When Civilians Attack PDF Download

Author: Peter Bogdasarian
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Combatants and noncombatants (International law)
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Author: Alexander B. Downes
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801457297
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
Accidental harm to civilians in warfare often becomes an occasion for public outrage, from citizens of both the victimized and the victimizing nation. In this vitally important book on a topic of acute concern for anyone interested in military strategy, international security, or human rights, Alexander B. Downes reminds readers that democratic and authoritarian governments alike will sometimes deliberately kill large numbers of civilians as a matter of military strategy. What leads governments to make such a choice? Downes examines several historical cases: British counterinsurgency tactics during the Boer War, the starvation blockade used by the Allies against Germany in World War I, Axis and Allied bombing campaigns in World War II, and ethnic cleansing in the Palestine War. He concludes that governments decide to target civilian populations for two main reasons—desperation to reduce their own military casualties or avert defeat, or a desire to seize and annex enemy territory. When a state's military fortunes take a turn for the worse, he finds, civilians are more likely to be declared legitimate targets to coerce the enemy state to give up. When territorial conquest and annexation are the aims of warfare, the population of the disputed land is viewed as a threat and the aggressor state may target those civilians to remove them. Democracies historically have proven especially likely to target civilians in desperate circumstances. In Targeting Civilians in War, Downes explores several major recent conflicts, including the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Civilian casualties occurred in each campaign, but they were not the aim of military action. In these cases, Downes maintains, the achievement of quick and decisive victories against overmatched foes allowed democracies to win without abandoning their normative beliefs by intentionally targeting civilians. Whether such "restraint" can be guaranteed in future conflicts against more powerful adversaries is, however, uncertain. During times of war, democratic societies suffer tension between norms of humane conduct and pressures to win at the lowest possible costs. The painful lesson of Targeting Civilians in War is that when these two concerns clash, the latter usually prevails.

Author: Héctor Olásolo
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004162003
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Death and destruction are unavoidable effects of war and combat situations. The fact that people have been killed or injured or property has been destroyed should not encourage anyone to rush to the conclusion that war crimes have been committed. On the contrary, before reaching such a conclusion, it is necessary to carefully analyze the conduct of the person causing death, injury or damage in order to ascertain whether such conduct is consistent with international humanitarian law. Technology, law and public opinion on what is acceptable has greatly evolved since World War II. The issue of civilian damage caused in combat operations has become an important topic in public opinion since Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Public pressure to limit incidental civilian damage has notably increased following the NATO aerial campaign in Kosovo in 1999 and the subsequent conflicts in Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003 and Lebanon 2006. "Unlawful Attacks in Combat Situations" focuses on the manner in which unlawful attacks launched during the conduct of hostilities have been dealt with in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the international treaty which, to date, deals most comprehensively with war crimes committed in international and non-international armed conflicts, and in the case law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the first international judicial body that has investigated and prosecuted crimes committed during the conduct of hostilities since World War II.

Author: Ian Henderson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047428269
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Armed conflict is about using force to achieve goals. As international humanitarian law regulates the means and methods that a belligerent may adopt to achieve its goals, there will inevitably be disagreements over the interpretation of that law. As for the rules that regulate targeting, the main difficulties arise over what is a lawful target and what is proportional collateral damage. This book provides a detailed analysis of those issues. Also, a chapter is dedicated to considering how United Nations Security Council sanctioning of participation in an armed conflict might affect the range of lawful targets available to a belligerent. Finally, a process is described by which legal responsibility for targeting decisions can be assessed in a complex decision-making environment.

Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309061954
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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The threat of domestic terrorism today looms larger than ever. Bombings at the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City's Federal Building, as well as nerve gas attacks in Japan, have made it tragically obvious that American civilians must be ready for terrorist attacks. What do we need to know to help emergency and medical personnel prepare for these attacks? Chemical and Biological Terrorism identifies the R&D efforts needed to implement recommendations in key areas: pre-incident intelligence, detection and identification of chemical and biological agents, protective clothing and equipment, early recognition that a population has been covertly exposed to a pathogen, mass casualty decontamination and triage, use of vaccines and pharmaceuticals, and the psychological effects of terror. Specific objectives for computer software development are also identified. The book addresses the differences between a biological and chemical attack, the distinct challenges to the military and civilian medical communities, and other broader issues. This book will be of critical interest to anyone involved in civilian preparedness for terrorist attack: planners, administrators, responders, medical professionals, public health and emergency personnel, and technology designers and engineers.

Author: Sigrid Redse Johansen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108493920
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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A comprehensive examination of the legal limits to the military commander's assessment of military necessity during armed conflict.

Author: Lindsay L. Heger
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781124054346
Category : Northern Ireland
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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My dissertation investigates the factors that explain when groups are most or least likely to target civilians. While civilians are a particularly appealing target because they are easy to attack, many groups go to great lengths to avoid them. Thus, the question motivating my research is: given the potential windfalls implicit in civilian attacks, why do some organizations target them while others do not?. In this project, I take a two-step approach to answering this question. I begin by looking at what targets groups are likely to attack given the government from which they wish to gain political concessions. Based on a coercive model of violence, I argue groups attack those segments of society that apply the most pressure on a government. In general terms, the most influential segments of society for any government are its minimum winning coalition and selectorate. After surveying the literature on a large number of different regime types, I conclude that civilians face the highest risk of being attacked in democracies because, unlike forms of non-democracy, the minimum winning coalition and selectorate in democracies are composed of civilians. The second step, and the bulk of this project, examines civilian targeting within democratic contexts. To address variation within democracies, I argue that violent groups are most likely to attack civilians when doing so does not hurt their supporters or undermine the support they receive from the larger population. Although attacks on civilians are easy to execute and democratic political institutions encourage such attacks, these attacks impose high costs (often in the form of government repression) on the segment of the civilian population that supports the violent group. In addition, attacks on civilian supporters may alienate some of the group's supporters who will not back a group that targets innocent civilians. Losing civilian supporters is problematic for violent organizations that draw heavily from community-level alliances for operational success and political leverage. My theory identifies and explores three unique conditions that make groups more or less likely to attack civilians within democracies. First, when a violent group runs for political office, a community can punish the group. Consequently, groups with political wings temper their violence by attacking civilians less often. Secondly, when a terrorist group provides goods and services throughout neighborhoods for its supporters, it offsets the costs associated with violence on civilian targets. Compared to groups that don't distribute resources, provider groups are more likely to target civilians because the consequences are not as dire. Finally, when a terrorist group draws support from a highly segmented part of the population, it is easier for the group's enemies (usually government authorities, but a group's enemies may also include other violent groups) to repress and intimidate the group's supporters. When this occurs, groups are less likely to attack civilians because their support base suffers more costs from reprisals. Each condition emphasizes the same innovative contribution: civilians matter, and not just as collateral damage. They matter because violent groups rely on them and, as a result, they affect the type of violence groups pursue. I test my theory using large-N statistical analyses and detailed case research. My empirical work presents new data on terrorist groups, including their political (non-violent) and redistributive activities. Using this data, I test my claims using a cross-national dataset of attacks over the last forty years. My case research focuses on the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland. The case of the IRA demonstrates how involvement in politics decreases the odds a group will attack civilians.

Author: Matthew Evangelista
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801454565
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Aerial bombardment remains important to military strategy, but the norms governing bombing and the harm it imposes on civilians have evolved. The past century has seen everything from deliberate attacks against rebellious villagers by Italian and British colonial forces in the Middle East to scrupulous efforts to avoid "collateral damage" in the counterinsurgency and antiterrorist wars of today. The American Way of Bombing brings together prominent military historians, practitioners, civilian and military legal experts, political scientists, philosophers, and anthropologists to explore the evolution of ethical and legal norms governing air warfare. Focusing primarily on the United States—as the world’s preeminent military power and the one most frequently engaged in air warfare, its practice has influenced normative change in this domain, and will continue to do so—the authors address such topics as firebombing of cities during World War II; the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the deployment of airpower in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya; and the use of unmanned drones for surveillance and attacks on suspected terrorists in Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and elsewhere.

Author: John Tirman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199831491
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Americans are greatly concerned about the number of our troops killed in battle--33,000 in the Korean War; 58,000 in Vietnam; 4,500 in Iraq--and rightly so. But why are we so indifferent, often oblivious, to the far greater number of casualties suffered by those we fight and those we fight for? This is the compelling, largely unasked question John Tirman answers in The Deaths of Others. Between six and seven million people died in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq alone, the majority of them civilians. And yet Americans devote little attention to these deaths. Other countries, however, do pay attention, and Tirman argues that if we want to understand why there is so much anti-Americanism around the world, the first place to look is how we conduct war. We understandably strive to protect our own troops, but our rules of engagement with the enemy are another matter. From atomic weapons and carpet bombing in World War II to napalm and daisy cutters in Vietnam and beyond, our weapons have killed large numbers of civilians and enemy soldiers. Americans, however, are mostly ignorant of these methods, believing that American wars are essentially just, necessary, and "good." Trenchant and passionate, The Deaths of Others forces readers to consider the tragic consequences of American military action not just for Americans, but especially for those we fight against.

Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309167922
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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The Oklahoma City bombing, intentional crashing of airliners on September 11, 2001, and anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 have made Americans acutely aware of the impacts of terrorism. These events and continued threats of terrorism have raised questions about the impact on the psychological health of the nation and how well the public health infrastructure is able to meet the psychological needs that will likely result. Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism highlights some of the critical issues in responding to the psychological needs that result from terrorism and provides possible options for intervention. The committee offers an example for a public health strategy that may serve as a base from which plans to prevent and respond to the psychological consequences of a variety of terrorism events can be formulated. The report includes recommendations for the training and education of service providers, ensuring appropriate guidelines for the protection of service providers, and developing public health surveillance for preevent, event, and postevent factors related to psychological consequences.