The War on Terror and the Laws of War: A Military Perspective

• Author: Ben Stanford
• Position: PhD Fellow in Terrorism and Human Rights, University of Bedfordshire (United Kingdom)
• Pages: 100-103

Ben Stanford, ‘The War on Terror and the Laws of War: A Military

Perspective’ (2015) 31(81) Utrecht Journal of International and

European Law 100, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ujiel.dd

BOOK REVIEW

The War on Terror and the Laws of War: A Military

Perspective

The War on Terror and the Laws of War: A Military Perspective

,

Georey S. Corn, James A. Schoettler, JR., Dru Brenner-Beck,

Victor M. Hansen, Richard B. “Dick” Jackson, Eric Talbot Jensen,

Michael W. Lewis, Oxford University Press, Terrorism and Global

Justice Series, pp. xv–265, Hardcover: $85.00, Paperback:$45.00,

Second Edition, 2015, ISBN: 9780190221416

Ben Stanford*

Keywords: War on terror; International humanitarian law; Law of armed conict; Targeting;

Detention

In this well-timed revision to the first edition published in 2009, the authors allow the reader to benefit

from their unique yet balanced perspectives as they address some of the most pressing issues in the endur-

ing campaign to defeat terrorism insofar as they concern the laws of war. The six authors, all of whom served

in some capacity in the Armed Forces of the United States of America (USA), confess not to provide a critical

analysis of the official characterisation of the ‘War on Terror’ as a genuine armed conflict under international

humanitarian law. A reader expecting such an approach should invest their time and attention elsewhere.

Whilst acknowledging that ‘it is clear that the term “war on terror” is legally and operationally overbroad and

misleading’,1 the authors choose to ground their contributions on the basis that the USA has operated, and

continues to operate, as if it were in an armed conflict with al-Qaeda and its associated groups. According to

the authors, this stance is justified by the argument that the three branches of government of the USA have

repeatedly and consistently reached decisions to this effect. As a result, many readers might be inclined to

approach the book with caution at first. This fundamental stance is however well-noted, emphasised, and

indeed reasonable as the authors approach the controversial subjects from a factual, and most importantly,

a military perspective.

In this second edition, the updated Foreword and Introduction provide a useful indication of the tone

and direction the various chapters will take. In addition to the unique perspective noted above, perhaps two

themes emerge which any reader should bear in mind as they proceed throughout the book. Firstly, noting

the obvious proximity gap between purely academic legal scholars often writing in the abstract and the

realities of the battlefield, Major General Charles J. Dunlap Jr. underscores the valuable point that a military

contextual understanding can aid legal scholarship. In that sense, the six authors are well-qualified and

unrivalled. Secondly, there is an acknowledgment of the unfortunate reality that the ‘most serious setbacks

for the American military involve not an adversary’s battlefield successes, but rather alleged violations of the

law by the United States’ own forces’.2 Revelations over the past decade, expounded by the recent publica-

tion of the United States Senate Committee report on the conduct of the CIA post-9/11, make this assertion

even more pertinent. Accordingly, the reader should not expect to see a whitewash of history, nor an undis-

puted defence of American post-9/11 policy.

For a relatively short book, the authors more than adequately address some of the major concerns of the

‘War on Terror’. Although it is divided into seven chapters with each focussing on a specific operational

* PhD Fellow in Terrorism and Human Rights, University of Bedfordshire (United Kingdom).

1 Geoffrey S Corn and others, The War on Terror and the Laws of War: A Military Perspective (2nd edn, Oxford University Press

2015) xxi.

2 ibid xix.

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