President “Bush stated on February 7 [2002] that al Qaeda and the Taliban would be collectively given the status of ‘illegal enemy combatants,’ and the United States would treat them ‘humanely and to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of the GC [Geneva Conventions].’ This clause allowed the administration to cherry-pick those parts of the GC it wanted. Coining the phrase ‘illegal enemy combatant’ was masterful because it was outside the lexicon of humanitarian law and allowed the United States to term the whole world a potential battlefield.”
– Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Page 296