Cover -- Half-title -- Dedication -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- 1 Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail in an Age of Asymmetric Conflict -- Torture, Assassination, Blackmail, Poison Gas, and terrorism: A Brief Rundown -- Torture and Rendition -- Assassination -- Blackmail -- Nonlethal Warfare -- Terrorism -- Torture, Terror, Assassination, and Blackmail: Fundamental Characteristics -- Unlawfulness -- Limited Reciprocity -- Judicious Use of Lethal Force -- Just Cause -- Combatant Liability -- Combatant-Noncombatant Blur -- Types of Asymmetric Conflict -- Guerrilla Wars and Insurgencies -- Wars of Intervention -- International Terrorism, al-Qaeda, and the Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction -- Asymmetric Proxy Wars -- Dilemmas and Paradoxes of Asymmetric Conflict -- 2 Friends, Foes, or Brothers in Arms?: The Puzzle of Combatant Equality -- The Idea of Combatant Equality -- Recognizing Justice in War -- Combatant Equality: Less Moral, More Pragmatic -- Combatant (In)Equality in Asymmetric War -- The Status of Modern Combatants: Who's Who on the Battlefield? -- Combatant Equality and the Disappearance of Uniforms -- Shedding Uniforms in Asymmetric Warfare -- Defining combatants and noncombatants in asymmetric conflict -- Direct and Indirect Participation in Asymmetric Conflict -- Direct and Indirect Participation: The symmetry of Asymmetric Conflict -- Assigning Combatant Equality in Asymmetric War -- PART I Combatants in Asymmetric war -- 3 Shooting to Kill: The Paradox of Prohibited Weapons -- Limiting Killing in War: Military Necessity and Moral Intuitions -- Superfluous Injury and Unnecessary Suffering -- Reciprocity in Conventional and Asymmetric War -- Why Ban Weapons? -- Banned Weapons Today -- Serrated Bayonets, Hollow Point Bullets, and Barbed Lances -- Blinding Lasers.

Excessive Suffering and Permanent Disability -- Measuring Suffering and Quality of Life -- Incendiary Weapons -- Superfluous Injury and Unnecessary Suffering in Asymmetric War -- 4 Shooting to Stun: The Paradox of Nonlethal Warfare -- The Nature of Nonlethal Weapons -- Chemical and Biological (CB) Weapons -- Active Denial System -- Neuroweapons -- Can They Work? The Role of Nonlethal Weapons in Asymmetric War -- Are They Legal? Nonlethal Weapons and Chemical Warfare -- What Is War? -- What Are Riot Control Agents? -- What Is Superfluous Injury and Unnecessary Suffering? -- The Future of Nonlethal Weapons -- 5 Murder, Self-Defense, or Execution?: The Dilemma of Assassination -- What Is Assassination and Targeted Killing? -- The Targets of Assassination: Combatants or Criminals? -- Affiliation: Using Names Instead of Uniforms -- Perfidious Warfare -- Targeted Killing: An Effective Tactic of Asymmetric War? -- The Cost of Collaboration -- Civilian Costs -- Do Targeted Killings Save or Endanger Lives? -- Reassessing Targeted Killing -- Torture and Assassination -- 6 Human Dignity or Human Life: The Dilemmas of Torture and Rendition -- The Torture Debate Today -- What Is Torture? -- Acceptable and Unacceptable Interrogation Techniques -- Is Torture Effective? -- Justifying Interrogational Torture -- Life, Dignity, and the Lesser Evil -- Regulating and Constraining Enhanced Interrogation -- Rendition and Interrogation: International Cooperation and Support -- Rendition to Justice -- Popular Support for Rendition and Torture -- The Dilemma of the Torture Debate -- Safeguards -- An Absolute Prohibition? -- PART II Noncombatants in Asymmetric War -- 7 Blackmailing the Innocent: The Dilemma of Noncombatant Immunity -- Noncombatant Immunity and Civilian Vulnerability in Asymmetric War -- Attacking Civilian Combatants.

Attacking Quasi-Civilian Combatants and Associated Targets in the Second Lebanon War -- Defining Associated Targets -- Attacking Associated Targets -- Reassessing Proportionality in Asymmetric Conflict -- Reassessing Proportionality in Asymmetric Conflict: The Problem of Human Shields and Inaccurate Weaponry -- Proportionality and Human Shields -- Proportionality and Weapon Accuracy in Asymmetric Conflict -- Reassessing Proportionality in Asymmetric Conflict -- Deterrence, Demoralization, and Punishment: The Doctrine of Disproportionate Force -- 8 Killing the Innocent: The Dilemma of Terrorism -- Guerrilla-ism and Terrorism -- Justifying the Heinous -- Excusing Terrorism under Extreme Conditions -- Justifying Terrorism in Asymmetric War -- Intentionality -- Collateral and Intentional Harm in Asymmetric Conflict -- Attacks against Civilian Targets -- Attacks against Military Targets -- Reprisals -- The Logic of Reprisal -- Reprisals against Civilians -- Targeting Those Responsible: Expanding the Sphere of Vulnerability -- The Limits of Defensible Terrorism -- Fighting in the Shadow of Harm to Civilians -- Increase the Bank of Military Targets -- Associated Targets and Participating Civilians -- 9 Risking Our Lives to Save Others: Puzzles of Humanitarian Intervention -- The Dilemma of Humanitarian Intervention -- Chinese Interests in Sudan and Myanmar -- Intervention in Sudan and Myanmar -- The Paradox of Humanitarian Intervention -- The Duty to Aid Others -- Volunteering for Humanitarian Intervention -- Overcoming State Boundaries: The Lure of Cosmopolitanism -- Dying for others: Looking Beyond the state and Individuals -- The Force of Collective Obligations -- Humanitarian Intervention: Reasonable Costs for Nations and Citizens -- PART III Conclusion and Afterword.

10 Conclusion Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail: New Norms for Asymmetric Conflict? -- Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail: Exceptionalism or the Rule? -- Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail: Between Military Necessity and Humanitarianism -- Navigating Military Necessity and Humanitarianism -- Navigating Military Necessity and Humanitarianism: A Two-stage Distillation Model -- Proposing Tactics, Weapons, and Military Practices -- The Filter of Military Necessity -- The Filter of Humanitarianism -- Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail: A Descent into Barbarism? -- 11 Afterword The War in Gaza, December 2008 to January 2009 -- Fighting a Zero-Tolerance Ground War -- Proportionality and Acceptable Harm to Civilians in the Gaza War -- Fighting on the Ground (Israel) -- Fighting on the Ground (Hamas) -- Saving Soldiers' Lives: At What Cost? -- Notes -- 1 Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail in an Age of Asymmetric Conflict -- 2 Friends, Foes, or Brothers in Arms? -- 3 Shooting to Kill -- 4 Shooting to stun -- 5 Murder, self-Defense, or execution? -- 6 Human Dignity or Human Life -- 7 Blackmailing the Innocent -- 8 Killing the Innocent -- 9 Risking our Lives to save others -- 10 Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail -- 11 The War in Gaza, December 2008 to January 2009 -- Selected Bibliography -- Index.