"We held a guy for five months, cleared him, dropped in the middle of freaking Macedonia with no ID and no money. WHOOPS, just got it wrong, my bad. We've got some Chinese guys down at Gitmo that we ADMIT have done nothing wrong (they, too, went to Pakistan, btw). We're still holding them, because we don't know what to do with them, but they've been there for YEARS, and we have no reason why - none. And we admit that."
I have read everything you have written on this thread up to this post. Regarding crime, you are absolutely correct on everything. The only problem is, this is not crime, this is WAR. There is a difference. When it comes to war, the primary authority on how to handle people captured in war is the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions state that a person captured on the battle field can be held for the duration of the war.
And none of those I referenced were captured on any battlefield.
I'm sure it depends on the person, not just the battlefield designation. Civilians are typically not detained as POW's, for example, and enemy who are not wearing uniform (e.g., spies) can be summarily executed.