Declarations of war have never been a constitutional requirement for military action abroad.

The effort to blur the lines between Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib reflects a deep misunderstanding about the different legal regimes that apply to Iraq and the war against al Qaeda.

We can guess that the unacceptable conduct of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib resulted in part from the dangerous state of affairs on the ground in a theater of war.

In light of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, critics are arguing that abuses of Iraqi prisoners are being produced by a climate of disregard for the laws of war.

Applying different standards to al Qaeda does not abandon Geneva, but only recognizes that the U.S. faces a stateless enemy never contemplated by the Conventions.

Under the Geneva Convention, for example, a POW is required only to provide name, rank, and serial number and cannot receive any benefits for cooperating.

American soldiers had to guard prisoners on the inside while receiving mortar and weapons fire from the outside. Guantanamo is distant from any battlefield, making it far more secure.

This is not to condone torture, which is still prohibited by the Torture Convention and federal criminal law.

President Bush and his commanders announced early in the conflict that the Conventions applied.

Without territory, it does not even have the resources to provide detention facilities for prisoners, even if it were interested in holding captured POWs.

If the Court were to extend its reach to the base, judges could begin managing conditions of confinement, interrogation methods, and the use of information.

Music took her somewhere, and I used to wonder where. I thought it was dumb, the way she lived for a collection of sounds, for someone else's words and notes.

The only freedom that lasts comes from pursuing what we want when we want what we ought.

He possessed the rare merit of making a property of his time and not a burden.

The cat is in the sack, but the sack is not closed. The cat is in it, but it's open...and it's a wild cat.

It was the perfect moment to tell her. This is my last year. But I couldn’t say it. Not yet. I wanted another minute, another hour, another night of pretending this wasn’t the end.

People say, When you have children, everything changes. But maybe things are awakened that were already there.

I steeled myself to focus only on the present yet remain alert to what might come next.

Diplomacy should always be our first option. Most politicians only talk, not fight. I’ve fought; talking is far better than fighting.

I will say I remember the best thing in terms of publicity was being on the cover of Newsweek.

Change can be accomplished most of all through the power of prayer, because with God all things are possible.