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Enemy combatant
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Look up <i>enemy combatant</i> in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. <p>Enemy combatant is a term for a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, engages in hostilities for the other side in an armed conflict, used by the U.S. government and media during the <a href="/facts/War_on_Terror/CTGl4eto">War on Terror</a>. Usually enemy combatants are members of the <a href="/facts/Armed_forces/kgNmLUnN">armed forces</a> of the state with which another state is at war. In the case of a <a href="/facts/Civil_war/bMhgxnxC">civil war</a> or an <a href="/facts/Insurrection/bUs5ESDx">insurrection</a> "state" may be replaced by the more general term "party to the conflict" (as described in the 1949 <a href="/facts/Third_Geneva_Convention/3qaUnd2o">Geneva Conventions</a> Article 3). </p><p>After the <a href="/facts/September_11_attacks/PfWQcQNx">September 11 attacks</a>, the term "enemy combatant" was used by the <a href="/facts/George_W._Bush_administration/n3TPjCeF">George W. Bush administration</a> to include an alleged member of <a href="/facts/Al-Qaeda/CIQSk3D7">al-Qaeda</a> or the <a href="/facts/Taliban/VJC0WJlq">Taliban</a> being held in detention by the U.S. government. In this sense, "enemy combatant" actually refers to persons the United States regards as <a href="/facts/Unlawful_combatant/7VohS0M9">unlawful combatants</a>, a category of persons who do not qualify for <a href="/facts/Prisoner_of_war/X22JC3Fj">prisoner-of-war</a> status under the <a href="/facts/Geneva_Conventions/692ICAy0">Geneva Conventions</a>. However, unlike unlawful combatants who qualify for some protections under the <a href="/facts/Fourth_Geneva_Convention/RmLYVrFb">Fourth Geneva Convention</a>, enemy combatants, under the Bush administration, were not covered by the Geneva Convention. Thus, the term "enemy combatant" has to be read in context to determine whether it means any combatant belonging to an enemy state or non-state actor, whether lawful or unlawful, or if it means an alleged member of al-Qaeda or of the Taliban being detained as an unlawful combatant by the United States. </p><p>In the United States on March 13, 2009, the <a href="/facts/Presidency_of_Barack_Obama/Fx03UXVV">Obama administration</a> announced its abandonment of the Bush administration's use of the term "enemy combatant". </p>