The thing about this for me is that these guys were held for 5 years with no charges being filed.
Is that even legal?
They were on the battlefield when caught. War time rules apply, don't need any charges.
But that they were released before the ending of hostilities is the real issue here.
No charges are required. They are prisoners of war. They have no constitutional rights. That’s why they’ve been kept off of US soil.
Unfortunately Obama is doing nothing illegawith this. They are not U.S. citizens and committed no crime in the states so our law does not apply. In reality this is war and they should be treated as prisoners of war. But that would take a declaration of war first which we never do anymore. We kept Nazis in jail for life or executed them. We should have done the same with these scum. However bush was too cozy with the saudies. I blame this all on him for not doing the right constitutional thing after 911. Bush should speak out loudly if he has issues with release but he apparently doesn’t.
No, they were enemy combatants, a form of unlawful combatants. They were not entitled to POW status under the Geneva Convention.
"Unlawful combatants are likewise subject to capture and detention, but in addition they are subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals for acts which render their belligerency unlawful. The spy who secretly and without uniform passes the military lines of a belligerent in time of war, seeking to gather military information and communicate it to the enemy, or an enemy combatant who without uniform comes secretly through the lines for the purpose of waging war by destruction of life or property, are familiar examples of belligerents who are generally deemed not to be entitled to the status of prisoners of war, but to be offenders against the law of war subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals."
Oh BTW, On March 13, 2009 United States Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement that the United States had abandoned the Bush administration term "enemy combatant".[17][18] The statement said, ""As we work toward developing a new policy to govern detainees, it is essential that we operate in a manner that strengthens our national security, is consistent with our values, and is governed by law."