Whoa ... whatever happened to all that "last throes" stuff?

Um ... say what?

The United States must be prepared to fight the war on terror for decades to bring peace to Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday.

All of the previous statements are now inoperative. Black is white. Up is down. Have a nice day.

Say, about those Geneva Conventions: As some of you may be aware, Article 118 of the Geneva Conventions reads: "Prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities."

But what does this mean when you're involved in a totally unofficial, nebulous, open-ended War on Terror™ that you've just admitted will most likely go on for decades? It would seem to mean that current detainees could conceivably be imprisoned for just that long.

What a cute trick -- quote the Geneva Conventions with respect to repatriation and the end of hostilities, then just never declare the hostilities ended. Somehow, that this administration would do something like this is so depressingly predictable.