U.S. war response

The United States, for better or worse, is fully engaged in a war like no other before war previously fought. Put simply, the rules have changed for armed combatants and, while treatises such as the Geneva Convention and the Law of Armed Conflict provide general guidelines, it is important to recognize that, with changing armed conflicts, so, too, must the rules of engagement change.

Fritschi (2010) observes that the principle of equality as expressed in the UN charter, the Geneva, Hague and Vienna conventions and the obligations implied by these treaties with respect to humanitarian law are challenged by the complicated circumstances that have emerged with the rise of asymmetric warfare and the internationalization of conflicts with non-state actors.

International humanitarian law distinguishes between international and non-international armed conflict. International armed conflicts are those in which at least two States are involved. They are subject to a...
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