Thoughts on the Execution of the Beltway Sniper

John Allen Muhammad (a.k.a. John Allen Williams, The Beltway Sniper or The D.C. Sniper) was executed by lethal injection in Virginia last night. He was 48 years old.

Muhammad and his young accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, executed 10 people and wounded three others in D.C., Maryland and Viriginia over a three week period in October 2002. Malvo said during his 2006 trial that Muhammad wanted to "terrorize" the nation because "he hates this country." In fact, Muhammad's original goal was to kill six people a day for a month. Muhammad might have not attained his desired bodycount but he and Malvo surely terrorized this nation. Malvo was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences. The two have also been linked to various unsolved homicides committed around the country. The U.S. Army unwittingly gave Muhammad the training necessary to wantonly snuff out human life in the name of jihad.

While Nidal Malik Hasan killed 12 people in a sudden burst of violence, Muhammad worked slowly and randomly. Hasan was born a Muslim while Muhammad converted to Islam. Their methods might have been different and how they came to Islam might have been different. But they are both Islamic terrorists just the same. One can legitimately criticize the U.S. military is for not having discharged Hasan. Yet who can say that Hasan wouldn't have attacked civilians as Muhammad did if he were to have been discharged?

If jihadists love death more than they love life then I can only hope Hasan meets with the same fate as Muhammad did last night.