Moral dilemmas of modern war : torture, assassination, and blackmail in an age of asymmetric conflict / Michael L. Gross.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gross, Michael L., 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.

War.

Military ethics--United States.

Military ethics.

Military interrogation--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.

Military interrogation.

War--Moral and ethical aspects.

United States.

Physical Description:

xiii, 321 pages ; 83 cm

Other Title:

Torture, assassination, and blackmail in an age of asymmetric conflict

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York, : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Summary:

Asymmetric conflict is changing the way that we practice and think about war. Torture, rendition, assassination, blackmail, extortion, direct attack on civilians, and chemical weapons are all finding their way to the battlefield despite long-standing international prohibitions. This book offers a practical guide for policymakers, military officers, lawyers, students, journalists, and others who ask how to adapt the laws and conventions of war to the changing demands of asymmetric conflict. As war wages between state and nonstate parties, difficult questions arise about the status of guerrillas, the methods each side may use to disable the other, and the means necessary to identify and protect civilians caught in the crossfire. Answering these questions while providing each side with a reasonable chance to press its claims by force of arms requires us to reevaluate the principle of noncombatant immunity, adjust the standards of proportionally, and redefine the limits of unnecessary suffering and superfluous injury. In doing so, many practices that conventional war prohibits are slowly evolving into new norms of asymmetric conflict.

Contents:

Torture, assassination, and blackmail in an age of asymmetric conflict

Friends, foes, or brothers in arms? the puzzle of combatant equality

Combatants in asymmetric war

Shooting to kill : the paradox of prohibited weapons

Shooting to stun : the paradox of nonlethal warfare

Murder, self-defense, or execution? the dilemma of assassination

Human dignity or human life : the dilemmas of torture and rendition

Noncombatants in asymmetric war

Blackmailing the innocent : the dilemma of noncombatant immunity

Killing the innocent : the dilemma of terrorism

Risking our lives to save others : puzzles of humanitarian intervention

Conclusion and afterword

Torture, assassination, and blackmail : new norms for asymmetric conflict?

The war in Gaza, December 2008 to January 2009.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521866156

0521866154

9780521685108

0521685109

OCLC:

313078350