during the vietnam war, one of our US Senate members John McCain was shot down as some of you might know. after being shot down McCain was taken prisoner by the Vietcong. he was kept there for almost 6 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:N...POW_McCain.jpg

That is him when he got out, after being tortured. He was released when the war was over in 1973.



"members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause" -- Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Part 1 , Article 3, Statement 1

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm


it says "ARMED FORCES" so that means any force that has taken arms against your army or government i.e. enemy combatants. Armed forces generally refers to forces of an enemy nation i.e. soldiers, which could be the reason why they didnt want to use the term armed forces. for example, for those of you that still dont get it or are pigheaded, when people speak of america's armed forces they mean the soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines that defend our constitution. but this is just an assumption.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_combatant

enemy combatant, well synonyms for it have been around since the 1940s. according to this article atleast.

The geneva convention also states the following:

"Prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities"--SECTION II
RELEASE AND REPATRIATION OF PRISONERS OF WAR AT THE CLOSE OF HOSTILITIES
Article 118