Ground Truth : The Moral Component in Contemporary British Warfare / edited by Frank Ledwidge.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Ledwidge, Frank, editor.

Series:

Studies in Contemporary Warfare.

Studies in Contemporary Warfare

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Iraq War, 2003-2011--Participation, British.

Iraq War, 2003-2011.

Afghan War, 2001-2021--Participation, British.

Afghan War, 2001-2021.

Strategic culture--Great Britain.

Strategic culture.

Military art and science--Great Britain--History--21st century.

Military art and science.

Military art and science--Moral and ethical aspects--Great Britain.

Military ethics--Great Britain.

Military ethics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (240 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), 2024.

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2024.

System Details:

text file HTML

Summary:

After twenty years of almost unbroken wars of choice, the ethical deficiencies in the operational conduct of war by Western armed forces have largely been ignored by scholarly critique. This volume addresses these deficiencies, featuring analysis by some of the UK's leading academics and military veterans working in the fields of military ethics and contemporary conflict. Compiled in honour of Colonel David Benest OBE, a soldier-scholar who believed that ethics should be central to an effective military education, the book focuses on problems ranging from the practicalities of how to conduct a counterinsurgency campaign in one of the most challenging combat zones in the world to the failure to account properly for defeat during military conflicts. This important volume explores critical questions perennially raised about the role of the military in a democratic society and the extent to which its ideals are compromised in fighting wars of choice.

Contents:

Foreword - Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman Introduction - Frank Ledwidge Part One: David Benest's legacy Chapter 1: 'Not the British way of doing business': Atrocities in military operations and how to avoid them - Aaron Edwards Chapter 2: The military virtues: David Benest and David Fisher on when soldiers turn bad - Simon Anglim Chapter 3: Legal accountability at the tactical level and the Overseas Operations Act - Nicholas Mercer Part Two: Legal and moral accountability Chapter 4: The Iraq war crimes allegations and the investigative conundrum - Andrew Williams Chapter 5: From forgetting to institutional failure: The army as a non-learning organization - Matthew Ford Chapter 6: Accountability, responsibility and culpability: Are British senior officers truly 'professional'? - Frank Ledwidge Part Three: Combat realities Chapter 7: The operational design for Nad-e-Ali South, Afghanistan, 2011 - Oliver Lee Chapter 8: Killing over winning: How fluid ethics turned success into failure for Britain's special forces - Chris Green Chapter 9: Must liberal democracies compromise their values in order to defeat insurgencies? - Louise Jones Part Four: Myths, stories and memory Chapter 10: The lonely death of Highlander Scott McLaren - Edward Burke Chapter 11: Military myths - John Wilson Chapter 12: Remembering the British soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan - Helen Parr Bibliography Authors' biographies Index

ISBN:

9781350335554

OCLC:

1435751381