>>It has not only kidnapped people, but subjected them to (literally) inhuman
conditions - housed in wire animal cages, denied contact with families,
lawyers, or even free association.>>

  The Taliban and Al Queda prisoners being held in Cuba are receiving three
nutritious meals a day, are provided with personal toiletry items, are
provided with the opportunity to bath regularly, are provided with a a towel
solely to be used as a prayer mat, provided with individual copies of the
Q'ran, are allowed visits from an Islamic clergyman,  are provided with
medical treatment whenever needed, have been visited by the Red Cross, and
are being held in their wire enclosures only until completion of a permanent
facility.

  These are not soldiers of some nation-state that upon discharge from
service will peacefully return to "tending their farms" while perhaps every
10 years or so getting together for a reunion at which they will swap old
Jihad stories. The Al Queda prisoners are voluntary members of an
organization whose goal is the killing of Americans -- indeed even fellow
Arab Muslims who are not religiously 'pure' enough. If released, there is no
reason to think that they will not regroup and continue their Jihad.

The Taliban prisoners picked the wrong crowd to hang out with. I assume that
if it is decided that they are no longer a threat or of intelligence value,
they will be shipped back to the sewer they came from.  However, the members
of Al Queda voluntarilly chose their path of Jihad against Americans and
should now expect to spend the rest of their lives in prison.

>>I would be surprised if members of its armed forces (or even civilians) who
are captured by the many enemies of the US can expect civilised treatment
from this day forward.>>

  You mean future American POWs should no longer expect the kind of
"civilized" treatment they received in Japanese POW camps? North Korean POW
camps? North Vietnamese POW camps? A rather specious argument, at best
(Somehow I suspect that the treatment of an American POW is not very high on
your list of concerns).

>>This is an outrage that offends people all over the world. And don't think
that we reserve our animosity for the government of the US alone, the
citizens of the US who tolerate this are every bit as guilty and deserving of
collective punishment. Every person who supports this, or even remains
silent, deserves to be regarded as the scum of the earth.>>

A selective "outrage" to be sure. With neither rancor nor malice, go diddle
yourself, Mate.
Yours,