Franz Kafka, meet John Bellinger

"State Department legal advisor John Bellinger said the U.S. believed international law allows it to hold suspects until the end of the conflict in question, even if they are acquitted."

Note the use of the phrase "the end of the conflict in question," which, since there will always be people willing to do things the Bush-Cheney regime doesn't like, really comes down, in its eyes, to nothing less than the war between good and evil. Thus, Bellinger's claim comes down to asserting the regime's right to detain anyone until the final establishment of peace on Earth. Once Bush has declared that a person should be taken into custody, that person's punishment has been sealed, and a trial is irrelevant.