The ideal punishment

Consider two very possible scenarios for the near future:

. Osama bin Laden is killed by the massive firepower of the U.S.

. Osama bin Laden is captured, tried, and (if found guilty by
fairly presented evidence) locked up till he dies.

Which of these better serves the interests of the United States? The
former creates a martyr, a poster boy, a symbol in whose name new
recruits to the cause of hatred toward the U.S. will be willing to die.
The second? He is still alive, rotting in prison. Not such an
attractive figure for sacrifice, I believe.

Perhaps catching bin Laden alive is impossible, I don't know. But I
would argue that if we can, we should. And if we're smart, we should
avoid imposing the death penalty, no matter how badly we lust to do so.

JdL

--- In metatuning@y..., "John A. deLaubenfels" <jdl@a...> wrote:

And if we're smart, we should
> avoid imposing the death penalty, no matter how badly we lust to do
so.

The only way that could be accomplished is if he is tried somewhere
else, as in the Pan Am 103 case.