Thom Hartmann: The final words of a killer that should not be ignored

Last night - a man in Texas was executed. His name was Mark Stroman - and he was given a lethal injection by the state of Texas because he let himself get consumed with hate. 10 days after 9/11 - Stroman went on a shooting spree hell bent on killing as many Muslims as he could. On three separate nights he walked into Dallas gas stations with a shotgun -opening fire - killing two Muslim men - and shooting another man in the face. The third victim - Rais Bhuiyan - just barely survived the shooting. Bhuiyan will be partially blind for the rest of his life because of his injuries - but he wasn't interested in eye-for-an-eye justice. Why? Because his Muslim religion preaches forgiveness.

All the way up until the day that Stroman was executed - Bhuyian petitioned the state of Texas to spare Stroman's life - launching a global petition to have his sentence commuted to life without parole. And Stroman took notice - he was struck by the compassion that was afforded to him by one of his victims - and he changed his ways. In a message to Rais BhuIyan from jail - Stroman said, "In the free world, I was free but I was locked in a prison inside myself because of the hate I carried in my heart...It is due to Rais' message of forgiveness that I am more content now than I have ever been." And last night - Stroman built on the message and used his final breath to issue these last words for us all to hear. He said, "Hate is going on in this world and it has to stop. Hate causes a lifetime of pain."

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[sakh06]

Nice words.... for people who have sense ...

[monanas]

If a person who killed the 90+ in Norway was a Muslim, the Press would have declared him as a terrorist. For now though, he is just an 'Assailant ', 'Attacker' (Reuters), 'Gunman' (BBC, CNN & Al Jazeera). Looks like 'Terrorist ' is a name reserved for Muslims? The US Dept of State calls it an 'Act of Violence', not an 'Act of Terrorism' . Share this status and let the world know hypocrisy is leading us all astray

[abeismain]

Good thing we have ron paul for president to relieve us of this hate propaganda.

[himatwardakafghan]

@baltimoredude: ur the reason why US is what it is today!! Its ppl ignorant like U responsible for millions all over the globe!! U are ignorant.. I feel sorry for u!! May be u should educate urself.. Buy some books and read them instead of watching utube videos and commenting like a rat behind the computer screen with 0 knowledge in head and some hay!! peace and remember my words!

[baltimoredude1]

are fueling hatred too. May be now it becomes clear Islam is as much of a bull shit like Christianity or any other religion. Ignorance fueled with hatred, fear and religion makes it a big juxtapose resulting in a big Nothing

[baltimoredude1]

I was born to Bangladeshi Muslim family before deserting Islam. Out of the two men that were killed, one was an Indian Hindu, while the other a Pakistani Muslim. Stroman's deplorable idiotic action is fueled by idiots like Fox News, Peter King and all. Muslims are no Saints. Last month, Saudi Arabia beheaded 8 Bangladeshi Muslim men in public, without giving any fair trial. At least here we have an accountable system, in most of the Muslim world they don't. Saudi Arabia and the House of Sauds

[iselaveg]

Totally agree...

[salptl]

Finally someone talking sense on the American media. This is the same all over the world, politicians spreading fear that creates hate. In india the most terrorist attacks and people killed by terrorist are by the Maoist seperatists, yet Muslims are blamed by media everytime something terrorist related happens.

[asadwaseer]

Thanks for bring some sence to the world. May Allah reward you for that.

[DavidMX303]

Powerful Message if u accept it!!!

[arfatx]

It's a nature of human being, if your country's resource is lack, the best thing is to conquer another country, replace their government and start enjoy a new resources. But there must be tactic how to do that. Fake the history? Propaganda? Then it is set. It's like Command & Conquer game I played last year.

[87JenBunny]

This is really sad...