Call it treason II

I earlier blogged about the notion of trying Major Nidal Hasan for, among other things, treason. If it's not treasonous for a company-level officer in the U.S. Army to turn his weapon on his fellow soldiers, because they're American soldiers, what could possibly merit the charge? In the Wall Street Journal today, Yale law professor Peter Shuck discusses this question in passing. As it happens, he doesn't think much of it--too difficult to prove.

But then he poses an interesting alternative: we should revoke the acquired citizenship of would-be murderers like the would-be Times Square bomber. (Faisal Shahzad was naturalized--and swore allegiance to the country that was giving him the green passport that enabled him to travel freely to Pakistan for training--just a year before trying to create a fireball on 42nd Street.) What a satisfying notion! And much more in the American tradition than putting out a contract on the life of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric who inspired Major Hasan, Mr. Shahzad, and other nutters. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford