Description: Asymmetric conflict is changing the way that we practise and think about war. Torture, rendition, assassination, blackmail, extortion, direct attacks on civilians, and chemical weapons are all finding their way to the battlefield despite longstanding international prohibitions. This book offers a practical guide for policy makers, military officers, students, and others who ask such questions as: Do guerillas deserve respect or long jail sentences? Are there grounds to torture guerillas for information or assassinate them on the battlefield? Is there room for nonlethal weapons to subdue militants and safeguard the lives of noncombatants? Who are noncombatants in asymmetric war? What is the status of civilians who shelter and aid guerillas? And, do guerillas have any right to attack civilians, particularly those who aid and shelter members of the stronger army? If one side can expand the scope of civilian vulnerability, then why can't the other? To read and comment on Michael Gross's blog article on the UN Human Rights Council Report on Gaza, click here
Brief description: Michael L. Gross is Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of International Relations at the University of Haifa. He is the author of Ethics and Activism: The Theory and Practice of Political Morality and Bioethics and Armed Conflict: Moral Dilemmas of Medicine and War.
Review Quotes: "Michael Gross has written a thoughtful, lucid book about the dilemma of 'asymmetric conflict, ' as when a nation confronts a terrorist movement or other insurgency that does not observe the laws of war and, more important, does not have a structure or employ tactics against which conventional military force is fully effective. To be limited in fighting such a group by the conventional laws of war is to fight terror and insurrection with one hand tied behind one's back; and, depending on the gravity of the threat posed by such a group, the question becomes how far if at all the nation should depart from the conventional rules of armed combat. The need to balance military necessity with humanitarianism, with regard to such practices as brutal interrogation, assassination, and disabling but nonlethal gas, is the theme of the book; and as Gross states in the conclusion, 'dogmatism is not the answer."
- Richard Posner, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit