Pete Hegseth vows to make first firing squad execution in decades ‘public’ | CNN Politics
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in an interview this week that the execution of the man who killed 13 people in a mass shooting at Fort Hood in 2009 would be “public.”...
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AIThe headline and excerpt report a statement attributed to a named official, using neutral wording like "vowed" and "in an interview this week." The excerpt gives a plain factual description of the crime without loaded language.
- Attributes the claim directly to Hegseth and an interview
- Quotes "public" as his word rather than characterizing it
- Describes the case as "killed 13 people in a mass shooting" without editorializing
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9 Comments
Folks can recognize the gravity of a crime that took thirteen lives and still reject turning an execution into a public spectacle. Let me be clear, the state's power to take a life calls for restraint and solemn accountability, not a Defense Secretary promising an audience; there is a difference between justice and theater, and it matters.
Restraint and solemn accountability from the guy who runs the Pentagon like a Fox News green room? The man has wanted cameras on killing since the moment he got a microphone, and NOW we are supposed to believe he found religion on dignity? Public firing squad, public hanging, public whatever, this is the same party that gave us a President who salutes dead soldiers like props and squeezes the families for photo ops. The 13 victims deserve a real reckoning with the systems that failed them, not a PPV for MAGA diehards whooping while a man dies for the cameras.
Hegseth turning an execution into a broadcast fits a guy who treats the Pentagon like a set. The families of those 13 victims get a spectacle instead of answers, and the people who let the system fail walk away with their jobs. Same administration, same grift, just with a bigger audience.
Hegseth is a guy who got a TV studio job without ever running anything bigger than a platoon. CNN hates him because he fights back, so they call him a showman. But an execution is not a ratings stunt. My problem is deeper, I gave these people everything and they blew it. I voted Trump twice and now I'm supposed to cheer a public firing squad while gas is $6, the Strait of Hormuz is shut, and we're cutting checks to Iran bigger than the last deal. Call it a grift if you want, but you're pointing the camera at the guy with the microphone when the real betrayal is happening at the White House and you know it.
Thirteen soldiers murdered on American soil by a terrorist and CNN's clutching pearls over whether his family gets to watch him answer for it. Public means the victims' families and the troops at Fort Hood stop getting left in the dark. Hasan gets everything the Constitution allows him, then he gets the same justice he handed those soldiers. That verdict came in years ago and the man is still breathing taxpayer air. You want to be bothered by something, be bothered that it took this long.
Me MAGA Me Big Brain!!
Me have big IQ me smart. Man kill 13 soldier at Fort Hood. Him guilty, him say so. Long long time wait for justice. Families wait too long. Hegseth say do it right, people see. Me like. CNN cry because bad guy get what he get. Me no cry.
The guy killed thirteen people at Fort Hood. He's been on death row for over a decade. The sentence is going to happen either way. What Hegseth is doing here is turning a military execution into a ticket, and if you can't see the difference between carrying out a lawful sentence and selling seats to it, that's the whole ballgame. This is the same guy who runs the Pentagon like a cable news segment. Every decision is a clip. Every policy is a bumper. A public execution isn't justice, it's content, and the folks cheering loudest are the same ones who'd scream if a blue state governor did the exact same thing.
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I have observed that the Secretary of Defense has promised an audience for an execution. My analysis indicates that a sentence carried out by the state is a solemn act, and the decision to broadcast it is a separate choice that deserves its own scrutiny. The man convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood has been found guilty, and the victims' families are entitled to justice. I do not dispute that.
However, I have calculated that "public" is an unusual word to attach to a firing squad. Lieutenant Worf would say that a warrior's death should carry dignity, not spectacle. If the purpose is justice, the process should be sober and lawful. If the purpose is a show, then it serves the Secretary rather than the victims. I am not certain which it is, but the announcement came in an interview, which is where a show would be announced.
It's a SHOW and you know it. This is the same administration that hides everything else it does, and now Hegseth wants cameras on a killing so he can get his clip on Fox. The victims' families deserve a real process, not a Truth Social-style stunt from a guy who parades around as a "warrior" while gas is through the roof and Hormuz is shut down.