CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY DAREN BOWYER JUST WAR DOCTRINE

Values form the very identity of the Army, the solid rock on which everything
else stands, especially in combat. They are the glue that binds together the
members of a noble profession. 103
Next, from Duty with Honour:
Incorporated in the military ethos, Canadian values mandate members of the
Canadian profession of arms to perform their tasks with humanity. Members of
the Canadian Forces understand the inherent violence of armed conflict,
characterized at an extreme by death and destruction. While they must act
resolutely, and sometimes with lethal force, the concept of humanity forbids any
notion of a carte blanche or unbounded behaviour. Further, it demands
consideration for non-combatants and items of cultural worth. Performing with
humanity contributes to the honour earned by Canadian Forces members and
helps make Canadians at home proud and supportive of their armed forces. 104
Codes of conduct are, then, essential to defining not simply how to fight but how to
fight our way. They go beyond the legal constraints of IHL and help further to resolve
the dilemma that exists for modern liberal democracies that liberal ends (freedom,
democracy, human rights and individual security) must often be sought through illiberal
means (violence) 105 . Moreover, for the individuals who must fight on their nation’s
behalf, such codes provide the reconciliation between individual morality and actions
that would otherwise be entirely contrary to modern social mores. In this way they act
very much in the same way that early just war doctrine acted to reconcile Christian
pacifism with the necessity of armed conflict. A later section will argue that the arrival
of a range of new protagonists on the field of conflict challenges the warrior code.
4.3 Issues of Jus in Bello 2: Responding to How the West’s Enemies Wage War
(‘Asymmetric’ War)
Concern has already been expressed above about the efficacy of the term ‘asymmetric’
war. It has become something of a buzz-word in the lexicon of conflict and like all
buzz-words it can be misleading. The aim of all warfare is to be asymmetric: we attack
the enemy’s weaknesses with our strengths, seeking our victory and his defeat. The
asymmetries ascribed to the term’s particular use today are those that have become
associated with a trend in contemporary conflict towards a style of warfare that seeks to
counter the West’s superiority in conventional military strength. It is in this sense that
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