Janet Reno and several other former DOJ officials have filed suit to restrict the use of military tribunals from being applied to foreigners arrested for terrorism related charges on U.S. soil. We are certainly excused for feeling some sympathy for Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri if this is the only information we have regarding his arrest. After all, we don't want the feds arresting folks visiting the U.S. in the middle of the night and whisking them away to detention and torture, do we?

Some of the eight attorneys named in the document are now in private practice and represent detainees at the military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most served under President Clinton, though the list includes former U.S. Attorneys W. Thomas Dillard and Anton R. Valukas, who served under President Reagan.
"The existing criminal justice system is more than up to the task of prosecuting and bringing to justice those who plan or attempt terrorist acts within the United States _ without sacrificing any of the rights and protections that have been the hallmarks of the American legal system for more than 200 years," the attorneys wrote.(emphasis mine)

This is the DOJ version of his detention. I think my sympathy takes a dive when I understand he was Zacarias Moussaoui's bag man. People who are in this country for the purpose of carrying out acts of war, in service to our enemies, are not mere criminals. They are enemy combatants. They used to be called spies.