They may not have a uniform, but they are still human. And incidentally, it was on this premise that the Geneva Conventions were reconvened after the Second World War because of the horror they saw being inflicted onto the civilian population. What we see in the case of this administration is that they like to bend the rules for their benifit. When people complain about torture, and holding people in overseas bases, the Bush administration responds claiming they don't answer to a traditional military hierarchy and therefore the Geneva Conventions don't apply to them. So then it would be logical to try them as traditional criminals in a civilian trial, but I guess they're "not civilian enough" to recieve the benifits of habeas corpus or civilian trials, instead they should be denied evidence and lawyers and be placed in a military tribunal.

There's this double standard that is too evident, and I'm afraid too angering to Iraqis. We wanted to bring our traditional foundations of democracy and liberty to the Iraqis, and thus usher in a completely new lifestyle from the Saddam Hussein regime; yet we turn around and follow in Saddam's policy's footsteps. Saddam denied Iraqis traditional civilian tribunals and instead military-like tribunals so that his power could be further consolidated. Likewise, he practiced torture. Now we see that under US occupation, we are using the same torture chambers, and unfortunately retaining their sense of infamy. For now, there is more torture going on in Iraq than there had been under Saddam, the quality of life is worse, and there are way more people getting killed than before.