CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A Hooksett man is glad to hear the man who killed his brother in Kuwait has been sentenced to death.

“Am I glad he got the death penalty? Yes,” said Dennis Pouliot of Hooksett. “(But) he still took my brother’s life and that’s not going to bring my brother back. It’s not going to bring him back to his family, his two little girls and a wife.”

The court sentenced Sami al-Mutairi, 25, to death Wednesday for shooting Michael Rene Pouliot, 46, and seriously injuring David Caraway, 37, in a Jan. 21 ambush on the road leading to Camp Doha.

Both were employees of Tapestry Solutions, a software company based in San Diego working under contract with the U.S. military.

Both men also had ties to New Hampshire. Caraway grew up in East Candia. Pouliot and his brother Dennis grew up on the west side of Manchester.

Pouliot said he often thinks about his brother, who was a wrestler at West High.

“Do I forget him? No, never,” Pouliot said. “You learn to live with it. Life goes on, that’s the bottom line …. I hold him in my memories.”

Prosecutors said Al-Mutairi carefully planned the attack, waiting behind a hedge for an hour before opening fire on the men as their car stopped at a traffic light. The shooting was one of a string of attacks on Americans as U.S. troops and equipment poured into Kuwait in preparation for the invasion of Iraq.

In his court testimony last month, Al-Mutairi said he was forced to confess to the shootings and plans an appeal.

Pouliot said he is glad Al-Mutairi was sentenced to death and hopes he loses his plea. He also said he agrees with giving the death penalty to convicted terrorists at home and abroad.

“For every one you kill you probably get another one coming up right in his place, but at least you’re getting rid of them,” he said.

Pouliot, who thinks his brother was targeted by terrorists as someone working for the U.S. military, does not think the death sentence will stop other terrorists. He said it might, however, help keep Americans from forgetting.

“That’s the problem with our country, we forget so quickly. So many people forgot about September 11, and right after we were fighting about whether or not we should be over in Iraq,” he said.

Pouliot said he supports the ongoing efforts in Iraq, but thinks the Bush administration’s war on terrorism is long from over.

“Terrorism has no boundaries. My brother is a part of it. And September 11 was a part of it.”

Michael Pouliot had two daughters, Megan, 14, and Tess, 12. He lost a 5-year-old son to diabetes in 1988.

AP-ES-06-04-03 1744EDT

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