Brett Eagleson, whose father was killed in the jihad attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was happy to hear that Biden regime Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had unexpectedly revoked the sweetheart plea deal that would have taken the death penalty off the table for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), one of the masterminds of those attacks, and some of his henchmen. Eagleson, along with a large number of other Americans, believes that Mohammed should indeed get the death penalty — unless he wants it, which doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s an odd situation, but Eagleson is right.
Eagleson heads up an organization called 9/11 Justice, which speaks up for survivors of 9/11 and people who are, like Eagleson himself, relatives of those who were killed in the attacks. TMZ reported Tuesday that he “wants to see the Al Qaeda terrorists and KSM rot in prison if they are hoping to die for the cause — but he wants them dead if they are hoping for a cushy life behind bars.”
Eagleson has a point. If Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his fellow jihadis were fully committed to the beliefs that led them to plot the murder of nearly three thousand people, they would have welcomed the death penalty. This is because the Qur’an promises a place in paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111) and guarantees of a place in paradise are hard to find in the Qur’an.
This verse has become in the modern age the rationale for suicide bombing. The renowned medieval Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir explains the passage this way: “Allah states that He has compensated His believing servants for their lives and wealth—if they give them up in His cause—with Paradise.” Another revered scholar, Ibn Juzayy, adds significantly that this verse’s “judgment is general to every believer doing jihad in the way of Allah until the Day of Rising.”
If KSM believes that, and he certainly seems to, why didn’t he jump at the chance to get the death penalty? Once in paradise, he would have gotten to enjoy carnal delights with the famed seventy-two virgins for all eternity.
An Islamic tradition depicts Muhammad saying: “There is no one whom Allah will admit to Paradise but Allah will marry him to seventy-two wives, two from houris and seventy from his inheritance from the people of Hell.” (Sunan Ibn Majah, vol. 5, book 37, no. 4337). Yes, that’s right: this Islamic tradition says that seventy of the famed seventy-two virgins are actually women who have been sent to hell and are serving their sentence by acting as sex slaves for the men in paradise. So apparently what is paradise for the men is hell for the women.
Nevertheless, these doctrines are why, they love death more than we love life, as so many jihadis have reminded us over the years. So why would KSM and the others, who in 2009 published a lengthy Islamic defense for their 9/11 plotting, want to escape the death penalty?
Related: Killing of Hamas Top Dog Highlights Question for U.S.: Who’s In Charge Here?
We may never know the answer to that, but we can be reasonably sure of why Austin revoked the plea deal and put the death penalty back on the table. Was Austin overcome by a sudden feeling of compassion for these people? Or did he experience a sudden burst of patriotism that made him outraged over the deal? Come on, man! This is a Biden regime apparatchik we’re talking about.
Austin likely withdrew the deal not because it blindsided him and he was overcome with righteous indignation, but because the reaction to it was so uniformly negative.
On Thursday, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote to Austin saying that the deal was “unconscionable.” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), meanwhile, wrote to Biden excoriating him for the White House Security Council’s claim that Old Joe “played no role in the negotiations.” An investigation, with more of those embarrassing hearings, was in the offing. The public were outraged.
Austin likely didn’t see that he had any choice. Job one for him and his comrades now is getting Kamala Harris elected president. Why give Trump yet another indication of how treasonous this regime really is (as if he didn’t already have plenty)? So he took what would have been a damaging campaign issue off the table. Austin did the regime a valuable service, and will certainly get his reward. And if Brett Eagleson gets his way, so will Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, at long last.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member