Originally Posted by kane

Here is the potential problem with that. Do we really know who the combatants are? Sure we can say Al Qaede and in some cases we can prove it, but when will we know we have all of Al Qaude taken down? We will never have them all taken out so we could hold these people forever. If we are fighting another country, we can easily identify the combatants and we can have cealr cut conditions of victory. When we grab these guys and hold them forever without a trial all it does is fuel the hatred towards us. At least this is step in the direction of clearing up why we are holding these guys.

Most wars are military type encounters. This war against terrorism is one part military fight and one part political fight and one part morality conflict. We can't just grab people, hold them forever and expect to win the moral part of the war, we have to prove to the world that we are right and just and the good guys.