Why the Embassy Bombing Trial is a Footnote in the War on Terrorism

In the war against terrorism — as in any other war — putting the enemy on trial is always an afterthought. That&#039s why the conviction in New York of four footsoldiers of Osama bin Laden&#039s jihad to drive the United States out of the Middle East will be recorded as, at best, a footnote in the chronicle of a long and bloody war in which the real measure of U.S. success is tragedies averted rather than perpetrators apprehended. After all, the man named in the indictment as the architect of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania wasn&#039t even in court, and the accused were at best mid-level operatives in his diffuse international network — and therefore easily replaced. In a warrior cult that holds martyrdom as its highest honor, being imprisoned — or even executed, as may be the case for two of the accused when the trial concludes its penalty phase — by the enemy is scarcely a deterrent. Full Story