The Logic of War

U.S. Said to Hold More Foreigners in Iraq Fighting
By DOUGLAS JEHL and NEIL A. LEWIS
The Bush administration says the 325 foreign fighters are
not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/08/international/middleeast/08detain.html?th
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One cannot help but ask the obvious question that is apparently being posed by a number of our own experienced military and others. If we are picking up and imprisoning indefinitely individuals that we claim are "illegal combatants" (a category introduced into American law in 1942),

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_combatant

what is to stop others by the same logic from applying this category and treatment to Americans, military and/or civilian, wherever? The logic of war is a tricky business and not to be undertaken lightly -- as Machiavelli indicated in his citation of Livy immediately following.
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)