Principles of Warfare: Encyclopedia II - Principles of Warfare - Prescriptive principles of warfare

Principles of Warfare - Prescriptive principles of warfare

Principles of Warfare - Ancient principles

The Book of Deuteronomy prescribes how the Israelite army was to fight, including dealing with plunder, enslavement of the enemy women and children and forbidding the destruction of fruit-bearing trees.

Principles of Warfare - Modern principles

See: Hague Conventions, Geneva Conventions

There are several issues where appropriate the laws of land warfare are ambiguous or obsolescent. Among these are the use of private contractors as soldiers or private armies and whether they are mercenaries or not under international conventions.

In addition, several classes of weapons, such as land mines or cluster bombs, have been decried by non-governmental organizations and some governments as inherently inhumane. However, the United States has refused to denounce the use of these weapons. In the case of land mines, the U.S. position is that all U.S.-planted mines are clearly marked and mapped, and that all U.S.-planted mines can be deactivated by remote command. The People's Liberation Army also continues to use land mines.

A third issue is the status of members of organizations such as al-Queda in captivity. The United States interprets the laws of land warfare in such as way as to exclude captives from these organizations from the status of prisoner of war. Other nations and several international organizations believe that the U.S. interpretation is too narrow and can lead to abuse of innocent parties.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Prescriptive principles of warfare", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki