This is all an incredibly emotive subject, lots of opinions are being expressed at one time, Mijiblob I can see your point about the two cases but in my mind there is a definite difference between the two.
I in no way condone what the Marine did, but to call the 'Taliban Soldier' innocent is stretching a point, as only moments earlier he had been trying to kill the Marines himself, Now just coming out of a battle for their lives on Marine made a drastic decision born out of hatred and adrenaline, he must serve his sentence now for the murder he committed.
The Woolwich pair sat in a car with their weapons ready malice aforethought, waited for an unarmed soldier to walk down a suburban street in a reasonably peaceful city, then ran Trooper Rigby down and slaughtered him in the name of their God. I personally don't think God had anything to do with what they did at all, it was hate pure and simple, you don't think it is a coincidence that all these 'Jihadists' are disaffected young men and women who live on the peripheral of society do you ? They are willing pawns so let them be sacrificed as such...
Now on a more sensible note, it seems to me that everyone thinks that bring back the death penalty will cause wholesale slaughter and the gallows will be back on Tyburn hill in no time at all, what utter rubbish!
This debate on here shows the complexities of such cases and the divisions they cause, we in this country have had nuclear weapons for nearly 60 years thankfully we have never had to use them, but I sleep better at night knowing we have them just in case, as they are now a fact of life and we can't get rid of them. I knew when I was at school the cane was always a possibility if I did wrong, I never did enough wrong to get caned, very close but never quite. Having the death penalty doesn't mean we have to use it willy nilly but in extreme cases we might have to use it as the ultimate punishment.
'I would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it'
