December 20, 2005
Why We Need the Death Penalty
Paroled TWA Hijacker Returns to Lebanon
Associated Press via Fox News
Tuesday, December 20, 2005BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Lebanese man serving a life sentence in Germany for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner and killing of a U.S. Navy diver has returned to Lebanon after being paroled in Germany, security and guerrilla officials said Tuesday....
[Mohammed Ali] Hamadi's case came up for a court-mandated review, and he was released after an expert assessment and a hearing, said Doris Moeller-Scheu, spokeswoman for the Frankfurt, Germany, prosecutor's office....
U.S. authorities had requested his extradition so he could stand trial in the United States, but the Germans, who have no death penalty, insisted on prosecuting Hamadi.
But at least, thank goodness, the brother of Robert Dean Stethem, the Navy diver who was murdered by Hamadi, knows who is really to blame:
Stethem family members said they learned of Hamadi's release Friday from federal investigators who had worked on the case. Stethem's brother, Kenneth, blamed the U.S. government for not doing enough to keep Hamadi imprisoned.
This is the Chained Dog Syndrome in action: a vicious dog mauls a little child to death; but it's never done that before, so the owner pleads for its life. The authorities agree, but they order the dog to be chained up. The years pass, and after a while, nobody remembers why the dog was chained in the first place; all they see is the "brutality" of a magnificent animal hooked to a chain.
Sooner or later, the pressure to unchain the dog becomes unbearable -- and the resulting tragecy is even worse than the original killing.
The Germans unchained the dog, and he has now returned to the arms of Hezbollah -- not reformed but rather even more radicalized in his jihadist tendencies by years of doing nothing but mull the embittered, hate-filled, and violently antisemitic and racist philosophy of groups like Hezbollah.
Thank heavens we have a death penalty here in America; now let us use it more often.
Hatched by Dafydd on this day, December 20, 2005, at the time of 3:23 PM
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Comments
The following hissed in response by: stackja1945
One day Hamadi will be careless and suddenly find himself in the USA.
The above hissed in response by: stackja1945 ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://biglizards.net/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 20, 2005 4:49 PM
The following hissed in response by: senorlechero
Dafydd
You make a good argument for the death penalty, but not the best one, for in the US we have "Life without Parole" and murderers so sentenced are very rarely pardoned or have their sentences commuted.
I believe the best case for the death penalty is that it's inhumane to make people live with viscious killers.
I've written about it here.........
http://senorlechero.blogspot.com/2005/05/best-argument-for-death-penalty.html
The above hissed in response by: senorlechero at December 20, 2005 8:49 PM
The following hissed in response by: senorlechero
PS............you sort of stuck that bit about Stethem's brother in there like a toothpick in a bowl of soup. Was there another point you were going to make about him, or are we to assume "enough said" about him?
The above hissed in response by: senorlechero at December 20, 2005 8:52 PM
The following hissed in response by: RBMN
I'm comforted to know that Tookie Williams won't be sitting in his cell, drawing up any more homicidal prison-escape plans with a stubby little pencil, as he did back in his early days in prison--Tookie exhibit #0275, whatever. As I recall from a news story, Tookie’s plan was to escape from a prisoner transport bus, killing the guards, and hoping to get the added bonus of killing one of his criminal accomplices who had testified against him. I guess that's what the Hollywood-types liked about Tookie. He was a dreamer....
The above hissed in response by: RBMN at December 20, 2005 9:10 PM
The following hissed in response by: ambiorix
One thing that you are not addressing is the connection between this release and the release of the german hostage in Iraq.
The european bloggers do make that connection very strongly.
The above hissed in response by: ambiorix at December 20, 2005 9:47 PM
The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh
Ambiorix:
One thing that you are not addressing is the connection between this release and the release of the german hostage in Iraq.
Because it's tantalizing and tempting -- but we really have no evidence they're linked beyond temporal propinquity. And it really doesn't matter to my point whether Hamadi was released as part of a prisoner swap or because the Germans don't really care about terrorists or because of zealous compassion: it is simply that a man who (according to Captain Ed, quoting this Reuters story) was, in fact, serving LWOP, was nevertheless let out after less than twenty years.
Hence, we need a death penalty.
Captain Ed highlighted this exchange, by the way, between "a spokeswoman for Germany's Justice Ministry" and reporters at a news conference:
Germany confirmed on Tuesday the release of a Hizbollah member jailed for life for the torture and murder of a U.S. Navy diver two decades ago but denied receiving an extradition request from the United States.
"He served his term," a spokeswoman for Germany's Justice Ministry told a news conference.
Senorlechero:
[Y]ou sort of stuck that bit about Stethem's brother in there like a toothpick in a bowl of soup.
Drive-by snarkage. Just an eye-roller... whenever anything goes wrong in the world, even in a country five thousand miles away, it's Bush's fault.
Dafydd
The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh at December 20, 2005 10:16 PM
The following hissed in response by: Tony B
Well, he's in Lebanon. Since it was a sailor he killed, my vote is for the SEALs. Go get him fellas.
The above hissed in response by: Tony B at December 21, 2005 1:07 AM
The following hissed in response by: Bill Faith
I linked from Germany Frees Terrorist Wanted By US
The above hissed in response by: Bill Faith at December 21, 2005 2:34 AM
The following hissed in response by: Mark J
How would the death penalty help in this case? I mean, they gave him life in prison, and then let him go... who is to say that after sentencing him to death they wouldn't also release him?
If life in prison means what it says it means, we don't have a problem. You can't use a case where a person was released from prison as evidence that life in prison doesn't work... it's not a valid example of life in prison.
The above hissed in response by: Mark J at December 21, 2005 5:39 AM
The following hissed in response by: krkrjak
Everyone knows that a life sentence does not always mean for life. Too many lifers have been paroled only to commit vicious crimes including murder still again. Murderers serving life have killed and injured other prisoners or prison guards. I'm puzzled that so many death penalty opponents have apparently come to believe that death row is a way station for prisoner rehabilitation as in the Williams case. The opponents claim that the death penalty does not deter murder overlooks one undeniable truth.To date not a single murder or crime has been committed by a convict after receiving their due and just punishment.
The above hissed in response by: krkrjak at December 21, 2005 1:25 PM
The following hissed in response by: Jack Tanner
'for in the US we have "Life without Parole" and murderers so sentenced are very rarely pardoned or have their sentences commuted.'
Or as they say in MA 'Life until some Dukasis wannabe gets elected'.
The above hissed in response by: Jack Tanner at December 22, 2005 10:13 AM
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