Opinion
A cage fight on the White House lawn, celebrating a US president’s 80th birthday, was bad enough. It was crass mass entertainment that debased the office of the president and the dignity of the historic location. But the proposed live-stream execution of an army officer convicted over a mass shooting at the Fort Hood army base in 2009 – announced by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth – is much, much worse.
American adults, and their children, will see a man shot to death by firing squad if this event goes ahead. Australian children, despite our government’s efforts to restrict online access, might see it too.
Live-streaming an execution is the stuff of a medieval town square, grotesque theatre dressed up as retributive justice and deterrence. Only repressive regimes such as Iran still resort to such barbaric displays. Or did.
What is America coming to? The US is a nation forged in the violence of slavery and civil war, yes. But also historically admirable, wonderful, in its commitment to democratic ideals and world peace. US moral authority and purpose is lost by mimicking the methods of terrorist opponents.
I was living in the US when the Fort Hood massacre happened and covered the event as a journalist. Nidal Malik Hasan, the US army major who ran amok at Fort Hood in Texas on that dreadful day in November 2009, killed 13 fellow soldiers and wounded 32 others.
As I wrote at the time, Hasan was a doctor, supposedly dedicated to saving life. He’d treated many patients suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from combat. There were a few warning signs, perhaps difficult for Hasan’s military superiors to detect or judge as to their seriousness. Hasan had personal problems after some past bullying.
More disturbingly, he was attracted to radical Islam and had made some threatening internet posts anonymously. After the shooting, Americans were deeply shocked that an officer would turn his gun on other service men and women.
I have no sympathy for Hasan, nor his fate, considering his violence that took the lives of so many. I also don’t support the death penalty. It has been agreed policy of Australia’s major political parties for decades to oppose capital punishment, while endorsing life imprisonment for the worst of crimes.
The US retains the death penalty in some states as punishment for capital crimes. We saw an example last week with the botched execution of Christa Pike. She survived a lethal injection execution that was meant to be punishment for murdering a classmate in Tennessee more than 30 years ago.
The Pike case shows how things can go badly wrong. She is alive but with serious brain damage. In Hasan’s case, his killing spree ended when Fort Hood defenders shot him. He survived but was paralysed from the waist down. He has been confined to a wheelchair in his jail cell since 2009.
One of the perverse questions raised about the live-stream execution backed by President Donald Trump’s man at the Pentagon is whether Hasan would be standing up, or sitting down, when facing his firing squad.
Hasan can’t stand up. He would need to be forcibly strapped to a post, with no leg muscles to hold him up when the firing squad did its work. Quite apart from the ethics of the death penalty, and the first US military execution by firing squad since World War II, there is the issue of torture.
Trump’s initial response to Hegseth’s invitation to US citizens en masse to witness a man shot to death was mixed. “I really don’t care how he goes, as long as he goes,” he said.
Trump signed Hasan’s execution order last week. A senior White House official was reported saying that Trump “doesn’t oppose the idea” of live-streaming, while indicating that the US president did not take credit for that decision.
Obliquely, Trump said after the Hegseth announcement: “Well, they’re making their determination.” Didn’t “they” make it already? Trump’s comment conveniently sidestepped personal responsibility and gave him room to veto the idea.
Trump is impulsive, erratic. He doesn’t take advice. The White House official quoted earlier said Trump’s position “is not yet final and he could change his mind”.
Trump’s hand-picked White House circle usually needs his nod to do anything. It is hard to believe that Hegseth acted on his own initiative with the live-stream announcement.
Trump can blame Hegseth for any U-turn, just as he may end up blaming his defence secretary for why he can’t end a war with Iran. But the US descent into depravity is under way. Implicit in Trump saying he doesn’t care how Hasan goes is that execution voyeurism is OK. Trump proves again that he is unfit for public office.
Brad Norington is a former Sydney Morning Herald journalist and was The Australian’s Washington correspondent during the Obama administration.
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