Historical context:
At the end of WWII there were many voices here and overseas, Stalin being the loudest, calling loudly to shoot those damn Nazis, rather than going to the expense and bother of the Nuremberg Trials. After all, everybody knew they were guilty, right? And why give them a platform for spouting propaganda? Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed - led by Churchill, and later the new American President Harry Truman.
The trials went forward, for the very purpose of showing the world the horror of the Nazi war crimes, and to show the world, successfully, that the Allies, and America in particular, stood for justice and the principle of 'innocent until proven guilty'. The evidence was put on display and recorded for history, there was no doubt the criminals deserved their punishments, and America and her Allies stood tall.
We would do well to follow this example dealing with modern day terrorists. To do less compromises our principles before the world, it also serves as a powerful propaganda tool to recruit more terrorists. Not only is it the right, the just, the American thing to do, it is a matter of self-preservation. And lord knows, it couldn't hurt for us to improve our image right now.
