U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier this month that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four helpers would be brought before a civilain court yards away from the original World Trade Center site in which they allegedly leveled.

According to a New York Times article,

Holder insisted both the court system and the untainted evidence against the five men are strong enough to deliver a guilty verdict and the penalty he expects to seek: a death sentence for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people who were killed when four hijacked jetliners slammed into the towers, the Pentagon and a field in western Pennsylvania.

But why a death penalty? Why not hard labor for decades? Why not a life of imprisonment? How can one single life make up for 3,000 dead in New York?

It can’t, and the sentence Holder is seeking is far from ample.

Regardless, we are set to give Mohammed and his cohorts the death penalty, which is exactly what they want: martydom. According to the article:

Held at Guantanamo since September 2006, Mohammed said in military proceedings there that he wanted to plead guilty and be executed to achieve what he views as martyrdom. In a letter from him released by the war crimes court, he referred to the attacks as a ”noble victory” and urged U.S. authorities to ”pass your sentence on me and give me no respite.”

He urged officials to hand down the sentence. So, essentially, in the death penalty, we are possibly going to give this delusional person exactly what he has wished for: to be joined in martydom with a buffet of virgins and glory and whatever else?

Here’s what Mohammed and others deserve, if they are found guilty: they should be kept alive as long as possible and used for public works projects as long as they are capable.

Unbeknownst to them, there is no paradise for them to go to, but at the least, we can keep them from the hope of it. As long as we adopt a policy to “kill these folks,” we are catering to their exact, exact desires. We are doing them a favor. Why would we, as a country, just outright kill a prisoner who wants nothing more than to be called a martyr?

If they want to die to meet up with their brethren and supposed virgins, so be it. Let them live as long as possible, working until their deathbeds for the public good, and when their day finally comes, they will have put in years in public service improving roads and infrastructure, or whatever, for future generations. And when their number finally comes, they can go clamber toward their mythical virgins and their paradise and their god. Immediate death for the 9/11 terrorist suspects is egregiously miscalculated and does a disservice to the thousands killed on that day, directly caters to the accused and actually does them a favor.

Somewhere, amid these proceedings, a mullah, and the five suspects, are, no doubt, smiling in agreement with the intentions on how to handle the suspected terrorists.