i did some digging, as i was left after this discussion, and others in the past, with the feeling that i might have been missing something. unlike some folks (here and elsewhere) i don't necessarily do a search or ten with an attempt at backing up my own viewpoint. i don't see how that would possibly educate me on a topic of convsersation. at any rate, i found this
http://www.cfr.org/publication/5312/...ombatants.html
after asking the question 'did we detain enemy combatants during world war two'. now, obviously the answer would be yes-i was looking for background/historical precedent that bush had used to determine enemy combatant status. now, i personally don't know that you could call what we're fighting regarding terrorism as war (i've always thought you needed an enemy country with a standing army to have a war) but that's a whole different subject and topic of debate.
at any rate, my approach had been based on criminality and how criminal cases are handled-not in the approach of having pow's. apparently that was the wrong approach, and i stand (well, sit actually) corrected.