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The Style of the New War: Making the Rules as We Go Along

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2012

George A. Lopez
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Extract

It is curious to note the evolution of discussions about the moral and legal rules that apply in the fight against terrorism. Immediately after September 11, when it was clear that the United States was going to focus its new war within Afghanistan, the first question that arose was how the United States was going to assess the deaths of Afghan civilians as collateral damage . A second, major set of legal and ethical issues developed around the Bush administration's declaration that those captured in the war would face trial before military tribunals. And as the major campaigns of the war have come to a close, the celebrated issue has become the present and future legal status of the quite different fighters, supporters, and operatives of al-Qaeda and the former Taliban government who are in U. S .custody.

Type
Articles
Information
Ethics & International Affairs , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 2002 , pp. 21 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 2002

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References

1 Remarks by the President to United Nations General Assembly, November 10, 2001, UN Headquarters, New York, New York: “We're making progress against military targets, and that is our objective. Unlike the enemy, we seek to minimize, not maximize, the loss of innocent life.”Google Scholar

2 Remarks offered by President Carter at the dedication of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, University of San Diego, December 6, 2001; Thomas Malinowski, “Court Martial Code Offers a Fair Way to Try Terrorist Suspects,” International Herald Tribune December 29, 2001.Google Scholar

3 Thomas Malinowski, “What To Do with Our ‘Detainees’?' Philadelphia Inquirer, January 28, 2002; Background Paper on Geneva Conventions and Persons Held by US Forces, Human Rights Watch, New York, New York, January 29, 2002Google Scholar.