The Cowardice of Compromise: America's Surrender to the Architects of Terror

The news that the architects of America's most grievous wound have been offered a reprieve from their richly deserved appointment with the executioner is nothing short of a moral catastrophe. This plea bargain, concocted by some addlepated bureaucrats in the Department of Justice, is an affront to the very notion of justice itself.

One can almost hear the champagne corks popping in the cells of Guantanamo Bay, as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cohorts celebrate their unexpected deliverance from the ultimate penalty. Meanwhile, the families of the nearly 3,000 souls lost on that September morning are left to wonder why their government has chosen to betray them in so egregious a fashion.

This decision reeks of the sort of pusillanimous hand-wringing that has become all too common in our increasingly invertebrate society. We are told, no doubt, that this deal will bring "closure"—that most insipid of modern consolations. But what closure can there be when justice is so flagrantly abandoned?

The maestros of mass murder who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks did not merely commit a crime; they declared war on the very foundations of our civilization. To offer them anything less than the ultimate sanction is to diminish the enormity of their evil and to cheapen the sacrifice of those who perished.

One can only conclude that this decision springs from a wellspring of moral confusion—a pernicious relativism that blurs the lines between good and evil, between civilization and barbarism. It is a surrender of the most craven sort, cloaked in the language of expediency and pragmatism.

Let us be clear: there are crimes so monstrous, so beyond the pale of human decency, that they can only be answered with the most severe punishment our justice system allows. The attacks of September 11th surely meet this threshold. To pretend otherwise is to engage in a dangerous self-delusion.

This plea deal is not justice; it is capitulation. It sends a message to our enemies that America's resolve can be worn down, that even the most heinous acts may eventually be met with leniency. It is a decision that will haunt us long after the ink on this ill-conceived agreement has dried.

#justice #911 #terrorism #DOJ #pleadeal #alQaeda

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed or implied in this work are those of the author and should not be construed as carrying the official sanction of the Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force, Air Education and Training Command, Air University, or other agencies or departments of the US government or their international equivalents.