What should happen to the captured American-born al-Qaida agent?

I suspect that this individual should be treated like any other criminal. The reason I say that is that by making these people 'special' somehow they feel that they are 'special' when in fact they're not a lot different than some dope dealer or gang banger or a Bernie Madoff. Tried, convicted and sentenced...no special anything...no politics or political points. Did he do it? If the answer is yes then life in a super max prison where you're locked down for 23 hours a day in an eight by six cell...until you die of natural causes. In this guys' case that's probably 50 years down the road. The point here is that criminals should know that though the wheels of justice grind slowly they grind criminals into a fine dry powder. I'm reminded of some of the Nazis that were brought to justice 50 years after the fact. They thought they were home free...they weren't. Terror Inc. operatives need to keep that in mind and only a fair an open trial can make that point!

He is a US citizen, so he probably gets a civilian trial. If I am the FBI agent on the scene in Islamabad, where Pakistani intelligence is "interrogating" him, I let him know that if he tells what he knows about where the "high cards" (remember the Al qaeda leadership got their pictures on playing cards with Osama as the Ace of Spades) are hiding, he can help his situation. If he cooperates, I would tell him, we take the death penalty off the table and he gets a medium security prison sentence of life with the possibility of parole in 25 years, with conjugal visits. Make believe that you're a tough guy and eventually the Pakistanis will get everything of value out of you anyway. We don't need any of that stuff for the civilian trial, so there will be nothing for your lawyers to claim about what the Pakistanis will do to you. We have your own words and deeds in the media to use against you at trial. And maybe the trial is in the Southern District of New York. Good luck with the retired cops and firemen who will be on the jury. It may take a few years, but unless you cooperate, you will breathe your last breath on a gurney in a federal prison.

Ask John Phillip Walker Lindh. He was a white, young American man from an upper middle class family who was captured fighting for the Taliban at the Battle of Qala-t-Jangi during the invasion of Afghanistan. He's serving a 20 year prison sentence.

The same thing that happened to John Walker Lindh: a court trial and imprisonment. He's not the first wayward young American and he won't be the last.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/walke...

Lindh is currently in prison about 65 miles from where I live in southern California.

Adam Gadahn is charged with treason. The penalty for treason is death.

He should be charged with treason against the United States.

he should be forced to roll a rock up a massive hill, only to have to start all over again after it tumble all the way down once he reaches the top

If he speaks, his life is spared and an argument is made for life without parole. Otherwise, he should be tried on capital crimes.