The decision to deny al Qaeda and Taliban forces the legal protection of the Geneva Conventions “had the full support not only of the Justice Department but also the Department of Defense and the State Department. ‘The lawyers all agree that al Qaeda or Taliban soldiers are presumptively not POWs [prisoners of war],’ wrote Will Taft, the State Department’s Legal Advisor, in February [2] 2002.”
– Jack Goldsmith, The Terror Presidency, Page 113