Methods of War: Night Raids, Detention, Torture and Drones
"The more vigorously wars are pursued the better it is for humanity. Sharp wars are brief." (Art. 29, The Lieber Code)
In this class, we will be examining the use of particular tactics of war - night raids, detention, torture and drones - as deployed, primarily but only, in the US-led war on terror. The purpose of this class is to grapple with the fundamental questions such tactics raise about what is right in war, and the costs and consequences of such tactics on both those who choose and use them, and those that are targeted by them.
Course Objectives: Since these are perennial questions - what is right in war and why - there is no wholly universal agreement as to the proper answers. Accordingly, we should not imagine that we can or will reach consensus. We too will encounter great debate and disagreement as we sort through our own answers, or even decide whether these are the proper questions to be asked.
In this class, students will be introduced to the specific tenets of the laws of war, primarily as codified in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols, which govern these tactics. Students will also become familiar with the broad contours of the war on terror, which include but are not limited to the ground wars in Afghanistan, in order to think more practically about the questions these tactics raise. We will also engage with specific questions of practice - e.g., who can be targeted by a drone and why - and shall be doing so even as these practices of war continue.
Thus, to best facilitate our exploration and discussion, I expect that all of us attend class having read the material closely and prepared to participate fully. I also expect that we shall each take responsibility for following the daily news with an eye to new information and developments in the global war on terror. And, most importantly, I expect that our class discussions will be engaged, lively, and consistently respectful of differences in opinion, attentive to differences of interpretation, and responsive to differences in experience. For bear in mind, at stake are not solely matters of law, but also matters of life