Are the detainees in GITMO...?

Good question. The U.S. Government calls them ENEMY COMBATANTS. This doesn't fit into any constructed, accepted definition currently used in international law. Use of this term is what allows them to do what they've been doing with minimal legal resistance. But now they have to be called a term that the world recognizes, which would be one of those you use up above. They cannot be called Prisoners of War because if we do, we have committed war crimes. They are in some instances common criminals but their crimes were not committed on U.S. soil so what laws and courts apply? Illegal combatants may be the best option but who knows what provisions that term allows. So, for the next year, this is what the Obama administration will figure out...what to call who and what to do with them given their new status. A year should be plenty of time.