LIBERTE, EGALITE, ENOLA GAY :

French Group Forms to Back Moussaoui (AP, July 15, 2002)

Several French associations have formed a support committee for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged as a Sept. 11 conspirator, the suspect's former lawyer said Friday.

Because Moussaoui risks the death penalty in the United States, the associations felt that more support should come from France, said Francois Roux. [...]

France abolished the death penalty in 1981, and many French human rights organizations oppose its use in the United States.

It's fine by me if France and Britain don't think that killing French and Brits warrants the death penalty, but it's unclear to me why that gives them the right to say that the Frenchman who helped murder 3,000 Americans or the Brit who helped execute Daniel Pearl don't deserve capital punishment. We value life more highly; why should we have to yield to their lower standards when we seek justice for our honored dead? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 17, 2002 12:46 AM