The War Lawyers

The United States, Israel, and Juridical Warfare

Craig Jones

The only book-length study that examines the role of war lawyers in aerial targeting operations, focusing on both U.S. and Israeli targeting practices and their legal protocols.
Demonstrates how war lawyers can produce and extend military violence, as well as constrain it.
Draws on exclusive interviews with senior war lawyers and military operators from the Israeli Air Force (IAF) and the United States Air Force (USAF), as well as previously unanalysed military doctrine and briefing papers, and recently declassified materials.

The War Lawyers

The United States, Israel, and Juridical Warfare

Craig Jones

Description

Over the last 20 years the world's most advanced militaries have invited a small number of military legal professionals into the heart of their targeting operations, spaces which had previously been exclusively for generals and commanders. These professionals, trained and hired to give legal advice on an array of military operations, have become known as war lawyers.

The War Lawyers examines the laws of war interpreted and applied by military lawyers to aerial targeting operations carried out by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Israel military in Gaza. Drawing on interviews with military lawyers and others, this book explains why some lawyers became integrated in the chain of command whereby military targets are identified and attacked, whether by manned aircraft, drones and/or ground forces, and with what results.

This book shows just how important law and war lawyers have become in the conduct of contemporary warfare, and how it is understood. Jones argues that circulations of law and policy between the U.S. and Israel have expanded the scope of what constitutes a legitimate military target, contending that the involvement of war lawyers in targeting operations not only constrains military violence, but also enables, legitimises, and sometimes even extends it.

The War Lawyers

The United States, Israel, and Juridical Warfare

Craig Jones

Introduction: The War Lawyers
1:Targeting without Lawyers: The Vietnam War
2:The Birth of "Operational Law"
3:"'The Lawyers' War"
4:Targeting in the Israeli Military
5:The Kill Chain (I): Deliberate Targeting
6:The Kill Chain (II): Dynamic Targeting
Conclusion: Juridical Warfare: Limits and Possibilities

The War Lawyers

The United States, Israel, and Juridical Warfare

Craig Jones

Author Information

Craig Jones, Lecturer, Newcastle University

Dr Craig Jones is a Lecturer in Political Geography in the School of Geography, Sociology and Politics at Newcastle University. He completed his PhD in Geography at the University of British Columbia in 2017. He researches the geographies of later modern warfare and is especially interested legal and medical materialities of war and conflict in the contemporary Middle East. He is currently working on a second book project titled Wounds Without Borders, supported by the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF). He blogs at www.thewarspace.com and tweets at: @thewarspace.

The War Lawyers

The United States, Israel, and Juridical Warfare

Craig Jones

Reviews and Awards

"Jones' account of the evolution of the 'kill chain' lawyer makes both fascinating and sobering reading." - Nicholas Goodman, The Law Society Gazette

"The War Lawyers is an impressive piece of work. Jones has produced a magnificent book, which is not only an absolute pleasure to read but makes an invaluable contribution to debates about military law. Although previous studies have pointed to the ways in which the law might enable rather than restrain the violence inflicted on the battlefield, nobody has been able to document this relationship in such a thorough and incisive manner. Jones provides us with a book that is not only rich with empirical detail but equips us with the theoretical tools needed to interrogate how contemporary practices of violence are legitimised despite the enormous death and destruction left in their wake." - Thomas Gregory, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Auckland, Security Dialogue