It makes more sense to consider them to be prisoners of war, a war against the entity called Al Qaeda. This makes it possible to do a couple of things.

1. Try them for war crimes, such as attacks directed against civilians, and shoot those convicted lawfully.

2. Hold those who are not convicted for the duration of the war. Since Al Qaeda will never surrender, and since it will be impossible to say when Al Qaeda will no longer exist, this permits us to hold these prisoners forever. Therefore, we never need release them, and yet do not have to charge them with anything, they are simply being held until the end of hostilities. Remember, we simply can't convict most of them because we can't get the evidence.

3. Assert truthfully that we are adhering to International Law in general, and to the Geneva Conventions in particular by holding them forever.

4. Permit them to send and receive mail. Who knows what interesting information might be contained in the letters (which we will read, of course). Even the addresses of their correspondents might make nice targets for our intelligence services.

David F Mayer