The Geneva Convention's pretty clear on who can be held as POWs, and noncombatants aren't on the list.
Absolutely clear in an environment where everyone wears uniforms. A lot more murky where non-uniformed people are involved in combat - and in part, this is why the penalties for performing war without uniforms are so severe.
23 posted on 05/10/2004 3:26:47 PM PDT by lepton
("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)