Retired US generals urge Trump to cancel ‘barbaric’ execution livestream

Seventy-two retired United States generals have urged President Donald Trump and the Pentagon to abandon plans to livestream the execution of former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, warning that the broadcast could undermine military honour and turn him into a martyr.

In an open letter released on Wednesday, the former generals, admirals and other senior officers argued that publicly broadcasting the execution would violate constitutional protections and expose American service members to further risks.

“We ask the President, our Congressional representatives, and our fellow citizens to act to prevent this barbaric abuse of authority,” they wrote in the letter, warning that the livestream could turn Hasan into a “martyr”.

The Pentagon announced last week that it planned to broadcast Hasan’s execution by firing squad on December 3. Hasan was convicted of killing 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood, a military base in Texas, in the deadliest non-combat attack on an American military installation.

The proposal has drawn criticism from lawmakers across party lines, religious leaders, academics and other experts. Although Trump previously expressed support for the livestream, a final decision on whether to proceed with the broadcast had not been made as of Tuesday, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US media partner.

Last week, Trump said he “absolutely” approved of the plan. However, some officials within his administration are now reportedly opposed to the livestream.

The retired military officers stressed that their objection was to broadcasting the execution publicly, not to carrying out the death penalty.

They argued that the proposed broadcast would transform a punishment intended to be solemn into a spectacle for public entertainment.

A public execution would violate the US Constitution’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment, the officers said, describing the planned broadcast as inconsistent with the dignity expected of the military and the country.

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“This type of exploitative broadcasting – that debases human dignity- will taint the honor of the military that employs it, and a nation that allows it,” they also wrote.

The signatories also warned that broadcasting the execution could provide material for America’s adversaries to exploit and increase the risks facing US military personnel.

“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.”

The letter was signed by 45 generals, 12 admirals and several former judge advocates general, among other senior military figures. The group included officers who served during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as some who retired during Trump’s first presidential term.

Among the signatories were retired Major General Tony Taguba, who led the US Army’s investigation into reported prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and retired Air Force Colonel Moe Davis, a former prosecutor at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre who described waterboarding as torture.

Charles Bolden, a former US Marine Corps major general who later became head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), also signed the letter. Another signatory was retired Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy, the first woman to attain three-star general rank in the US Army.

Hasan told a court that he carried out the November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood because he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan from the US military. He was shot during the attack and now uses a wheelchair.

If carried out as planned, the broadcast would mark the first public execution in the United States in almost a century.

The proposal was announced last week by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and has prompted opposition from politicians, academics and experts, adding to pressure on the administration to reconsider the plan.

(BBC News)