[genefromjersey]

Well said !!
The "detainees" are indistinguishable from the (state-sponsored terrorist) Pirates of the Barbary Coast, and are "entitled" to the same treatment their predecessors often received: hanging from the yardarm.

It is totally disingenuous to suggest pirates should be treated with the honor and respect due a military foe !

[altayann]

The "detainees" are indistinguishable from the (state-sponsored terrorist) Pirates of the Barbary Coast, and are "entitled" to the same treatment their predecessors often received: hanging from the yardarm.

Al-Queda? Probably. The Taliban? Probably not.

And as for the argument that states that sponsor terrorists and thieves aren't really states at all, it doesn't hold water. All the European nations (at least those that weren't landlocked) sponsored piracy during the 1500-1700's.

It is totally disingenuous to suggest pirates should be treated with the honor and respect due a military foe !

Captain John Morgan, after a very successful career as a pirate, was made the lieutenant governor of Barbados in the 1600's.

Sad to say, but I'm not sure you can argue that the Taliban aren't POW's.

As to why Rumsfeld doesn't want to call them POW's? Well, the problem is that after a war, POW's usually get send home. Sending Taliban members back to Afghanistan would be problematic, to say the least.