The White House statement of February 7, 2002, according to which the Taliban and Al-Qaeda members detained in Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay following the September 11, 2001, events had no right to prisoner of war (POW) status but were merely ‘unlawful combatants’ had broad repercussions in the public opinion as well as among legal scholars. The debate focused on the legal status and treatment of the persons held in Guantanamo Bay mainly in light of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Comparatively little attention has been paid to the treatment due to the detainees in light of the Military Order on the Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism issued by the US President on November 13, 2001 (Military Order). Also the treatment to which the detainees are entitled by virtue of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War has been largely overlooked. This brief paper intends to contribute to remedying such lacunae but will be limited to an analysis of the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions in light of the events of September 11th without reference to previous practice.