Soldiers Not Saying “Send Me” to be Part of Hegseth’s Ghoulish Livestreamed Firing Squad — They’re Coming to MRFF
firing-squad
(AI-generated image)
“I do not want my children or my family watching me pull a trigger.” — Active duty Fort Hood soldier and MRFF client
“Several soldiers argued the public nature of the killing would violate a basic tenet of Christianity that prohibits sinning in pride.” — The Washington Sun, covering MRFF’s Fort Hood clients’ objections to livestreamed execution
Recent Posts
- October 9, 2026 | 12 comments
Well, firing squads have been in existence for a long, long time ever since firearms were invented. If you don’t get executed one way, there is always another way to execute you.
Nidal Hasan is a monster who took the lives of thirteen innocent people if ever a man deserved the death penalty. Why doesn’t the MRFF have some words of compassion for them? They are just tooting their own horn as usual.
The objection is not to the execution, but to celebrating it in public.
Consider how heroic it’s going to look seeing four bravest of the brave shooting a man in a wheelchair.
As usual, Old Soldier has lost the thread of the narrative. While it’s true that Hasan’s motivation for the killings at Fort Hood were religious in nature, the soldiers being required to carry out firing squad duties also have religious rights — one of which is to not suffer the social consequences of being labeled “executioner.” Historically, executioners have been treated as outcasts.
Remember, too, that killing others in combat is something that most religions — in America, at least — treat as an unfortunate necessity. On the other hand, killing a disabled man IN PUBLIC does NOT within the norms of the vast majority of religions.
The decision to LIVESTREAM this event serves no purpose other than to sensationalize the slaughter of a person unable to defend himself.
This savage and uncivilized approach will fan the flames of fundamentalist extremism worldwide. The death penalty is also too expensive for my tax dollars. The all-in cost in Florida, where execution has strong support of the Republicans completely in control of the state for the last 30 years, is about $24 MILLION per prisoner. Keeping them locked up for life is a lot less expensive.
@Mark Spiller Some people like organized crime figures, street gangs, drug cartel people, sex traffickers, and child pedophiles need to get the death penalty because there is no way you can rehabilitate them. They are beyond help and way too deep in crime.
The archbishop assigned to serve Catholics in the US military strongly condemned the Pentagon’s plan to livestream a firing squad execution and said Monday that Catholic personnel should not participate. more at
https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/13/politics/archbishop-military-catholics-firing-squad
The REAL reason Trump and Hogsbreath want the execution on video
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/10/13/800111740/cartoon/public-execution/
To Old Soldier:
How is a person denouncing public execution “tooting their own horn,” or an indication of no compassion for the murder victims? Will the murder victims’ suffering be somehow less if the murderer is executed publicly instead of privately?
I think you are onto something Tom O with cartoon you shared on the Daily Kos. I’m just waiting for some enterprising soul to announce the imposing of a paywall (for the good of the innocents donchaknow) in order to see the execution. After all, grifting is in the blood of this administration.
Regarding the conversation about the death penalty, as it’s been already stated there are some humans who just need ending. The proof of their crimes is writ large in the public square so there is no misunderstanding the character of some humans. That said, I’ve witnessed too many death penalty cases overturned because the evidence didn’t match the person convicted or a key witness recanted their testimony claiming coercion by either the investigating detective or prosecutor. Because of those reasons I do not support the death penalty.
In this case, wheeling out an infirm human who committed horrific acts of violence to be shot by a firing squad is part of the military code but in no way is it an opportunity for the spectacle that Hegseth craves.
I keep trying to write that the message received by those watching won’t be… and then I keep stopping myself because maybe that IS the message Hegseth intended all along. He is the head of the military, he has said more than once that this war with Iran is a holy war intended to bring back his concept of his lord and savior so…
The sooner our country and the military are returned to their secular roots the better.
Aaaaannnddd just like that the livestream is no more.
If I were a betting person, which I’m not, I’d bet that Hegseth already had the cameras installed. I’d bet that there will be a certain group of insiders who will still have access. And I’m betting that the Venn diagram between the sort who visited the island and those salivating to watch a man in a wheelchair as his life is ended is a circle.
But as I say, I’m not a betting person.