On January 18, 2002, Chief Legal Advisor to the Department of State William H. Taft “was informed that the president [Bush] had approved the Justice Department interpretation [of the Geneva Conventions], determining that neither al-Qaeda nor Taliban detainees were covered by the Geneva Conventions and that neither group was eligible for POW [prisoner of war] status. Although the White House made no formal announcement, [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld issued written instructions to the military the next day. There would be no POW designation, he wrote. Treatment would be ‘consistent with the principles’ of Geneva ‘to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity.’ ”
– Karen DeYoung, Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, Page 368