Though they don’t often employ the term, many legal experts agree that al Qaeda fighters are latrunculi — hardly distinguishable by their actions from pirates and the like. Robert Kogod Goldman, an American University law professor has commented: “I think under any standard, the captured al Qaeda fighters simply do not meet the minimum standards set out to be considered prisoners of war.” And according to Marc Cogen, a professor of international law at Ghent University in Belgium, “no ‘terrorist organization’ thus far has been deemed a combatant under the laws of armed conflict.” Thus al Qaeda members “can be punished for all hostile acts, including the killing of soldiers, because they have no right to participate directly in hostilities.” But the Obama administration is about to extend legal rights — intended to protect civilians — to the very latrunculi who want to blow them up by considering the possibility of trying them in U.S. courts. Indeed, Attorney General Holder did not rule out trying the Somali pirates.