Since I do not support terrorism, why should I be concerned??

Our greatness is in the fact that he received a trial rather than being hung as soon as they had obtained all the intelligence they thought he had.

That's a bizarro comment even for you.  Nothing concerning Padilla has exemplified United States' "greatness" in any way.  

CNN

In 1998, Padilla flew from Miami to Cairo, where he spent the next year and a half. He has admitted that in March of 2000, he attend the religious pilgrimage, the hajj, in Saudi Arabia. And there he met a man from Yemen who was a recruiter for al Qaeda, and they discussed the training opportunities al Qaeda offered in Afghanistan.

Two months later, at this recruiter's request, Padilla traveled in May of 2000 to Yemen where the recruiter introduced him to a sponsor, somebody who could arrange for his training in Afghanistan by al Qaeda.

In June of 2000, Padilla made that journey. He went to Pakistan, and then traveled overland to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

He has admitted that there he completed an application to receive training at an al Qaeda camp, sponsored by the man he met in Yemen, who helped him fill out the paperwork.

(Comment: This easily explains why his fingerprints were on the front and back, but not found on interuor pages.)

The FBI found Padilla's application to the al Qaeda training camp. They found it in a binder that contained 100 other such applications, type-written each with the title at the top, "Mujahideen Identification Form/New Applicant Form."

Padilla's application was dated July 24th of 2000 and bears one of his aliases, Abu Abdullah Muhajir (ph). It bears his date of birth, October 18th, 1970. It shows that he is an American citizen; that he speaks Spanish and English and is proficient at Arabic; that he has traveled to Afghanistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Padilla has admitted that after filling out his application, he attended the Al Farouq (ph) al Qaeda training camp in September and October of 2000, using the name Abdullah al-Espani (ph).

Padilla says he went to the camp with the understanding that he would be sent to Chechnya to fight for jihad, although he recognized that the recruits of al Qaeda were offered no guarantees.

According to Padilla, his training included weapon's instruction on AK-47, on G-3, M-16, Uzi and other machine guns; training on topography, communications, camouflage, clandestine surveillance, explosives, including C-4 plastic explosives, dynamite and mines; as well as physical fitness and religious training.

Padilla completed this basic terrorist training successfully, and then spent three months in the fall of 2000 with other new al Qaeda recruits guarding a Taliban outpost north of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Padilla admits that he first met al Qaeda's military commander, Abu Hafs al-Masri, better known as Mohammed Atef. He met him in Afghanistan when Atef approached this American in the Al Farouq (ph) camp, and checked him out to gauge his suitability and his commitment to the cause. Atef no doubt spotted the tremendous value this American terrorist offered because he met with him again several times, even giving Padilla money to go back to Egypt to visit his wife.

In early 2001, Padilla walked into the American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, and said his passport had been lost in a market in Karachi and got a new one: a classic act of al Qaeda tradecraft designed to eliminate suspicious travel stamps and cover the nature of the traveler's work.

In April 2000, having completed his basic terrorist training and having found a mentor in the military leader of al Qaeda, Mohammed Atef, Padilla departed Karachi, Pakistan, and returned to Egypt, ending his first trip to Afghanistan.

Two months later, in June of 2001, Padilla returned to Afghanistan and sought out Mohammed Atef. He met with Atef at a safe house that was reserved for the instructors and the leaders of al Qaeda. According to Padilla, about a month later, his mentor Atef asked him a question. He asked his American disciple if he was willing to undertake a mission to blow up apartment buildings in the United States using natural gas. Padilla told him he would do it.

Atef then sent Padilla to a training site near the Kandahar airport, where Padilla would train under the watchful eye of an al Qaeda explosives expert and be trained with the man who was to be his partner in this mission to destroy apartment buildings, another al Qaeda operative. When Padilla saw this other operative, he recognized him immediately because he had known him from Florida.....

...After spending a month in Egypt, Padilla traveled on and arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on May the 8th of 2002. He was carrying over $10,000 in U.S. currency given to him by his al Qaeda handlers. He was carrying the cell phone provided to him by Amar al-Beluki (ph), Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's right-hand man.

He was carrying the names is telephone numbers of his recruiter and his sponsor, and the e-mail address for Amar al-Beluki (ph), who he was to contact upon safely reaching the United States.

You may think that the government erred in their desigination and holding him. I do not. While much of the above was not presented at the trial because the government obviously didn't want to reveal some of it, some perhaps due to their methods, some just information about what all Padilla had revealed, there was enough to convict him by a jury of his peers after a full up US CJS trial.

I have commented in the past that I believe in tribunals for non-citizens, and for full up US CJS trials for citizens. I have also that the penalties for the non-citizen should be less than for a citizen because a citizen bears the responsibility of not acting with the country's enemies.