US Use of Force and the "Global War on Terror"

Catalog description

This course introduces some of the key challenges the United States faced in responding to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and analyzes the U.S. response from a legal framework. We will cover basic principles on the use of force, and then apply them to examining the legal foundation for the coalition interventions in Iraq (2003) and Afghanistan (2001 etc.). We will discuss whether the situation should be understood as a “Global War on Terror” (“GWOT”), “war against Al Qaeda and associated entities,” or something else, and the ramifications of these different positions. We will then expand on this background to examine some of the US’s current uses of military force, whether against pirates, suspected drug traffickers, and other expansive invocations of use of force doctrine. Course readings also consider issues as to the conduct of war—including the responsibilities of an Occupying Power, permissible targets, means of targeting, the scope of the “field of battle,” and legal issues related to conducting counterinsurgency operations. We will cover what were the various options for U.S. terrorism trials—military commissions, federal court trials, or whether “national security courts” should have been created. Discussion will include consideration of the International Criminal Court’s “crime of aggression,” as well as drone usage, cyberattacks, and various uses of military force during the second Trump Administration. Another focus will be on the use of “enhanced interrogation” techniques and “extraordinary renditions” by US nationals, and whether there should be accountability for such practices. Finally, we will examine the domestic ramification of the “GWOT,” and consider how other countries have addressed counter-terrorism post-9/11, including considerations of the impact on human rights.