Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail in an Age of Asymmetric Conflict
- 2 Friends, Foes, or Brothers in Arms? The Puzzle of Combatant Equality
- PART I COMBATANTS IN ASYMMETRIC WAR
- 3 Shooting to Kill: The Paradox of Prohibited Weapons
- 4 Shooting to Stun: The Paradox of Nonlethal Warfare
- 5 Murder, Self-Defense, or Execution? The Dilemma of Assassination
- 6 Human Dignity or Human Life: The Dilemmas of Torture and Rendition
- PART II NONCOMBATANTS IN ASYMMETRIC WAR
- PART III CONCLUSION AND AFTER WORD
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
5 - Murder, Self-Defense, or Execution? The Dilemma of Assassination
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail in an Age of Asymmetric Conflict
- 2 Friends, Foes, or Brothers in Arms? The Puzzle of Combatant Equality
- PART I COMBATANTS IN ASYMMETRIC WAR
- 3 Shooting to Kill: The Paradox of Prohibited Weapons
- 4 Shooting to Stun: The Paradox of Nonlethal Warfare
- 5 Murder, Self-Defense, or Execution? The Dilemma of Assassination
- 6 Human Dignity or Human Life: The Dilemmas of Torture and Rendition
- PART II NONCOMBATANTS IN ASYMMETRIC WAR
- PART III CONCLUSION AND AFTER WORD
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Lieber Code (1863), Section IX: Assassination: The law of war does not allow proclaiming an individual belonging to the hostile army an outlaw, who may be slain without trial by any captor, any more than the modern law of peace allows such international outlawry; on the contrary, it abhors such outrage. The sternest retaliation should follow the murder committed in consequence of such proclamation, made by whatever authority.
Francis Lieber, the renowned German jurist whom President Abraham Lincoln recruited to formulate a comprehensive law of war during the U.S. Civil War, has stern things to say about assassination. The Lieber Code, with its innovative laws addressing the rights of prisoners of war, immunity for noncombatants, medical neutrality, and permissible weapons, had an enormous impact on the development of international law. Although the Geneva Conventions did not expressly adopt his unequivocal condemnation of assassination, his ban did make its way into the military manuals of many nations in language very close to Lieber's original. But what is Lieber talking about when he denounces a nation for slaying the enemy without a trial? After all, isn't this what soldiers do?
Fast-forward one hundred and fifty years. During the post–9/11 war on terror, the United States uses unmanned drones and specially trained teams to hunt guerrillas. In Yemen, there is spectacular success as intelligence successfully identifies the whereabouts of militants responsible for attacking the USS Cole in 2000 and killing 17 sailors.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Moral Dilemmas of Modern WarTorture, Assassination, and Blackmail in an Age of Asymmetric Conflict, pp. 100 - 121Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009