Sorry Moussaoui, No Virgins For You!

Zacarias Moussaoui will spend the remaining days of his life in prison. Sorry, no virgins for him.

A jury decided against the death penalty for the 37-year-old French-Moroccan who is the only person to be convicted in relation to the 9/11 attacks. It is ironic that a man so eager to be martyred was visibly relieved when the sentence was returned. That says to me that not even he believes the "72 virgins" awaiting him in heaven.

More importantly the jury decided not to compound the tragedy of the attacks with a state-sanctioned killing. This represents a move toward sanity in regard to 9/11. Unfortunately, Bush and the administration is already beating the drums again and posturing the whole affair as a battle between good and evil.

"The end of this trial represents the end of this case, but not an end to the fight against terror, and we can be confident. Our cause is right, and the outcome is certain: Justice will be served. Evil will not have the final say."
- President Bush

Once again they are attempting to structure any discussion in terms of us as the good guys and anyone who is against us as "evil". Do I think the hijackers were good guys? Not at all. They were religious fanatics who saw America as "evil" and their cause as good. To play into their game by just trying to turn the tables is a loosing proposition. It is time we looked at the causes of the terrorism, and how best to prevent it in the future without all the rethoric. If we avoid the fundamentalist trap of the terrorists, we can retain our national sanity and defend ourselves rationally and effectively. We could also go al long way toward eliminating the causes of terrorism to begin with, by trying to understand why they are attacking and how to make a better world where their cause will seem as insane as it really is.