Celebratory ideas:

Have a drink.
Enjoy looking at a woman you are not related to or married to.
Go dancing.

Hell, do all of the above! :-)

How about a necktie party? Mr. Mohammed an be the guest of honor.

What was that line in the old western, "Kill him? Naw, killing's too good for a man like that . . . . . "

Or the George Carlin version was along the lines of, "we're gonna kill you alright, but we're gonna kill you SLOW . . . " [ed.note: Carlin's take-off was actually rated R].

But hanging clearly is too good for the guy. And even with him in U.S. custody, he's not covered by U.S. law as long as he's outside of the country, apparently.

For celebration, I think I'll just sit quietly for a moment or two and think of my friends at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods who died on September 11th: David Campbell, Dave Berry, Dean Eberling, Bill Godshalk and all the rest who died that day. I hope the souls of all the murder victims of 9-11 are feeling a bit better in the wake of this . . . .

Physical torture degrades both the victim and the torturer. American government officials should not do it.

When it is required to get information in war, we can "contract that out" torture to foreigners and use chemical interrogations ourselves.

As far as executions, you don't torture vermin.

You just kill it.

Give Khalid Shaikh Mohammed a secret military tribunal, a bullet to the back of the head and an unmarked grave after we have sucked him dry of information.

"Give Khalid Shaikh Mohammed a secret military tribunal, a bullet to the back of the head and an unmarked grave after we have sucked him dry of information."

Just like any other two-bit neo-nazi police state. You would have America beomce its enemy.

I would suggest a formal trial following due process. and a life sentence in a normal US penitentiary. Treat him well. Make sure he gets weekly visits from a moderate muslim cleric. Allow him all he needs to practise his religion. Allow al-jazeera to visit him regularly. One day he will realize how wrong he was and will cry for the innocents he murdered. That will be the ultimate puishment, because he will want death for his sins.

He would be a showcase for western justice, to show the murdering bastards of al-qaeda we don't need to behave like them, that our system of justice will survive their worst attacks and will always be superior to their injustice.

A military tribunal is due process for illegal combatants.

Understand, under the rules of war, immediate summary execution without trial is authorized for illegal combatants.

Using a military tribunal on our part is how we maintain civilian control of, and the good conduct and order within, our military.

I'll add this to Trent's point... there's a reason one is allowed to execute unlawful combatants, and that reason is minimization of civilian harm and suffering.

Counterintuitive, but true. Think it through:

Requiring one to be part of a recognized military force and to dress in its uniform is the most important requirement for keeping organized violence a military-on-military affair.

Take that away, and you've made the suicide bomber in a nightclub a legitimate instrument of war. Which is loony enough for starters. But the next corollary is even worse: if no distinction is required for military combatants, then no distinction between military and civilian will be made in practice either. Result? Genocidal tactics become both militarily logical and potentially necessary if the opponents are at all evenly matched.

Are either of these outcomes what you want Dave? Because that's what you're (inadvertently, I trust) asking for.

The Western Way of War did not develop the way it has because everyone concerned was nice and had deep feelings for human rights. It was developed and largely adhered to by a lot of people over the centuries, many of whom were not nice. Why? Because the alternative was experienced until even bad guys decided it was a really, really poor idea.

Bottom line: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed does not have the rights of an American citizen, or even the rights of a captured German soldier in WWII. And that is a very good thing. Take away the difference between lawful and unlawful combatants, and what you reap is not "Western justice" but a consistent parade of terrorism and humanitarian catastrophes for which you will bear partial responsibility.

Take that away, and you've made the suicide bomber in a nightclub a legitimate instrument of war.

I don't know -- I think then you've made him a criminal. Treat him like the common criminal he is.

"I would suggest a formal trial following due process. and a life sentence in a normal US penitentiary. Treat him well. Make sure he gets weekly visits from a moderate muslim cleric. Allow him all he needs to practise his religion. Allow al-jazeera to visit him regularly. One day he will realize how wrong he was and will cry for the innocents he murdered."

Let's have a brief reality check. He's sent to prison where he spends the next 30 years convincing the rest of the criminals to convert to Islam and kill infidel Americans when they are released. Then, one fine day when you have been appointed chairman of the parole board he is pronounced rehabilitated and released.

No seriously, Dave said "cry for the innocents he murdered". This absolutely makes my day. You just can't make this shit up. I have to go, I'm laughing too hard to type.

they fights western for the lyfestyle and freedom they have
if you let them transform you in one of them, they will win
no matter how much of them you kill, death is not a problem for them. Their only aim is to change you and make you behave like they do, to demonstrate that western values are shit when westerns are under trouble.
if we let them prove it, they will win