It seems to me, if Akbar has confessed — and it sounds like he has — it’s hard to see why he shouldn’t have a field court-martial and be executed. I don’t mean to sound callous or knee-jerky or consumed with blood-lust or anything else of the sort. But why have military codes of justice and capital punishment if not for something like this? Again, if his guilt is not in doubt and he’s “sane” enough to have passed the psych-evaluations to be there in the first place, why not execute him? He threw several grenades into his commanding officers’s tents, while they were sleeping, in a combat zone. He committed one count of murder and more than a dozen counts of attempted murder. According to military sources, he was motivated by sympathy for the enemy. What other criteria are missing to justify a firing squad? I suppose he could have been following direct orders from the enemy or some such. But I don’t see how there could be anything that would make him more deserving of the death penalty. And, if they are going to do it, they should get it over with as quickly and professionally as possible with as little Johnny Cochran, Alan Dershowitz circus stuff as possible.

If there are people with military or legal or especially legal-military experience who can explain to me why I am wrong, I am all ears.