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Article: Human rights and legitimacy in the foreign training mission
- Article from:
- Special Warfare
- Article date:
- April 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School Spring 2001. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Human rights are derivatives of those inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence: the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are enshrined in our Constitution, and the protection of the Constitution is what justifies the existence of the United States military and shapes its legitimacy.
What do human rights have to do with the military mission? Human rights are civilian rights, but they have an important connection to peacetime military missions - especially the foreign training mission of Army special-operations forces, or ARSOF. The violation of human rights can turn an otherwise successful training mission into a political disaster.
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