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
region to justify <strong>the</strong> killing of civilian non-combatants, under <strong>the</strong> guise of self-defence
<strong>and</strong> strategic necessity.
Global Salafi Jihadi Perspective
A: The Western Legacy
GSJ movements, of which Al Qaeda is <strong>the</strong> vanguard, are in essence a reaction to <strong>the</strong>
strategic <strong>and</strong> ethical legacy of <strong>the</strong> west in <strong>the</strong> region ranging from <strong>the</strong> 1920s to <strong>the</strong>
present day. The ubiquity of air power, its efficiency <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> need for a prominent role <strong>and</strong>
resources for <strong>the</strong> embryonic RAF all led to a number of strategic drivers that periodically
modified ethical concepts, especially <strong>the</strong> definition of enemy combatant. The foregoing
analysis identifies <strong>the</strong>se strategic drivers as:
• The total war concept. The civilian population provides material <strong>and</strong> political
support for <strong>the</strong> war <strong>and</strong> so can be targeted to obtain victory.
• Disruption of <strong>the</strong> civilian population’s normal life reduces its capacity to
support <strong>the</strong> war by diverting valuable resources to civil defence which would
o<strong>the</strong>rwise be used for offensive purposes.
• Lack of precision in weapon delivery leads to an inability to discriminate
between military <strong>and</strong> non-military targets <strong>and</strong> so forces a strategy based on
targeting civilians.
This redefinition of “combatant” to include civilians is underpinned by a number
of arguments to justify <strong>the</strong> new ethical criteria. The arguments were espoused by <strong>the</strong>
establishment <strong>and</strong> underpinned by <strong>the</strong> clergy to give <strong>the</strong>m legitimacy as follows:
• War is by nature brutal <strong>and</strong> indiscriminate – ruthless conduct is not
necessarily illegal.
• By attacking civilians en masse we can save <strong>the</strong> lives of our own troops.
• Bombing is humanitarian in that it saves <strong>the</strong> lives of civilians in <strong>the</strong> long run.
• It is a lesser evil to kill some civilians <strong>and</strong> gain peace swiftly than <strong>the</strong> alternative
of a long war where many more lives would be lost.
• Terrorism is what o<strong>the</strong>rs do.
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<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror”