On March 13, 2002, Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee sent a memo to General Counsel William Haynes, titled, ‘The President’s Power as Commander in Chief to Transfer Captured Terrorists to the Control and Custody of Foreign Nations.‘ Bybee wrote that the President has the constitutional right to capture and detain any prisoners captured in armed conflict, as well as transfer them to other nations. Additionally, he determined that Geneva Conventions and United Nations Convention Against Torture did not apply to al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners.
– Jay S. Bybee, “The President’s Power as Commander in Chief to Transfer Captured Terrorists to the Control and Custody of Foreign Nations,” Memo to Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Justice, March 13, 2002