fancyred wrote:
AZKC wrote:
Unlawful combatants, a category of persons who do not qualify for prisoner-of-war status under the Geneva Conventions.

Tell me something, another country comes into the U.S. to do to us what we did to Afghanistan, what would you call those combatants that stand up and fight and if they are caught and taken back to the country which was supposedly "liberating" us?    Just a thought, would they be POW's or POS's?   (lets just say we had a group of terrorist who took down buildings in that country).
  

This actually happened once.  It was called The Revolutionary War.

Britain also refused to recognize colonists captured by British forces as prisoners of war, even if they were wearing a uniform.  They were called "traitors."  The only reason they weren't hung was because we captured a British Army at Saratoga, and we assured the British that if they started hanging their "enemy combatants" we would hang theirs.

Washington, in fact, paroled a number of British and Hessian soldiers to work on farms.  History does not record anyone complaining that this was a "bad deal" even tho' American "traitors" were dying by the thousands in the bowels of ships in New York harbor.

Eventually, everyone got released, and in considerably less time than we have held many of the prisoners in Guatanamo.

Hope this helps. smiley: tongue