Ghosting is the practice of hiding prisoners from inspection from (possibly hostile) outside inspectors.

For example, the Washington Post accused the U.S. military of hiding some detainees from the Red Cross at Abu Ghraib. They cited as evidence for their accusation a report by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba:

... in a report describing abuses of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, [he] blamed the 800th Military Police Brigade, which guarded the prison, for allowing "other government agencies"--a euphemism that includes the CIA--to hide "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib. The practice, he wrote, "was deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law." [1]

Human Rights Watch provided further evidence for the practice, citing a September 8, 2004 report to the U.S. Congress:

U.S. Army investigators told Congress on Thursday that detainees at Baghdad’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison — ranging from two dozen to as many as 100 — were hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at the request of the Central Intelligence Agency, which refused repeated requests to cooperate with two Pentagon probes. Keeping detained belligerents from the ICRC violates the Geneva Conventions and subjects them to potential abuse. [2]

Some converatives generally, as well as the Bush administration and its supporters, disagree with the perspective of the Washington Post and Human Rights Watch. They don't believe that the Geneva Conventions apply to all military detainees, but only those captured while wearing the uniform of a country which is also a signatory to the convention. Terrorists or "terror suspects" fall outside this designation, they argue.

This opposing view may be compared to the viewpoint of North Vietnam toward American pilots shot down during the (undeclared) Vietnam War. They called them "air pirates" or spies, and subjected them to torture (as official government policy), and no guards were brought to courts-martial for the beatings, broken bones, starvation, etc.

"Contrary to the Geneva Convention, North Vietnam has not allowed the captive Americans to communicate with their families. It has not allowed international access to the prisoners, nor has it assured them of mail or proper medical attention. Instead, some the prisoners have been executed; many have been used for propaganda purposes, ignominiously paraded in public." [3]

The Americans argued that captured members of al-Qaeda do not fall into any of these categories, saying that al-Qaeda members don't wear uniforms ("fixed distinctive sign") or obey the laws of war. Rumsfeld labeled them "unlawful combatants," and said the rules of the Geneva Convention did not apply. [4]