About going after the 9-11 terrorists and the advent of things such as Guantanamo, it seems the US will lose whichever way it decides to go
Its tried to take the legal way with the USS Cole terror attack and yet:
U.S. efforts frustrated as plotters are freed in Yemen
The Washington Post
Almost eight years after al-Qaeda nearly sank the USS Cole with an explosives-stuffed motorboat, killing 17 sailors, all the defendants convicted in the attack have escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials.