[Byron_the_Aussie]

..a few hours later, a California-based appeals court ruled that the entire system whereby al Qaeda "enemy combatants" have been detained at Guantanamo Bay is unconstitutional...

That's just for starters. It's also a complete breach of the Geneva Convention, which states that combatants captured in an international armed conflict must be treated as prisoners of war, unless and until a 'competent tribunal' determines that a specific prisoner is not entitled to that status. But the worst aspect of Gitmo, the one we'll most regret in years to come, is the way our side has tossed away the high moral ground, for expediency.

[caspera]

That is so not true. The Geneva Convention applies only to

A) Uniformed soldiers in
B) A Regular Army
C) Who are formally ranked
D) In service to a state

The GITMO detainees thus are not soldiers. They are terrorists. The convention does not cover them.

Rather the opposite of what you say is true. The Geneva Convention is supposed to provide motivation for soldiers to follow some rules with the promise of better treatment if they are captured. If the captured combatants are afforded the same treatment regardless of whether they followed those rules, this incentive is removed.

Giving Geneva Convention treatment to the terrorists at GITMO would encourage flouting of the Convention elsewhere. If Santa gives you the same stuff if you're naughty or nice, you might as well be naughy.

[Broadside Joe]

It also states that they are to be in uniform and have insignia indicating rank. If they do not, under the Geneva Convention, they can be executed as spies. In other words, they are not entitled to POW status.

[John Valentine]

Mr.Byron, even discounting your parentage, you still have no excuse for your total misunderstanding of the Geneva Conventions.

So here it is: Please listen and learn. The Geneva Conventions only apply as between signatories. They are NOT extended to those not obliged to honor their provisions.

The Geneva Conventions are not some sort of Universal Declaration of Human Prisoners Rights.

That's for starters, sir.

Then, even as to parties to the convention, protections are afforded only to legal combatants. That is, the combatants must be members of a legally constituted military formation, with clothing and other means of identification that will clearly distinguish the combatants from civilians.

They must not take refuge among civilian populations.

The Taliban and their AlQaida cohorts fail all these tests. They were not parties to the Geneva Convention and have no right to claim its protections. They certainly made no pretense of affording those protections to us.

As well, they were not legally constituted military formations, and did not distinguish themselves from the civilian populations they operated from within.

These people have no claim whatsoever to any protection under this treaty and its provisions. Moreover, to grant the benefits of this treaty to non-signatory non-observers degrades the potential of the treaty to afford decent treatment of legitimate prisoners among the signatories.

Basically these prisoners could have been summarily executed upon apprehension. They have not miraculously acquired protected status just because thier captors extended grace.