A.G. Mukasey on Executions as Martyrdom

From ABC News:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey suggested Friday that he believes the alleged 9/11 plotters held at Guantanamo Bay should not be executed if convicted.

"I kind of hope they don't get it," Mukasey said after a speech at the London School of Economics. "Because many of them want to be martyrs, and it's kind of like the conversation & between the sadist and the masochist."

"The masochist says hit me and the sadist says no, so I am kind of hoping they don't get it," he said.

Capital Defense Weekly found the reply from the defense:

Army Lt Col Bryan Broyles, a military lawyer assigned to defend Mohammed al-Qahtani, one of the six current death penalty cases at Guantanamo, said the case was already tainted by suspected US abuse of Qahtani. He added that it was improper for Mukasey to comment. “I appreciate him being on my side on the death penalty thing, but I don’t need his help,” Broyles said. The Pentagon declined to comment.

Comments like this from the country's most powerful lawyer certainly bring into question the best way to deal with those who would prefer execution and martyrdom over life without parole; a debate which is not limited simply to the cases of these particular terrorists.