Enemies captured in the course of war are not common criminals.(The Week )(Brief article)

* Enemies captured in the course of war are not common criminals: This is a distinction made by custom older than the United States, and for good reasons. Combatants are held until a conflict is over so they cannot rejoin their forces; if they are put on trial at all, it is before military judges, without the trappings of discovery that would allow intelligence to pass to the detainee and his confreres. The same rules should govern the War on Terror, which is a real, congressionally approved war, and not a mere slogan. It is, of course, an asymmetrical war: Our enemy does not fight as a uniformed army, and his most potent weapon is the jihadist disguised as a civilian. Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is just such a weapon: A native of Qatar, he took orders ...