The Law of Armed Conflict in Asymmetric Urban Armed Conflict

• Author: David E. Graham
• Position: Colonel, US Army (Ret.); Executive Director, The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School, US Army
• Pages: 301-313

XI

The Law of Armed Conflict in Asymmetric

Urban Armed Conflict

David E. Graham*

Introduction

Atthe conference from which this "Blue Book" is derived, Iserved as the

moderator of apanel entitled "The Changing Character of Tactics: Lawfare

in Asymmetrical Conflicts." This reflects an apparent assumption: that tangible

changes have occurred in the tactics now being used by States in waging armed

conflicts of an asymmetric nature.

In offering some thoughts of my own on this subject, Iturn to the pivotal

questions posed to the panel. "Is this a valid assumption? And, if so, have such

changes in tactics occurred within the context of the historically accepted norms

of the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC), or do these tactical modifications repre-

sent afundamental shift in the manner in which the customary and codified

LOAC is now being both interpreted and applied to these conflicts by the interna-

tional community?"

*Colonel, US Army (Ret.); Executive Director, The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and

School, US Army. The author has prepared this article in his personal capacity and does not pur-

port to represent the views of the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army or The

Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School.