Volume 43 | Number 1 Fall 2007
IV. Conclusion
The history of the development of the concept of unlawful enemy combatant is of more than academic interest. The increasing breadth and malleability of the term means that it can now catch many in its sweep that would not be considered combatants under the law of war. These developments effectively provide that, at least for unlawful enemy combatant status, potential detainees are back to the place they were before Hamdi—the Executive branch has the authority to make an essentially unreviewable decision about whether or not an individual can be detained indefinitely. When signing the MCA, President Bush stated,
Over the past few months, the debate over this bill has been heated, and
the questions raised can seem complex. Yet, with the distance of history,
the questions will be narrowed and few: Did this generation of Americans
take the threat seriously, and did we do what it takes to defeat that
threat?68
The scope of the most recent definitions of unlawful enemy combatant in the U.S. suggests that the threat—and its cure—will be determined by the President and his advisors alone.
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Footnotes
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