A federal jury has ruled that al-Qaida terror operative Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty, so this should be a relatively easy call.

Just as Moussaoui hoped to hand out death to hundreds, if not thousands, of innocents, he deserves a solitary execution chamber.

An alleged psychiatric expert told CNN broadcasters that Moussaoui was crazy, hence should not be put to death. This is somewhat of an insult to the mentally ill. Few people who fight mental afflictions have the ability to calmly and meticulously plan to murder hundreds of innocent people. Nor do they, even with their mental illness, think killing innocents is acceptable.

Moussaoui is not crazy. He has a horrific flaw in his character, but it’s not in the mental realm, it’s in the moral realm. To put it bluntly, he’s evil.

Ironically, many of the top terrorists in al-Qaida, such as Osama bin Laden, came from upper-class backgrounds. Moussaoui lived well, spoke at least two languages and did not miss a meal. He was not oppressed or discriminated against. One day, he simply decided to kill Jews, infidels and Americans for the greater glory of a mystical and perverted Islamic dream.

Critics may claim that if we execute Moussaoui, we are just making a martyr out of him. The terrorists have any number of martyrs, one more won’t make any difference. But it’s difficult to romanticize the death of a seedy criminal whose dreams of genocidal glory will, like him, die in a small, isolated room.

Our sympathies should be with all the innocents that the jihadists have murdered, not with Moussaui. Justice demands he pay the ultimate penalty.