Source: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_us_rule1
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 16:44:18+00:00

Document:
United States, Air Force Pamphlet 110-31, International Law – The Conduct of Armed Conflict and Air Operations, US Department of the Air Force, 1976, § 5-3(b).
United States, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, NWP 1-14M/MCWP 5-2.1/COMDTPUB P5800.7, issued by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and Headquarters, US Marine Corps, and Department of Transportation, US Coast Guard, October 1995 (formerly NWP 9 (Rev. A)/FMFM 1-10, October 1989), § 5.3; see also §§ 8.1 and 11.1.
United States, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, NWP 1-14M/MCWP 5-12.1/COMDTPUB P5800.7, issued by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and Headquarters, US Marine Corps, and Department of Homeland Security, US Coast Guard, July 2007, § 5.3.2.
In explaining the US Government’s position on the basic principles applicable in armed conflicts before the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly in 1968, the US representative stated that the principle of distinction, as set out in draft General Assembly Resolution 2444 (XXIII), constituted a reaffirmation of existing international law.
United States, Statement before the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, UN Doc. A/C.3/SR.1634, 10 December 1968.
Subsequently, US officials have referred to General Assembly Resolution 2444 (XXIII) as an accurate statement of the customary rule that a distinction must be made at all times between persons taking part in hostilities and the civilian population.
United States, Letter from J. Fred Buzhardt, General Counsel of the Department of Defense, to Senator Edward Kennedy, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Refugees of the Committee on the Judiciary, 22 September 1972, AJIL, Vol. 67, pp. 122–126; Statement of the Acting Assistant Legal Adviser for Politico-Military Affairs during a symposium at the Brooklyn Law School, 25 September 1982, reprinted in Marian Nash (Leich), Cumulative Digest of United States Practice in International Law, 1981–1988, Department of State Publication 10120, Washington, D.C., 1993–1995, pp. 3421–3422.
In 1991, in response to an ICRC memorandum on the applicability of IHL in the Gulf region, the US Department of the Army pointed out that “the obligation of distinguishing combatants and military objectives from civilians and civilian objects is a shared responsibility of the attacker, defender, and the civilian population as such”.
United States, Letter from the Department of the Army to the legal adviser of the US Army forces deployed in the Gulf region, 11 January 1991, § 8(E), Report on US Practice, 1997, Chapter 1.4.
In 1992, in its final report to Congress on the conduct of the Gulf War, the US Department of Defense stated that Article 48 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I “is generally regarded as a codification of the customary practice of nations, and therefore binding on all”.
The law of war with respect to targeting, collateral damage and collateral civilian casualties is derived from the principle of discrimination; that is, the necessity for distinguishing between combatants, who may be attacked, and noncombatants, against whom an intentional attack may not be directed, and between legitimate military targets and civilian objects.
United States, Department of Defense, Final Report to Congress on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf War, 10 April 1992, Appendix O, The Role of the Law of War, ILM, Vol. 31, 1992, p. 621.
Report on US Practice, 1997, Chapter 1.4.
In U.S. operations against al-Qaeda and its associated forces – including lethal operations conducted with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles – great care is taken to adhere to these principles in both planning and execution, to ensure that only legitimate objectives are targeted.
United States, “The Obama Administration and International Law”, Speech by the Legal Adviser of the US Department of State given at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, Washington DC, 25 March 2010.
The US Rules of Engagement for Operation Desert Storm (1991) sets as a basic rule “fight only combatants”.
United States, Desert Storm – Rules of Engagement, Pocket Card, US Central Command, January 1991, reprinted in Operational Law Handbook, International and Operational Law Department, The Judge Advocate General’s School, United States Army, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1995, pp. 8-7 and 8-8, § 1.
The US Naval Handbook (1995) states that only attacks against combatants and other military objectives are lawful.
United States, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, NWP 1-14M/MCWP 5-2.1/COMDTPUB P5800.7, issued by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and Headquarters, US Marine Corps, and Department of Transportation, US Coast Guard, October 1995 (formerly NWP 9 (Rev. A)/FMFM 1-10, October 1989), § 8.1.
The US Naval Handbook (2007) states: “Only military objectives may be attacked. Military objectives are combatants … ”.
United States, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, NWP 1-14M/MCWP 5-12.1/COMDTPUB P5800.7, issued by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and Headquarters, US Marine Corps, and Department of Homeland Security, US Coast Guard, July 2007, § 8.2.
United States, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations , NWP 1-14M/MCWP 5-12.1/COMDTPUB P5800.7, issued by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and Headquarters, US Marine Corps, and Department of Homeland Security, US Coast Guard, July 2007, § 8.2.1.
United States, Statement at the CDDH, Official Records, Vol. VI, CDDH/SR.41, 26 May 1977, p. 204.
United States, ‘The Obama Administration and International Law’, Speech by the Legal Adviser of the US Department of State, given at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, Washington DC, 25 March 2010.
The US Air Force Pamphlet (1976) states that the “civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be made the object of attack”.
United States, Air Force Pamphlet 110-31, International Law – The Conduct of Armed Conflict and Air Operations, US Department of the Air Force, 1976, § 5-3(a)(1)(a).
The Pamphlet adds: “In addition to the grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the following acts are representative of situations involving individual criminal responsibility: … (4) Aerial bombardment for the deliberate purpose of killing protected civilians”.
United States, Air Force Pamphlet 110-31, International Law – The Conduct of Armed Conflict and Air Operations, US Department of the Air Force, 1976, § 15-3(c)(4).
United States, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, NWP 1-14M/MCWP 5-2.1/COMDTPUB P5800.7, issued by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and Headquarters, US Marine Corps, and Department of Transportation, US Coast Guard, October 1995 (formerly NWP 9 (Rev. A)/FMFM 1-10, October 1989), § 8.1.2; see also §§ 11.2 and 11.3.
The Handbook also states that carrying out a “bombardment, the sole purpose of which is to attack and terrorize the civilian population” is an example of a war crime.
(5) The attack took place in the context of and was associated with armed conflict.
c. Comment. The intent required for this offense precludes its applicability with regard to collateral damage or death, damage, or injury incident to a lawful attack.
d. Maximum punishment. Death, if the death of any person occurs as a result of the attack on civilians. Otherwise, confinement for life.
United States, Manual for Military Commissions, published in implementation of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, 10 U.S.C. §§ 948a, et seq., 18 January 2007, Part IV, § 6(2), p. IV-4.
The US Naval Handbook (2007) states: “Civilians … may not be made the object of deliberate or indiscriminate attack”.
United States, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, NWP 1-14M/MCWP 5-12.1/COMDTPUB P5800.7, issued by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and Headquarters, US Marine Corps, and Department of Homeland Security, US Coast Guard, July 2007, § 8.3; see also § 5.3.2.
The Handbook also states that examples of war crimes that could be considered as grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions include carrying out a “bombardment, the sole purpose of which is to attack and terrorize the civilian population”.
United States, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, NWP 1-14M/MCWP 5-12.1/COMDTPUB P5800.7, issued by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and Headquarters, US Marine Corps, and Department of Homeland Security, US Coast Guard, July 2007, § 6.2.6(6).
(A) civilians not taking an active part in hostilities.
United States, Manual for Military Commissions, published in implementation of Chapter 47A of Title 10, United States Code, as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2009, 10 U.S.C, §§ 948a, et seq., 27 April 2010, § 1(a)(2)(A), p. IV-1.
(5) The attack took place in the context of and was associated with hostilities.
United States, Manual for Military Commissions, published in implementation of Chapter 47A of Title 10, United States Code, as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2009, 10 U.S.C, §§ 948a, et seq., 27 April 2010, § 5(2), pp. IV-3 and IV-4.
“(A) civilians not taking an active part in hostilities.
United States, Military Commissions Act, 2006, Public Law 109-366, Chapter 47A of Title 10 of the United States Code, 17 October 2006, p. 120 Stat. 2625, § 950v(a)(2)(A).
“(2) ATTACKING CIVILIANS. – Any person subject to this chapter who intentionally engages in an attack upon a civilian population as such, or individual civilians not taking active part in hostilities, shall be punished, if death results to one or more of the victims, by death or such other punishment as a military commission under this chapter may direct, and, if death does not result to any of the victims, by such punishment, other than death, as a military commission under this chapter may direct.
United States, Military Commissions Act, 2006, Public Law 109-366, Chapter 47A of Title 10 of the United States Code, 17 October 2006, p. 120 Stat. 2626, § 950v(b)(2).
United States, Military Commissions Act, 2009, § 950p(a)(2).
“(2) ATTACKING CIVILIANS.—Any person subject to this chapter who intentionally engages in an attack upon a civilian population as such, or individual civilians not taking active part in hostilities, shall be punished, if death results to one or more of the victims, by death or such other punishment as a military commission under this chapter may direct, and, if death does not result to any of the victims, by such punishment, other than death, as a military commission under this chapter may direct.
United States, Military Commissions Act, 2009, § 950t(2).
On 1 September 1939, the US President wrote to the Governments of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom asking “every government which may be engaged in hostilities publicly to affirm its determination that its armed forces shall in no event, and under no circumstances, undertake the bombardment from the air of civilian populations”.
United States, Letter from Franklin D. Roosevelt to the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom, 1 September 1939, reprinted in Eugene M. Emme (ed.), The Impact of Airpower: National Security and World Politics, Van Nostrand, Princeton, 1959, p. 68.
In 1972, the General Counsel of the US Department of Defense considered that the prohibition on launching attacks against the civilian population was a general principle of the law of armed conflict which was declaratory of existing customary international law.
United States, Letter from J. Fred Buzhardt, General Counsel of the Department of Defense, to Senator Edward Kennedy, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Refugees of the Committee on the Judiciary, 22 September 1972, AJIL, Vol. 67, 1973, pp. 122–124.
United States, Statement of 25 September 1974 at the Conference of Government Experts on Weapons which may Cause Unnecessary Suffering or have Indiscriminate Effects, Lucerne, 24 September–18 October 1974, reprinted in Arthur W. Rovine, Digest of United States Practice in International Law, 1974, Department of State Publication 8809, Washington, D.C., 1975, p. 713.
United States, Department of State, Diplomatic Note to Iraq, Washington, 19 January 1991, annexed to Letter dated 21 January 1991 to the President of the UN Security Council, UN Doc. S/22122, 21 January 1991, p. 2.
In another such diplomatic note, the United States reiterated: “the civilian population, as such, is not the object of attack”.
United States, Department of State, Diplomatic Note to Iraq, Washington, 21 January 1991, annexed to Letter dated 22 January 1991 to the President of the UN Security Council, UN Doc. S/22130, 22 January 1991, p. 4.
United States, Letter dated 8 February 1991 to the President of the UN Security Council, UN Doc. S/22216, 13 February 1991, p. 1.
In 1992, in its final report to Congress on the conduct of the Gulf War, the US Department of Defense stated: “As a general principle, the law of war prohibits … the direct, intentional attack of civilians not taking part in hostilities”.
United States, Department of Defense, Final Report to Congress on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf War, 10 April 1992, Appendix O, The Role of the Law of War, ILM, Vol. 31, 1992, p. 622.
In several reports submitted in 1992 to the UN Security Council pursuant to paragraph 5 of Security Council Resolution 771 (1992) on grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Convention IV committed in the former Yugoslavia, the United States described “deliberate attacks on non-combatants” perpetrated by the parties to the conflict.
United States, Former Yugoslavia: Grave Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, annexed to Letter dated 22 September 1992 to the UN Secretary-General, UN Doc. S/24583, 23 September 1992, p. 8; Former Yugoslavia: Grave Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Third Submission), annexed to Letter dated 5 November to the UN Secretary-General, UN Doc. S/24791, 10 November 1992, p. 19; Former Yugoslavia: Grave Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Fourth Submission), annexed to Letter dated 7 December 1992 to the UN Secretary-General, UN Doc. S/24918, 8 December 1992, p. 14.
United States, Written statement submitted to the ICJ, Nuclear Weapons case, 20 June 1995, p. 22.

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