One of the easiest convictions in U.S. history, with the only hitch being how premeditated the killings were. (Answer: Pretty premeditated.) This degenerate wanted to argue, in open court, that he was merely acting in defense of the Taliban by gunning down American soldiers, but when the judge barred that, he settled for saying, “The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter.” He wants credit for the attack for his own jihadist reasons and he likely wants the ultimate punishment too, to claim martyrdom status. That’s the only bad news today: We are, assuredly, destined next week for another tedious debate over whether we should spare a jihadi from capital punishment purely in the interest of denying him the propaganda victory he’s seeking. The blind sheikh is alive and well in an American prison and Islamists screech about him to this day; sparing Hasan won’t disincline anyone who admires his handiwork from finding inspiration in it. Pull the plug.

More interesting than the verdict or the lame martyrdom debate to come is the statement released today by two lawyers representing many of the victims:

“Today’s guilty verdict, rendered almost four years after the attack, is only a first, small step down the path of justice for the victims. In light of this verdict, we again call on DOD and DOJ to stop their cynical “workplace violence” charade – a charade carried on despite Hasan’s confessions and the mountain of evidence demonstrating that the attack was the work of an Islamic jihadist, working on behalf of al-Qaeda, who killed Americans for his “brothers” in the Middle East – and to stop denying the Fort Hood victims the Purple Hearts and medical and other benefits to which they are rightfully due. We call on Congress and the Executive Branch to fairly compensate the Fort Hood terror victims, in all respects, as the 9/11 Pentagon attack victims were compensated. And, we call on the government, finally, to accept responsibility for the harm done by its political correctness, spin and cover-up and to provide the victims and the American people with the truth, decency and accountability that they deserve. The terrorist Hasan’s conviction and sentencing is only the beginning, not the end of this story. Justice for the victims of Fort Hood will be done only when the government admits its mistakes, keeps its promises to ‘make the victims whole’ and comes clean about Fort Hood. The victims, and the American people, are owed nothing less.”

The Pentagon takes lots of heat for designating Hasan’s rampage as “workplace violence” and it should; it’s an Orwellian way to whitewash his motives. Don’t forget, though, the many, many red flags about Hasan’s behavior that they ignored in order to keep him in the ranks. They looked the other way, almost certainly because they didn’t want to risk a PR clusterfark by pursuing a Muslim officer for alleged jihadist sympathies. And now here we are. Thirteen counts of murder one.

By the way, Hasan will get to speak at length next week during the sentencing phase, so if you’re keen to deny him a jihadi propaganda opportunity in death, know that he still has a much bigger one waiting in life.