There was one very important “this changes everything” moment in President Trump’s State of the Union message that no one is talking about – the President’s announcement that he has signed an Executive Order on Protecting America Through Lawful Detention of Terrorists.

From the beginning of the Bush administration’s “global war on terror” American presidents have failed to grasp that Islamist terrorism is a strategy, not an ideology, and that the terrorists are not criminals, they are illegal combatants in a war that Islam has declared on the West, and America in particular.

Treating these illegal combatants as mere criminals was a major fallacy of the Obama administration and acceding to Democrat demands that they be offered infinitely extended due process rights and other elements of American constitutional protects was a major error of the Bush administration.

President Trump’s Executive Order goes a long way toward rectifying those errors.

The Executive Order begins with a set of findings that are fundamental to differentiating the Trump strategy on the battlefield vs. the Obama and Bush strategies on the battlefield:

Section 1. Findings. (a) Consistent with long-standing law of war principles and applicable law, the United States may detain certain persons captured in connection with an armed conflict for the duration of the conflict.

(b) Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and other authorities authorized the United States to detain certain persons who were a part of or substantially supported al-Qa’ida, the Taliban, or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners. Today, the United States remains engaged in an armed conflict with al‑Qa’ida, the Taliban, and associated forces, including with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

(c) The detention operations at the U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay are legal, safe, humane, and conducted consistent with United States and international law.

(d) Those operations are continuing given that a number of the remaining individuals at the detention facility are being prosecuted in military commissions, while others must be detained to protect against continuing, significant threats to the security of the United States, as determined by periodic reviews.

(e) Given that some of the current detainee population represent the most difficult and dangerous cases from among those historically detained at the facility, there is significant reason for concern regarding their reengagement in hostilities should they have the opportunity.

After the Findings section, the second section of the order “Status of Detention Facilities at U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay” revokes Section 3 of Obama’s Executive Order 13492 of January 22, 2009 ordering the closure of the detention facilities at U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay.

In one brief paragraph President Trump dismantled one of the major follies of the Obama era that returned dozens of Muslim terrorists back to the battlefield.

In Section 2 (c) of the order President Trump made it clear that not only will Guantánamo Bay continue to house its existing population of detainees, but that the United States may transport additional detainees there “when lawful and necessary to protect the Nation.”

In other words, Gitmo is open for business and expects to receive more unlawful combatants. (You can read the entire Executive Order through this link.)

Saul Montes-Bradley, longtime student of Islamic National Socialism and author of Gander: Terrorism, Incompetence, and the Rise of Islamic National Socialism, described the impact of President Trump’s Executive Order this way:

Yesterday’s EO put things back in their rightful place. Jihadists are not common criminals to be Mirandized and hauled to your local court. They are ENEMY COMBATANTS to be held at a duly appointed prison camp FOR THE DURATION OF THE CONFLICT.

Those captured in the “Field of Fight” are entitled to received treatment as laid out in the Geneva Conventions, not in criminal courts. I suggest you familiarize yourselves with them. Especially, in this case, the 3rd Convention, as amended in 1949.

Note that “irregular combatants” MUST meet certain requirements to be considered prisoners of war (Art. IV), especially: “be commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; to have a fixed distinctive emblem recognizable at a distance; to carry arms openly; and to conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war."

Good luck with that one!

So much for those who conform to Article IV to be considered “prisoners of war.”

But what happens when they do not, i.e. a combatant dressed as a civilian carrying murderous acts among the civilian population?

THOSE ARE EXPLICITELY NOT ENTITLED TO ANY OF THE PROTECTIONS OF THE GENEVA CONVENTION.

Therefore, those of the enemy so captured are not just irregular but “unlawful combatants” and, according to the Geneva Convention, they have no claim to any of its protections.

Unlike prisoners of war, these can then be tried for the crimes they committed at the discretion of the holding power.

Let that sink in.

Guantanamo, and any other facility existing or to be built to hold this vermin until the cessation of hostilities or such time as they are tried and executed as the Geneva Convention clearly permits, is not only legal and humane, it is the ONLY reasonable option.

President Trump’s clear designation finally restores sanity to the treatment of this problem and gives me renewed hope that the War on Islamic National Socialism has entered its final phase, and victory is, again, possible.

And that is why it is so important.

George Rasley is editor of ConservativeHQ. A longtime student of Islam he has lived and travelled extensively in the Muslim world. Rasley served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, as Director of Policy and Communication for Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for Rep. Mac Thornberry now-Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.