Military archbishop says Hasan livestream plan would imitate terrorists

Hasan execution would be first U.S. military execution since 1961

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, on Monday issued a statement expressing his “disapproval” of Hasan’s proposed execution and repeating the Catholic Church’s opposition to capital punishment. Broglio also raised pointed questions about the decision to broadcast the killing publicly.

“Do we really want to imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries?” Broglio asked in the statement.

The archbishop framed his objection as a matter of conscience and reputation rather than procedural legality. He asked whether exposing the public to the execution serves any purpose, whether the “potential moral injury, which the members of the firing squad might experience” had been considered, and whether the exposure of a livestream to “the young and impressionable during the 250th anniversary year of our independence” could be repaired.

Broglio also warned that broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheelchair to the world would damage the military’s standing abroad. “The U.S. military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world,” he said. “Is there really a value to throwing them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheel chair to the whole world?”

In the statement, Broglio called on the Trump administration to reconsider its decision to broadcast Hasan’s killing or, at the very least, to protect children from seeing it. He also instructed Catholics who may be assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused, saying the execution is “contrary to the teaching of the Church.”

His opposition joined those of other Catholic leaders objecting to the execution. Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said late last week that “in no way can Hasan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.” “The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people,” Coakley said. Other Catholic leaders who have objected include the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops and Bishop Daniel Garcia of Austin, whose diocese includes Fort Hood.

In announcing that the execution would be made public, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described the decision as having been made as a deterrent to future attacks. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” he said.

The Pentagon last week announced that Hasan, who killed 13 people, including 12 service members, during the 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, has been scheduled to die by firing squad on Dec. 3, with the execution to be held at Fort Hood.

Hasan is paralyzed from injuries he sustained during the law enforcement response to his attack on Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center on Nov. 5, 2009, which killed 13 people and wounded 32 others. During the shooting, the Virginia-born former U.S. Army psychiatrist shouted “Allahu akbar,” which is Arabic for “God is great.” At his court-martial trial, he said the shooting was in defense of the Taliban leadership in the United States’ war with Islam. At the time, the United States was engaged in armed conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan as part of Washington’s Global War on Terrorism.

The last military execution was that of Pvt. John A. Bennett in April 1961, while the execution of Rainey Bethea on Aug. 14, 1936, is generally recognized as the United States’ last public execution.