ABSTRACT

This chapter begins by addressing issues surrounding the classification of terrorists. It then critically examines Yoo and Ho's claim that while Al-Qaeda terrorists are engaged in international armed conflict, they do not count as combatants for the purposes of the Geneva Convention. It suggests that even if terrorists fail to fulfil the rules of jus in bello, this does not straight-forwardly preclude their being treated as combatants. The chapter outlines some of the objections to treating terrorists as combatants, paying particular attention to the implications of treating terrorists as prisoners of war. It also explores the controversial idea of torturing terrorists and it looked at utilitarian arguments for and against state-sponsored torture. Political violence would cease to be the monopoly of the state, and international affairs would no longer be conducted. But while this represents a significant shift in just war theory, it is, as Yoo and Ho suggest, perhaps already the case in practice.