Editing Unlawful combatant (section)

====2009====

In January and February 2009, President [[Barack Obama]]'s nominees for [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] and [[United States Solicitor General|Solicitor General]], [[Eric Holder]] and [[Elena Kagan]], both testified they agreed the U.S. government may detain combatants in accordance with the laws of war until the end of the war, (this sidesteps the issue of deciding whether the combatant is a lawful or unlawful combatant and the need to try them). When asked by [[United States Senator|Senator]] [[Lindsey Graham]] "If our intelligence agencies should capture someone in the Philippines that is suspected of financing Al Qaeda worldwide, would you consider that person part of the battlefield?" Both Holder and Kagan said that they would.<ref name="LAT2009feb11sg">[http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-solicitor-general11-2009feb11,0,7158432.story Solicitor general nominee says 'enemy combatants' can be held without trial], [[Los Angeles Times]], 11 February 2009</ref><ref>Evan Perez. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124223286506515765 Obama Considers Detaining Terror Suspects Indefinitely], [[Wall Street Journal]], 14 May 2009</ref><ref>Tim Reid. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090507160858/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6216709.ece Problem of Guantánamo detainees returns to haunt Barack Obama], [[The Times]], 4 May 2009</ref>

On 28 October 2009, President Obama signed the [[Military Commissions Act of 2009]] into law, which was included in the [[National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010]] ({{USStatute|111|84|123|2190|2009|10|28|HR|2647}}). While critics said it is an improvement over prior versions of military-commissions passed during the Bush administration, it still fails to provide many of the fundamental elements of a fair trial.<ref>{{cite web |title=Obama endorses military commissions for Guantánamo detainees |date=2009-10-29 |website=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531002011/https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2009/1029/p02s01-usju.html |archive-date=2023-05-31 |url-status=live |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2009/1029/p02s01-usju.html}}</ref><ref>[http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/our-work/law-and-security/military-commissions/ Military Commissions]</ref>