[DieHard the Hunter]

> Targeting civilians is a war criminal for example but killing forreign soldiers is called war.

It’s only called war if a number of very narrow circumstances have been met. And they are only permitted to participate in war under a similar very narrow set of defined circumstances.

The people at Guantanamo Bay are illegal combattants: IOW War Criminals. Every time they killed somebody, they committed pre-meditated First Degree murder. They are not excused by “being at war” as a soldier would be.

They are criminals of the worst sort, BY DEFINITION.

[Alberta's Child]

It’s only called war if a number of very narrow circumstances have been met. And they are only permitted to participate in war under a similar very narrow set of defined circumstances.

That's an excellent point. I'd add, however, that the U.S. military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan probably don't even constitute "warfare" under the legal standards of the United States.