Moral Considerations for U.S. Military Support to Insurgency Warfare

Abstract

This article examines the moral aspects of United States Special Operations Forces (SOF) providing support to an anti-communist insurgency in the third world. Beginning with an explanation of why moral considerations are important for military leaders, the article describes U.S. policy with regard to supporting third world insurgencies and how SOF might be used in training/ advising insurgent guerrillas. It describes the use of just war criteria as a tool for examining the moral aspects of deciding to use SOF. Following this, the article compares these criteria to U.S. insurgency support policy and SOF support roles, analyzing pertinent moral considerations. Conclusions are drawn as to what moral aspects SOF military leaders should consider in their decision to employ SOF in such a role.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA194281

Entities

People

  • Michael J. Dredla

Organizations

  • Air Command and Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Congress
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Insurgency
  • International Law
  • Law
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Security
  • Societies
  • Terrorists
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Systems Analysis and Design