Enemy Combatants

Dawn Rothe

In 2001, the Bush administration coined the term unlawful combatant (later renamed enemy combatant ) to describe certain individuals either captured during the war in Afghanistan or suspected of having links to the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. Currently, any individual who the administration deems a threat or danger to the United States, including “citizens who associating themselves with the enemy and with its aid, guidance, and direction, or enter into this country bent on hostile acts are enemy belligerents” (U.S. District Court, Lower Manhattan, U.S. v. Padilla [2002]), may be defined as an enemy combatant. In other words, U.S. citizens may also be designated as enemy combatants. As of March 2003, two Americans have been categorized in this way: Jose Padilla and Yassar Esam Hamdi. Padilla was named an enemy combatant in June 2002 after he was “captured” not on a battlefield, but at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. The government says he ...

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