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| US drops 'enemy combatant' term | US drops 'enemy combatant' term |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| In a break from Bush administration policy, the US will no longer hold terror suspects as "enemy combatants", the Justice Department has announced. | In a break from Bush administration policy, the US will no longer hold terror suspects as "enemy combatants", the Justice Department has announced. |
| Detainees will instead be held according to legal standards set by the international laws of war. | Detainees will instead be held according to legal standards set by the international laws of war. |
| Under the new definition, only those who provided "substantial" support to al-Qaeda or the Taleban will be considered detainable, officials said. | Under the new definition, only those who provided "substantial" support to al-Qaeda or the Taleban will be considered detainable, officials said. |
| President Barack Obama has ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison camp. | President Barack Obama has ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison camp. |
| President George W Bush had argued that his status as commander-in-chief allowed him to hold detainees unilaterally as "enemy combatants". | President George W Bush had argued that his status as commander-in-chief allowed him to hold detainees unilaterally as "enemy combatants". |
| The BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says this meant that international laws - like the Geneva Conventions - therefore did not automatically apply. | |
| The Obama administration will, by contrast, hold prisoners under the authority granted by Congress, when it approved the Authorisation for the Use of Military Force "against nations, organizations, or persons the president determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the September 11 attacks, or harboured such organizations or persons" in September 2001. | |
| The decision to drop the term "enemy combatant" is deeply symbolic, our correspondent says. |