Enemy Combatants

Extraordinary status conferred by the United States on detainees suspected of terrorism. The term is used to designate individuals the United States considers to be operating outside standards of acceptable conduct during wartime and who are thus not entitled to protections offered by U.S. or international law.

Enemy combatant became a prominent term following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC. The United States retaliated the [Page 234]following month by invading Afghanistan, whose government was harboring the terrorist group al-Qaeda, which launched the attacks. Many of the fighters captured by U.S. troops were irregular forces—either al-Qaeda members or supporters of the Afghan's Taliban government. These prisoners were classified as enemy combatants to distinguish them from prisoners of war—uniformed military personnel guaranteed certain rights under the Third Geneva Convention of 1949.

Military commanders have the authority to determine whether an individual is considered a prisoner of war or an enemy combatant. The administration of President George W. Bush asserted that those classified as enemy combatants may be held indefinitely without being accused of any crime. It has also determined that the government may detain enemy combatants without revealing their whereabouts, and that it may transfer them to the custody of countries that practice torture. U.S. law forbids such treatment of ordinary citizens or prisoners-of-war.

A significant number of enemy combatants in the war on terrorism have been detained at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Guantánamo's exceptional legal status—its location on Cuba excludes it from any U.S. judicial district—has allowed for ambiguous detention periods and eased requirements to hold individuals. The detention of these individuals, known simply as the detainees, has spurred extensive legal and public debate about the president's wartime powers and how to prosecute enemy combatants in the war on terrorism.