your religion. I am not part of the the "I saw his name and I just knew it was time for another anti-Muslim rant" crowd so prevalent online since the details of your name, which I will not repeat, were released. Hypothetical imaginary friends in the sky do not concern me, whatever their form, and I have nothing but contempt for those who are using this as just another chance to show their bigotry, and will therefore waste no more time on them.

I DO care that you have this day done a damnable deed by the standard of ANY religion, and that you betrayed the trust American soldiers have held sacred for the last 234 years.

I DO care that you betrayed and murdered 13 of your own and wounded 27 others, fully KNOWING that in most cases, unless on MP or sentry duty, most soldiers generally cannot carry weapons while on post,and that each last one of their families will now have to live their lives with the consequences of your cowardly, traitorous act.

I DO care that now it will be that much longer before our wounded, mental or physical, can get the treatment they are in immediate need of, and that the troops that your victims' units were reinforcing or relieving will now have to wait that much longer, because the Army was good enough for you to get free money for college, but when the time came for you to stand like a Soldier and do your duty as you swore to do, you chose instead to murder those who were not only your fellow soldiers, but also soldiers who specifically were looking to YOU, a DOCTOR, to be the one who stood ready to help and support them. 'First, Do no harm"' and all that goes with that. This is beyond inexcusable.

On the subject of oaths--apart from the one you and I BOTH took, I have here a little yellow card that used to be in my wallet while I was still in the MA State guard before its stand down. It enumerates the five parts of the Soldier's Code. Let's look at those, shall we:

1) I am an American Soldier--a protector of the greatest nation on earth, sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. ( A fine job you did of helping to protect those under your care and uphold the Constitution, indeed).

2) I will treat others with dignity and respect and expect others to do the same. (Need we really even touch this one).

3) I will honor my Country, the Army, my unit, and my fellow soldiers by living up to the Army Values ( Oh, you mean the ones that include "put the welfare of the Nation, the Army and your subordinates BEFORE YOUR OWN", or "Bear true faith and allegiance to the US Consttution, the Army, YOUR UNIT AND YOUR FELLOW SOLDIERS", or maybe "Face fear, danger or adversity (Physical or moral)"? You were in long enough to make major, you know what you got into,you know the deployment tempo, you know that you have to go, and you know better than to listen to every private coming back from the field. Was it not bad enough for you to turn coward, but that you now must turn murderer and traitor into the bargain? )


4) No matter what situation I am in, I will never do anything for pleasure, profit or personal safety which will disgrace my uniform, my unit, or my Country. ( To use the modern vernacular: EPIC FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!)

5). Lastly, I am proud of my Country and its flag. I want to look back and say I am proud to have served my country as a soldier. ( If by "proud" you mean "disgraced, reviled and by some beliefs forever damned" then I suppose so.......)

I have never been able to understand why certain people who, for whatever reason, find life intolerable, who could merely have sucked a round from a sidearm and been done with the business, instead feel compelled to drag innocent people into such shameful exercises as this.


But, small comfort though it may be to those who lost loved ones, I can at least take solace in the fact that you did not wait until you were discharged before you committed your crimes, where some weak, disgraceful civilian court would have let you walk on some ridiculous insanity plea.

For you and I both know that you committed your crimes in uniform, and that under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the punishment for said crimes is still death by hanging. I very much hope that such execution will be televised and I will happily raise a glass to your impending short drop and sudden stop.

 

[grydth]

Andy, this betrayer will never keep his date with the executioner. A smug Secretary Hellary will condescendingly inform you that hanging this coward,"would inflame public opinion in the Middle Eastern nations...and might even lead to violence."

Watch and see...... as with Iran, Neville Chamberlain lives, and rules.

 

[Senjojutsu]

People,

Factoid: The last US miltary execution was done in 1961.

 

[Tez3]

I think actually he shouldn't be executed, why let him die thinking he's done a glorious thing and is off for his reward. I think he should be 'deleted' and totally forgotten about by his name. he should be forced to see his name erased from everything he ever touched, make it as if he were never born then consign him to a 'Count of Monte Christo/Man in the Iron Mask' prison where he is never talked to or allowed to live as if he were a man. Keep him there for as long as possible, anonymously, as if he never were. Give him enough bland food to live,the same every day,only water to drink. He can have a view of the outside world from a window, just enough for him to know he is not of the world now. He mustn't be allowed to escape into madness though, he should wake up every morning knowing that this is hell and death will not release him soon.Take his hopes, his life and make nothing of them. He should die when the time comes believing he is nothing and has been forgotten and forsaken by all even Allah.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

I like Tez's answer best.

 

[xJOHNx]

I think actually he shouldn't be executed, why let him die thinking he's done a glorious thing and is off for his reward. I think he should be 'deleted' and totally forgotten about by his name. he should be forced to see his name erased from everything he ever touched, make it as if he were never born then consign him to a 'Count of Monte Christo/Man in the Iron Mask' prison where he is never talked to or allowed to live as if he were a man. Keep him there for as long as possible, anonymously, as if he never were. Give him enough bland food to live,the same every day,only water to drink. He can have a view of the outside world from a window, just enough for him to know he is not of the world now. He mustn't be allowed to escape into madness though, he should wake up every morning knowing that this is hell and death will not release him soon.Take his hopes, his life and make nothing of them. He should die when the time comes believing he is nothing and has been forgotten and forsaken by all even Allah.

Undoubtly more torturing than a hanging.

But aren't we above that? As law bringing people?

 

[Tez3]

Undoubtly more torturing than a hanging.

But aren't we above that? As law bringing people?

If he has a fair trial and it's decided he has forfeited his American citizenship, it's not torture.
I don't see you as law bringing people, I'm sorry, any more than we are.

 

[xJOHNx]

It is the wrong term I used (was just reading 300, so that's why it came up).

My point came down to, we should be more than that. Leave the gut feeling and be humane about this. Not granting him amnesty! But still, be more than the gut feeling inside of us. No matter how grave the situation is.

There you have it, hope it clears my initial post up.

 

[Tez3]

There's nothing inhumane in treating him as I suggested. To sentence him to death is to grant him what he wants, whether his actions were political or personal he would have accepted that death was the likely outcome for him. He has placed himself outside of the pale as far as being a citizen of his country is concerned. He could be stripped of all his rights as a citizen and simply released if the population would all agree to not help him, this would have been the punishment in many places long before our countries got so populous. He would have been turned away from everything and everyone he had known, left to fend for himself. This won't work now so keeping him in a place of confinement would have to do. He'd receive all basic care, how else would he realise the wrong he has done so many people? merely executing him doesn't give him those years to contemplate his deeds.

 

[Sukerkin]

Of course, the problem is that if he has become mentally ill, we are then punishing a person for not being in his right mind.

Assuming that this was not a premeditated act by the murderer, I think John has a valid point on this one - either deal with him at the scene as an immediate danger or rise above our atavistic need for revenge.

 

[Tez3]

Of course, the problem is that if he has become mentally ill, we are then punishing a person for not being in his right mind.

Assuming that this was not a premeditated act by the murderer, I think John has a valid point on this one - either deal with him at the scene as an immediate danger or rise above our atavistic need for revenge.

That's why to my mind a fair trial is needed, he will need a defence lawyer who I hope will do the work properly. I hope too that afterwards the lawyer isn't vilified for doing something that does make our countries unique... justice systems that while not perfect do try to be fair.