The Pentagon announced last Wednesday that it would notify all Guantanamo Bay detainees of their right to challenge their detentions in court. Nearly 600 inmates are kept prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base — most of whom are suspected Taliban and al-Qaida members captured during the war against Afghanistan more than two years ago.

What are those prisoners still doing there? If this were a civil issue, the indefinite detainment would be referred to as kidnapping. However, the rules of war, as laid down in part by the Geneva Conventions, complicate the issues surrounding the so-called war on terrorism. The administration charges that because detainees weren’t wearing identifying uniforms at the time of their capture, that they lose human rights (even against torture) guaranteed by the Third Geneva Convention.

This argument may be heartless but it does have legal merit — at least at first glance. The Geneva Conventions were established to promote humane behavior in times of war (if that is possible), and fighting without a uniform can be considered unfair or “unsportsmanlike.”

Although many of the detainees may not have had a “fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance” as described in the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, that document lists many possible definitions for POWs.

Article 4, Section A states that “Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy.”

The key word in this declaration is “one,” denoting the number of categories to which an individual may belong. Six categories or possible definitions are then given. Article 4, Section A doesn’t state that detainees must conform to all definitions as the administration implies. The Convention only requires one.

Therefore, labeling detainees based on only one of the categories while ignoring the rest is in violation of Article 4, Section A so long as another category does apply.

It just so happens that supposed Taliban and al-Qaida members fit into the very first category as “Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.”

The Taliban fighters obviously apply, and if we are to believe that the suspected al-Qaida members don’t, then the reason given for war with the Taliban is discredited. After all, the military can’t be used to fight parties unrelated to the enemy — and President Bush made it very clear that al-Qaida was “part of” the Taliban.

Why then does the administration choose not to honor what we have sworn to uphold? Some argue that the gruesomeness of war shouldn’t be candy-coated with agreements like the Geneva Conventions — that war will be ended more quickly if its inhumanity is more prominently displayed, pushing nations back into peaceful situations due to the immense pain inflicted.

Regardless, the United States has agreed to abide by the Geneva Conventions, for which President Bush has reaffirmed U.S. support.

The United States has an obligation to fulfill — like it or not — and that is to release every single person captured during the war against Afghanistan.

On June 15, President and Commander in Chief Bush called Afghanistan “the first victory in the war on terror,” thereby announcing “mission accomplished” and the end of hostilities.

With this declaration, Article 118 of the Convention gained full spotlight: “Prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities.”

“Without delay” carries a very specific meaning. It doesn’t suggest waiting for weeks, months, or years.

Without delay clearly states immediacy, and the U.S. military has the ability to follow through.

Since POWs held at Guantanamo are still rotting away in their cells, rather than being returned to their home countries as outlined in the Third Geneva Convention, their status is best described as “kidnapped.”

During times of war this would not be the case, but because President Bush has declared an end to the military conflict in Afghanistan, the detainees are no longer subject to wartime rules.

This is a complicated and emotional matter for many people, but we must not allow ourselves to lose moral high ground just because of the Sept. 11 attacks. Those attacks were gruesome, but they didn’t give us a “get out of jail free card” to commit crimes of our own.