The Battlefield is not Empty, but It Did Change: Implications of the Treatment of Non-combatants in Post Modern Warfare
Abstract
The 1999 National Security Strategy (NSS) defines significantly different roles and priorities for the U.S. military. One of the very obvious roles is the use of the military as intervention forces to secure national interests. As military and civilian leaders develop the National Military Strategy (NMS) that supports and achieves the NSS, they must fully understand the contemporary system of conflict and armed conflict. Civilian casualties in armed conflict in the last decade amounted to ninety percent of all casualties. Given that Laws of Armed Conflict (LOAC) are meant to prevent civilian casualties, there ought to be an explanation of the conduct of armed conflict in the Post- modem Warfare (PMW) era. This monograph determines the basis of and purpose of LOAC in order to be able to identify when LOAC are violated. Using three criteria, political conditions, military, civilian casualties and refugees, and world interest, three historical case studies, the civil war in Sudan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo, are analyzed to investigate and identify trends in the treatment of non-combatants in armed conflict.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 18, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA381813
Entities
People
- G. S. Mcconnell
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College