Air Power, Insurgency and the “War on Terror” - Prof. Joel Hayward's ...

<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong> <strong>and</strong> Ethics in <strong>the</strong> Age of <strong>the</strong> Global Salafi Jihad
war (jus in bello) ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> conditions in which <strong>the</strong> use of force is initiated (jus ad
bellum) whilst recognising that <strong>the</strong> two issues are intrinsically linked.
Tension between Ethical Imperatives <strong>and</strong> Strategic Advantage
There has always been a tension between man’s desire to use violence for political purposes
<strong>and</strong> his desire to restrain violence for ethical reasons. Various philosophical, <strong>the</strong>ological
<strong>and</strong> legal codes have been established in an attempt to balance <strong>the</strong>se conflicting desires.
Just War, as advocated by St Augustine <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs, is <strong>the</strong> primary western code. This
<strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r codes have at <strong>the</strong>ir core <strong>the</strong> aspiration to minimise unnecessary suffering
to non-combatants. Yet attacks on civilians, ei<strong>the</strong>r intentionally or unintentionally, is
occasionally considered advantageous. Forgoing such advantage runs counter to <strong>the</strong> basic
instincts of most military strategists. As Carl von Clausewitz said: “to introduce into <strong>the</strong>
philosophy of war itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity”. 402 The tension
between strategy <strong>and</strong> ethics rarely surfaced in classical wars where matters were often
settled between professional soldiers or sailors in remote fields or on <strong>the</strong> open sea. The
industrialisation of society <strong>and</strong>, hence of war during <strong>the</strong> nineteenth century changed
things. Weapon production <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> logistical support to armies (mostly civilian activities)
became potential targets. The concept of “Total War” had emerged.
Military writers including <strong>the</strong> Italian air power advocate Giulio Douhet recognised <strong>the</strong>
potential of independent air power <strong>and</strong> postulated that bombs containing high explosive
would destroy houses <strong>and</strong> buildings, incendiary bombs would continue to damage
remaining structures <strong>and</strong> poison gas bombs would prevent fire-fighters <strong>and</strong> recovery
personnel from salvaging <strong>the</strong> infrastructure <strong>and</strong> saving lives. Douhet’s <strong>the</strong>ory, <strong>the</strong>refore,
relied on <strong>the</strong> deliberate targeting of non-combatant civilians. The British military writer
Basil Liddell-Hart also saw <strong>the</strong> “strategic” potential of disrupting normal life amongst
<strong>the</strong> civilian population as a means of achieving a quick surrender. The strategy of aerial
bombing, targeting urban areas <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> associated civilian population, was thus born.
A variant of that strategy was initially tested with considerable success in <strong>the</strong> British
imperial dominions of Africa <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Middle East. Most notable of <strong>the</strong>se were <strong>the</strong> RAF
attacks on rebel Kurdish villages during <strong>the</strong> 1920s as part of an imperial policing concept
known as “air control”.
While some military thinkers <strong>and</strong> politicians <strong>and</strong> politicians in <strong>the</strong> UK <strong>and</strong> in <strong>the</strong> US,
including Winston Churchill, embraced <strong>the</strong> concept of “strategic bombing” <strong>and</strong> convinced
<strong>the</strong>ir treasuries to pay for <strong>the</strong> production of long-range bombers in <strong>the</strong> inter-war
years, <strong>the</strong>re was considerable public unease. The 1930s saw <strong>the</strong> emergence of an active
movement campaigning to make aerial bombardment illegal because of its potential to
kill large numbers of civilians.
162
<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror”