In January 2002, John Yoo wrote a memo arguing that the Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were "enemy combatants" and were therefore not protected by the Geneva Conventions or other international laws for prisoners of war.

 "Gonzales' memo did, however, say that the terrorist threat rendered 'obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners.' Why? Because the United States needed to be able 'to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians.' Information remains the primary weapon to prevent a future Al-Qaida attack on the United States.  .  .  Gonzales also observed that denying POW status would limit the prosecution of U.S. officials under a federal law criminalizing a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. He was concerned that some of the conventions' terms were so vague (prohibiting, for example, 'outrages upon personal dignity') that officials would be wary of taking actions necessary to respond to unpredictable developments in this new war."

John Yoo, UCBerkeley News  January 4, 2005

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/01/05_johnyoo.shtml