Pentagon

Washington — The revelation that the Pentagon plans to livestream the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, the ex-Army major convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, has sparked intense pushback, with one Republican senator calling it "disgusting" and critics warning it could inspire more acts of terrorism.

"Death penalty through firing squad, and he deserves it," Mr. Trump said during an unrelated White House event on Friday.

"Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting," Tillis wrote on X. "Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America."

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said publicly executing someone is "medieval."

"That's disgusting. What, is he mimicking ISIS executions?" Murphy said on CNN. "I mean, I understand that in this country we have the death penalty, but public executions is medieval. It's frankly one of the things that we abhor about terrorist groups. And the fact that the United States is doing it — I just learned this, that is just absolutely extraordinary, galling. No matter whether you support or oppose the death penalty, public hangings and executions? That's what America has become?"

"You can take it from those of us who've spent years working on terrorism: the surest way to spawn more radicalized zealots is to glorify violence, embrace a cult of death, and create a martyr for the cause," Price wrote on X. "Or take it from AQ and ISIS, whose tactics offer the closest modern-day approximation of Hegseth's proposal. Either way, it's hard to conjure a more vivid example of his trademark performative bravado, which routinely damages America's image and, in this case, so ghoulishly leaves us more vulnerable."

"To show the whole thing without it being censored for the general public, for me personally, I don't agree with that, but it's not about my personal belief," he told BBC Radio.

"In no way can [Hasan's] actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered. The word of God exhorts us: 'do not repay anyone evil for evil,'" the archbishop said, citing Romans 12:17. "The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people."

"Hasan is a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair," Erickson wrote. "The public imagery of a firing squad killing a man sitting in a chair because he cannot stand is going to undermine support for the death penalty. A society that increasingly finds ways to sympathize with the villains will do so here. This also gives Nidal Hasan the platform for martyrdom he wants. They'll be passing out the livestream video in the Middle East to inspire more terrorists to shoot up Americans to celebrate the glory of the martyrdom of Nidal Hasan."

"There's a certain protocol that is normally followed with executions limiting the gallery of observers, which usually includes people close to the victims and certain members of the media," he said.

Corn said "turning the execution of such a penalty into some type of public spectacle echoes of the past we seem to have put behind us."

"I'm going to be there [to watch in person] and before they pull the trigger, I want him to look at me in my eyes and I look at him in his eyes and I want him to know: 'Dude, you failed, I'm still here,'" he told the BBC.