A group of 72 retired generals and other senior military leaders are urging the Trump administration to cancel plans to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at the military base in 2009. President Donald Trump approved Hasan’s execution by firing squad earlier in October and the Army scheduled it for December 3.
Last week, the Pentagon announced the execution would be livestreamed after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview that it would be "public." "We ask the President, our Congressional representatives, and our fellow citizens to act to prevent this barbaric abuse of authority: Livestreaming an execution debases the values, principles, and commitment to basic human dignity of our military and our nation,” the retired military officers wrote in their open letter, according to Just Security. They wrote that while the court-martial had unanimously agreed that death was an appropriate sentence for Hasan’s crimes, it “does not relieve the Government of its responsibility to ensure that the execution complies with the Constitution and this nation’s values and beliefs.” They argued that livestreaming the execution would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, noting that Army regulation on execution “is designed to meet this grave responsibility.” Livestreaming the execution “would clearly violate the basic human dignity of the condemned prisoner,” they wrote. They also warned that “it will be used by our nation’s enemies to stoke hatred, harm American soldiers and citizens in the future, and will ensure that Hasan becomes a martyr for attacking and killing his fellow soldiers.” Newsweek has contacted the White House and Pentagon for comment via emails sent outside regular business hours.
The letter was signed by 72 retired military leaders: General Johnnie Wilson, USA (Ret)Lieutenant-General Charles P. Otstott, USA (Ret)Rear Admiral John Hutson, USN (Ret)Rear Admiral Don Guter, USN (Ret)Rear Admiral (Lower half) Jamie Barnett, USN (Ret)Lieutenant-General Paul T. Mikolashek, USA (Ret)Brigadier General David R.
Irvine, USA (Ret)Brigadier General Thomas P. Barrett, USA (Ret)Major General Walter B Huffman, USA (Ret)Major General Charles F. Bolden, Jr., USMC (Ret)Major General William L.
Nash, USA (Ret)Brigadier General Ed Dyer, USA (Ret)Brigadier General Leif Hendrickson, USMC (Ret)Lieutenant-General Claudia Kennedy, USA (Ret)Major General Roger Mathews, USA (Ret)Brigadier General Murray G. Sagsveen, USA (Ret)Rear Admiral Robert E. Besal, USN (Ret)Rear Admiral James E McPherson, USN (Ret)Lieutenant-General Richard Kramlich, USMC (Ret)Brigadier General David P.
Carey, USA (Ret)Lieutenant-General Jeffrey S. Buchanan, USA (Ret)Major General Rick Devereaux, USAF (Ret)Brigadier General Ronald D. Sullivan, USA (Ret)Vice Admiral Mike Franken, USN (Ret)Major General Margaret Woodward, USAF (Ret)Brig Gen Daniel P.
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