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
3 - Shooting to Kill: The Paradox of Prohibited Weapons
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
Parties to a conflict and members of their armed forces do not have an unlimited choice of methods and means of warfare.
Article 35, Additional Protocol ITo fully understand why this is a paradox or at least something of a mystery, consider this story. A few weeks after a young recruit begins his military service he receives an assault rifle. Turning the rifle over, he notices the slot that secures the bayonet. But when he asks his sergeant when they will receive bayonets, the sergeant replies that bayonets violate the rules of war and would not be issued.
Technically, this is incorrect. There is no prohibition against standard issue bayonets. There is, however, a long-standing ban on bayonets with serrated edges. I will discuss the reasons for this in a moment, but for now, it is important to consider the entire episode from the young soldier's point of view. Reflecting on the bayonet ban he asks, Why are the methods of warfare limited? Why can't I use any means necessary to defeat an enemy who is trying to kill me? This question has puzzled people for the longest time. How do we answer it?
There is not one answer to this question but two. First, we avoid certain weapons because our moral intuitions tell us that some weapons are unnecessary to disable an armed adversary or simply inhuman.
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- Information
- Moral Dilemmas of Modern WarTorture, Assassination, and Blackmail in an Age of Asymmetric Conflict, pp. 54 - 76Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009