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Originally posted by smooth
You reversed cause and effect here.
Since we defined them as "illegal combatants" (a legal construct that we created) they do not qualify as POWs.
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Actually they don't qualify as POWs so therefore we must classify them as something else and 'illegal combatant' is the best description.
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Article 4 of the Geneva Convention
Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:
(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
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(a) Osama Bin-Laden may or may not be responsible for the members of Al-Qaeda, most likely not.
(b) Al-Qaeda members do not have a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance. e.g. uniforms, flag
(c) Al-Qaeda members do not carry their arms openly.
(d) Al-Qaeda members do not conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. Last time I checked, hijacking civilian planes and using them to bomb civilian targets is not in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
In order to be classified as POWs, Al-Qaeda members must meet all four of those requirements. At best they meet the first requirement. At worst, they don't meet any. Therefore, under the Geneva convention, Al-Qaeda members cannot be called POWs and because of that, they are not protected by the Geneva convention. So we had to come up with a fitting term for the people at Gitmo and 'illegal combatant' is the best term for them and under the circumstances, I think they are being treated better than they deserve to be at Gitmo.