Oscar Wilde quipped, “As soon as war is looked upon as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.” Today, war must be pretty vulgar because veterans are not feeling the same gratitude they felt after 9/11. Instead, our typical combat soldier is impersonated with names like enemy combatant or insurgent.Soldiers have a list of rules to engage in battle — yes, there are rules. You can’t just pull the trigger or fire randomly. There are protected areas like hospitals and churches that have immunity from war. Likewise, soldiers may not fire upon ambulances or paratroopers while chutes are deployed. These are just a few of many rules of the Geneva Convention that are ignored by many self-proclaimed soldiers around the world.The term enemy combatant should be correctly termed as unlawful combatant. While enemy combatant sounds politically correct, it is a slang term. Unlawful combatant identifies an individual as someone who violates international laws of engagement while fighting under a white flag or with spies, mercenaries, child soldiers and civilians who engage in suicide raids.However, these conditions characterize many of our recent battlefields. Homemade landmines, cell phone detonators, prisoner decapitations, hostages and other heinous acts by volunteer or civilian soldiers leave behind a shroud of deception. These rouge vigilantes violated the rules of war and should be categorized as enemy combatants — they are not soldiers recognized by any government. Some have questioned if these are mercenaries? They are not. Their acts were clearly a violation of the rules of war.When the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked, not only were the actions an act of terrorism, they were an act of war.Some Americans have issues with Guantanamo Bay and so-called secret military prisons. We must remember that those captured and detained took part in aggressive tactics impersonating a soldier. However, all soldiers around the world are on a roster — even the infamous Delta force. If there is a capture, it’s up to that government to release information or have the detainee provide name, rank and serial number. If none is provided, then they are an unlawful combatant. None of the captured detainees have identified themselves as soldiers for any country. Therefore, the captured are not afforded the same rights and privileges as soldiers. Thus, why this is a very complex situation — even for legal scholars. To further complicate the process, the issue of combatant status has a nuclear role. Not so many years ago, our nation was under the Cold War threat of the Soviet Union. Today, that threat is very different, but the potential for the use of dirty bombs and small nuclear devices has never been greater. If we do away with enemy combatant status, our nation leaves no course of action to deal with asymmetric warfare and acts of aggression.Many students are probably unaware that we have a secret prison location just seven miles from our campus. The facility is reportedly closed, but tells an important story. Because it was kept a secret, our community was protected. For years we have heard about Guantanamo Bay and the people being detained there; many want the prison to close. But would you be willing to host high-profile terror suspects in your backyard? Our country is still at war — Iraq, Afghanistan and even North Korea, yes, our cease-fire is still in effect. Our men and women in uniform are stretched thin, and more than 6,400 have died as a result of unlawful combatants. Additionally, an estimated 104,000 civilians have died in Iraq at the hands of civil unrest. How many more people will die domestically if we close Guantanamo Bay without a plan?