The term "enemy combatant" is an awkward one, made even more complex because its definition has shifted over time. In the early days in the war on terror, it meant individuals who had attacked the United States. Over time, though, it began to include a broader range -- from individuals who had been involved in direct assaults on the U.S. to those who were accused only of providing material aid. "It's a term that allows the government to fill that category with whoever they want," says Michael Ratner of the New-York-based legal Center for Constitutional Rights. He was speaking at a panel discussion entitled "The Enemy Combatants Papers: American Justice, the Courts, and the War on Terror," in New York on Wednesday at an event hosted by NYU Law School's Center on Law and Security.
One of the other panelists, Joshua Dratel, who is co-editor of a new book The Enemy Combatant Papers, puts it more simply: "It's a backward definition," he says. "The people who are at Guantanamo are enemy combatants. And the moment you leave Guantanamo, you are no longer an enemy combatant."
Regardless of what they are called, the vast majority of the 255 individuals who being held in Guantanamo's confines are probably not guilty of crimes they have supposedly been accused of, says Ratner. "If we ever got to a trail, I think ninety percent of these people will be out," he says. There was, however, disagreement among the panelists, who also included Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, about whether and when trials will take place and prisoners will be released. Romero says he believes Guantanamo will still be open a year from now. "There isn't a domestic constituency to shut it down," he says. Meanwhile, Karen J. Greenberg, co-editor of The Enemy Combatant Papers and executive director of the Center on Law and Security, seems to think the prison will soon be shuttered, though she is not optimistic about the future. "We'll get what we want – they'll close it," she says. "And even worse will happen."
--Tara McKelvey