This is a military struggle, between a nation and her allies and an army of religious extremists whose tactics include terrorism. alQaeda is an army, not a terrorist group. Unfortunately, they've been mislabeled.

This war is basically being fought because alQaeda and the other groups who adhere to the form of weaponized Islam that bin Laden & Co are peddling feel they have a religious and moral obligation to fight the U.S. for several reasons. They aren't killing cause they like to, they aren't killing because they're insane, they're killing because of issues such as (off the top of my head) U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, U.S. support for secular (and oppressive) regimes in Arab countries, U.S. support for Israel, and U.S. economic sanctions on Iraq in the 90's. It isn't organized crime, it's a war, and this trial proves that the people in charge of leading America during this war are definitely not in the right frame of mind.