There can be no such thing as a war on terror. It is a slogan, a trope, a category error. It is sloppy logic that leads to bad policy and to an unnecessary hemorrhage of blood and treasure. Terror is a response. Terrorism is a tactic. A terrorist is a criminal. Attorney General Eric Holder is right to try the people accused of plotting and of helping to execute the 9/11 attacks in criminal court. This decision demonstrates faith in the United States Constitution, the judicial system, and the American people.

The United States is fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of a larger war on terror that can neither be declared nor won. Terrorist organizations are transnational, nebulous, parasitical. They attach themselves to the hopes, dreams, sufferings and outrages of individuals. These individuals perpetrate terrorist violence for complicated reasons of their own. Whatever the reasons, it is important to understand their actions as criminal and not as acts of war. A nation does not declare war on a gang of thugs.

When we think of war, we think of an armed conflict between nations. There are rules of war and conventions for the treatment of warriors. The concept of war also conjures the idea of an intensity of effort. Thus, we have declared war on poverty, war on drugs, war on cancer etc. A war n terror, terrorism or terrorists signals an intensity of effort. It may include the deployment of military and police force. It certainly requires international cooperation. However, when the time comes to render justice to people we suspect of doing grave harm to our nation, we ought not to confuse war as intensity of effort with war as a declared armed struggle. We ought not to allow this confusion to cause us to suspend our own civil liberties or to trample the human rights of the accused.

The United States Constitution requires criminals to be tried in the state where the crime happened. This means the trial must come to New York State. Some people have complained that this will be a circus, a propaganda opportunity for the terrorists. The skill of the judge and the lawyers for the prosecution and for the defense will determine whether or not this prediction comes to pass.

As for propaganda, let the defendants have their say. Is there any argument that justifies the demise of nearly 3,000 innocent people? Let them rant against U.S. foreign policy or culture or world view or religion. The trial will establish certain facts of who plotted and helped to execute these horrible attacks. Attorney General Holder has demonstrated faith in an American jury to sort fact from propaganda.

Such is the strength of our nation and of our judicial system. Yes, there have been times in our nation’s history when the guilty walked free and when the innocent spent years in jail or worse. There have been times when trials became spectacle. Yes, security in New York is a concern. Yes, 9/11 families will have to relive the horror. Yes, the United States will have to face up to torture and God only knows what else that violated the human rights of the accused. So be it.

Let the light shine. As Martin Luther King JR reminded us, sunlight and fresh air are the best medicines for the ills that plague our body politic. This is an opportunity to prove to ourselves and to the world that terrorists will not frighten us into trashing our values. This is an opportunity to rise above our fears.