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Article: Self-defense, collective obligation, and noncombatant liability.
- Article from:
- Social Theory and Practice
- Article date:
- March 22, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Social Theory and Practice-Florida State University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In the Spring of 1991, a Harvard public health team projected that well over a hundred thousand Iraqi civilians would die from the delayed effects of the bombing during the Gulf War. New estimates require new justifications, and the United States Air Force took the position in certain briefings that Iraqi civilians were not entirely innocent. In one such briefing, a senior Air Force officer defended this position on the grounds that "[Iraqi civilians] do live there, and ultimately, the people have some control over what goes on in their country."(1)
Arguments of the sort exemplified by the Air Force officer's remarks are not uncommon. My suspicion is that they are ...