http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0508mon2-08.html

9/11 figure will be buried alive

May. 8, 2006 12:00 AM

As you read this, Zacarias Moussaoui may already be settling into the rhythms of his new home. Such as they are.

No ordinary prison for him. No cellblock with its luxury of human companionship, no matter how bad the companions might be. No meals in the mess hall, no hoops in the yard.

No. Not for him.

The only man convicted of active complicity in the 9/11 terror attacks will, in a sense, be buried alive.

No martyrdom, then. No ringing, derisive last words, no delusions of a swift ascent to paradise.

No, not for him.

Instead, only long grim years at the prosaically named Administrative Maximum United States Penitentiary in Colorado, where 23 hours of each interminable day will creep along with Moussaoui in his own little soundproof cell. Even in his one hour outside, the walls will be so high he will not be able to gaze upon the mountains.

Yes, a death sentence would have rid us once and for all of this noxious specimen. But the execution and its legal precursors would have been yet another spectacle. More opportunities for Moussaoui to add to the pain he already has inflicted. More reminders.

Now he can be forgotten about until the day, perhaps long in the future, when he expires, in the words of his sentencing judge, not with a bang but a whimper. A mere footnote by then, perhaps. An all-but-forgotten remnant of unutterable, incomprehensible evil.

The temptation upon the jury to quickly end his life must have been powerful. A great many 9/11 families sincerely and understandably hoped for that outcome.

But this is worse for Moussaoui. Far worse. A living death, with only his own wickedness, his own wretchedness for company.

The jury was very, very wise.