9 11 anons will want this paper from Yale

in 2003. Found it when looking for ES meaning.

War and Enemy Status After 9 11

THE YALE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 28:317armed forces of the Taliban.4 Such schizophrenic claims are not merelyillogical and devoid of legal merit, but can also have dangerous consequenceswith respect to permissible forms of non-state actor violence, application ofthe laws of war in actual armed conflicts, and protections of members of thearmed forces of the United States and other states.Despite manipulated rhetoric or claims to unbounded power, did thelaws of war apply to the September 11 th attacks? What is the legal statusunder the laws of war of various types of persons detained or being prosecutedby the United States? Perhaps more importantly for the United States and theinternational community, is there a need to revise the laws of war in view ofbin Laden's use of terrorism and the various U.S. responses?II. THE UNITED STATES CANNOT BE AT "WAR" WITH AL QAEDA OR"TERRORISM"Contrary to the assertion of President Bush, the United States simplycannot be at war with bin Laden and al Qaeda as such, nor would it be in theoverall interest of the United States for the status of war to apply merely toconflicts between the United States and al Qaeda. Bin Laden was never theleader or member of a state, nation, belligerent, or insurgent group (as thoseentities are understood in international law) that was at war with the UnitedStates. Armed attacks by such non-state, non-nation, non-belligerent, non-insurgent actors like bin Laden and members of al Qaeda can trigger the rightof selective and proportionate self-defense under the United Nations Charteragainst those directly involved in an armed attack,5 but even the use ofmilitary force by the United States merely against bin Laden and al Qaeda inforeign territory would not create a state of war between the United States andal Qaeda.The lowest level of warfare or armed conflict to which certain laws ofwar apply is an insurgency. For an insurgency to occur, the insurgent groupwould have to have the semblance of a government, an organized militaryforce, control of significant portions of territory as its own, and its ownrelatively stable population or base of support within a broader population. AlQaeda never met any of the criteria for insurgent status. Belligerent statusunder the laws of war is based on the same criteria for insurgent status plusoutside recognition by one or more states either as a belligerent or a state.

moar here: https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1215&context=yjil