Hegseth announced last week that the US public would be able to see the execution of Nidal Hasan, which is set for 3 December at Fort Hood, Texas. Hasan, a former army major and psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 at Fort Hood in 2009. A military court sentenced him to death in August 2013.
āWeāll make sure that people are able to watch it, that itās public,ā Hegseth said. āIt was a radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks, and so heās going to get a firing squad of soldiers ā as it should be.ā
The de facto leader of Hegsethās theocratic Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), Douglas Wilson, welcomed the announcement.
Christians certainly do. They put his method of execution on all their jewellery and art and stuff. Imagine if heād been hanged or guillotined or shot? Imagine a bunch of Christians wandering around with gun pins and badges. People might get the impression theyāre pro-violence or something. Wouldnāt that be crazy?
I raised my kid without religion, and the first time he saw the image of a bloody man dying on a piece of wood with nails in his hands, was at school in Texas. He came home and cried and described it, he was like 7. I told the school and even (irrationally) contacted the website that displayed the image to my kid. They were like, āyah itās graphic and violent and bloody, but itās fine.ā
Its pretty nuts really.