Last I checked, "Conspiracy" was still a crime that ordinary police arrested people for.

Tim McVeigh was no less a terrorist than any of the 9/11 conspirators.

He was tried, convicted and sentenced in Federal courts, if memory serves.

I might agree with you if McVeigh had been arrested outside the United States but he wasn't. I might agree with you if McVeigh wasn't a U.S. citizen, be he was. Heck, McVeigh might have been convicted faster under military justice.

Terrorists are common criminals and are not entitled to "prisoner of war" status. Here's a summary from Wikipedia about the definition:

"Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention protects captured military personnel, some guerrilla fighters and certain civilians. It applies from the moment a prisoner is captured until he or she is released or repatriated. One of the main provisions of the convention makes it illegal to torture prisoners and states that a prisoner can only be required to give their name, date of birth, rank and service number (if applicable)."

Convicting terrorists of crimes and imprisoning them doesn't seem to follow that model. ...especially the "repatriated" part.

Now, about the people who *qualify* for that treatment:

"To qualify under the Third Geneva Convention, a combatant must have conducted military operations according to the laws and customs of war, be part of a chain of command, wear a "fixed distinctive marking, visible from a distance" and bear arms openly. Thus, uniforms and/or badges are important in determining prisoner-of-war status; and francs-tireurs, terrorists, saboteurs, mercenaries and spies do not qualify. In practice, these criteria are not always interpreted strictly. Guerrillas, for example, do not necessarily wear an issued uniform nor carry arms openly, yet captured combatants of this type have sometimes been granted POW status."

Saying we are in a "War on Terrorism" leaves a lot open to interpretation. The part that scares me is the "we say you're a terrorist so we can hold you just about forever" possibility. Regardless of whether or not a person is guilty.

I once gave the following example to my (now ex) wife concerning a story about someone caught on video committing a crime.. I worked at an investment firm on Boston's waterfront, in the World Trade Center. Sometimes my job required me to work until after midnight (those instances usually happened on a Friday night). What if someone planted a bomb there, timed to go off in the middle of the night? I leave my office, anxious to get back home. Halfway to the parking lot, I realize I left something back at my desk. I run back in to deal with it quickly and am jogging back to my car when the bomb goes off. In the aftermath, security sees me running on the security recordings form the cameras all over the building. Suddenly, I'm the lead on the weekend news. I *look* guilty as hell. With "lock 'em up and throw away the key" for a mentality, I'm locked away for who-knows-how-long and the real bomber is laughing his tail off at my misfortune.

THAT is why we have trials. We have them so that Richard Jewell doesn't pay for what Eric Rudolph did.