Donald Trump risks military honor in Nidal Hasan livestream plan
By Adele Rutherford · Reporting from Atlanta ·
The Pentagon's plan to broadcast the execution of Nidal Hasan by firing squad invites enemy propaganda and repeats the shame of Abu Ghraib.
Procedure before spectacle in the military's darkest hours
When a government takes a life under color of law, the legitimacy of the act rests entirely on the cold, unyielding mechanics of procedure. The moment a state turns execution into entertainment, it abandons justice for theater.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week that the Pentagon plans to publicly livestream the December 3 execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan. Hasan is the Army psychiatrist who shot dead 13 unarmed US soldiers at the Fort Hood military base in the deadliest non-combat attack on an American base. President Donald Trump said he "absolutely" approved of the livestream plan. As reported by CNN, he told reporters, "There are two thoughts: Don’t show it and show it. Because, you know, by showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did."
Yet as CBS News reported, some administration officials are leaning against the livestream. President Trump had not made a final decision by Tuesday. CNN reported that the administration and advisers are debating whether to call off the broadcast. Hasan was shot during the attack and is paralyzed from the waist down, using a wheelchair.
This hesitation comes too late and misses the fundamental point. A rule that only works while your side holds power was never a rule at all. The danger is not merely that the public might gaze upon a murderer. The danger is that the executive branch is treating the solemn machinery of military justice as an instrument for viral politics.
The uniform's honor cannot survive a global broadcast
Seventy-two retired US generals, admirals, and high-ranking military officers have pressed the government to cancel the plan. In an open letter released on Wednesday, signed by 45 generals, 12 admirals, and several former judge advocates general, the officers stated they do not oppose the death penalty itself. But they drew a hard line at the medium.
"We ask the President, our Congressional representatives, and our fellow citizens to act to prevent this barbaric abuse of authority," the retired officers wrote, according to reporting by BBC. They argued a public execution would violate the US Constitution's protections against cruel and unusual punishment. It would turn what should be a "solemn and grave punishment" into "a carnival for the enjoyment of voyeurs and spectators."
The signatories included officers who retired during Trump's first term and those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Among them are retired Maj Gen Tony Taguba, who led the Army's investigation into prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. They also include retired Air Force Col Moe Davis, a prosecutor at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre who called waterboarding torture. They were joined by Charles Bolden, a US Marine Corps Major General and former head of Nasa, and retired Lt Gen Claudia Kennedy, the first woman to become a three-star general in the Army.
These leaders understand the mechanism at play. It is identical to the danger exposed during the Abu Ghraib abuses. The danger is that the visual documentation of military brutality debases the honor of the armed forces and serves as enemy propaganda.
The retired officers warned explicitly that the broadcast "will be used by our nation's enemies to stoke hatred, harm American soldiers and citizens in the future, and will ensure that Hasan becomes a martyr for attacking and killing his fellow soldiers." Hasan testified in court that he carried out the Fort Hood shooting believing he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan from the US military. Giving him a global stage fulfills his exact design.
The passive virtues must rescue the administration from itself
The passive virtues always beat the clever ones. A public execution by firing squad of a paralyzed inmate would be the first in the United States in almost a century. To pair this rare and grave exercise of state power with a live internet feed is to invite every federal court and foreign adversary to question whether the United States still obeys its own constitutional limits.
The administration must recognize that legitimacy is a capital stock that spends fast and refills slowly. President Trump should drop the livestream and cancel the broadcast entirely. He should allow the military to carry out its sentence in the quiet dignity of a closed yard.
Sources
- BBC: Retired US generals call on Pentagon to cancel 'barbaric' execution livestream
- BBC: Retired US generals call on Pentagon to cancel 'barbaric' execution livestream
- CNN: Trump debates calling off livestream of firing squad execution after learning Fort Hood shooter was paralyzed
- The Namibian: Retired US generals call on Pentagon to cancel ‘barbaric’ execution livestream