About al-Awlaki ...

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There's a bit of carping about the al-Awlaki assassination from some of the usual suspects, and for the most part I have to agree: it's a slippery slope when we start assassinating American citizens.*

Here's what I don't understand, given the governments' ability to throw money at a problem. If they had wanted to take out an American citizen (and justifiably so, in this case), how hard would it have been to actually try al-Awlaki in absentia? And I'm sure the ACLU would come to his defense. Is there any doubt that he would be found guilty of something rating the death penalty?

I know this seems like a formality, but it's a formality the government should be required to go through. If they go through the formality, then it's out in the open, and the citizenry can decide if it's a good idea or not.

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* Yes, I know al-Awlaki was a bad dude, intent on killing his fellow American citizens. But he was an American citizen and he deserves all the rights and priveledges that an American citizen is due, else being an American citizen is meaningless.