Only cowards kill women and children

Even in a world filled with terrible news stories, the ones that upset me the most are about men who kill wives, girlfriends or children. There are so many of these sickening, cowardly men running loose in the world. It makes me ill, it really does.

Yesterday in the New York Times there was a story about the sentencing of a creep who beheaded his wife. An excerpt:

Muzzammil Hassan, who'd claimed his wife abused him, stood with his head bowed as the judge told him that even his own children had nothing but contempt for him. He scoffed at the idea that Hassan stabbed Aasiya Hassan more than 40 times and decapitated her because he was afraid of her.

"You bought two hunting knives, you tested them for sharpness, you laid in wait in a darkened hallway for your unsuspecting wife and you butchered her," Judge Thomas Franczyk said. "Self-defense? I don't think so."

I don't think so, either. Men like Hassan are selfish psychopaths who care nothing for anyone but themselves. If only we could push a button and remove them from the world. It would be a much better planet without them.

The story has extra, added irony. Read on.

Hassan, who killed his wife inside the offices of the Muslim-oriented television station the couple started to dispel negative cultural stereotypes . . . painted himself as a victim in an eight-year marriage filled with arguments and threats. He said God sent him the courage to kill his wife and that he felt as if he'd escaped from a terrorist camp afterward.

Yes, Hassan, undoubtedly god gave you the courage to be the murderous, cowardly swine that you are. I expect no less of gods. And the Times writer adds this postscript to the story:

But there was no denying the irony in the case that involved a couple who made it their life's work to improve the image of Muslims in a post-Sept. 11 world and the worst possible stereotypes their television station was meant to counter.

Indeed. These men are all cowards who would never think of attacking another man. They might get hurt! Murderous, cowardly swine -- that's all they are. I hope each of them is persecuted in prison.