Trials offer opportunities to build the public case against terrorism and specific terrorist networks. The New York trial will enable U.S. authorities to make the case against Bin Laden's network and justify, albeit after the fact, the U.S. decision to bomb his training camps in Afghanistan. The danger here will be prosecutorial zeal that blames Bin Laden for events in which his involvement is tangential or merely speculative. Trials in U.S. courts are necessary to support U.S. requests that other nations accept the risks and bring terrorists to trial. It is hard to imagine Yemen trying terrorists if the United States itself were unwilling to do so.
Trials create a community of cooperation among the nations willing to prosecute terrorism.
For a country like Yemen, legal action against terrorists can be politically painful, and imprisoning terrorists brings the risk of retaliation. This only underlines the point that cooperation in matters of intelligence and security aimed at prevention is preferable, which is what we seek. Trials also can be used to support diplomatic efforts against governments that support or provide asylum to terrorists. The revelations that emerge from the trial in New York will increase the heat on Afghanistan's Taliban, which already faces political and economic sanctions if it does not turn over Bin Laden. Dealing with terrorism as a criminal matter is not without frustrations.