When Is a War Not a War? The Myth of the Global War on Terror

Authors

Mary Ellen O'Connell, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2005

Publication Information

12 ILSA J. Int'l & Comp. L. 535 (2005-2006)

Abstract

It is essential to correctly classify situations in the world as ones of war or peace: human lives depend on the distinction, but so do liberty, property, and the integrity of the natural environment. President Bush's war on terror finds war where suspected members of al Qaeda are found. By contrast, war under international law exists where hostilities are on-going. To the extent there is ambiguity, the United States should err on the side of pursuing terrorists within the peacetime criminal law enforcement paradigm, not a wartime one. Not only does the criminal law better protect important human rights and other interests, it avoids elevating terrorists to the status of combatants in a war with the world's only superpower.

Comments

Reprinted with permission of ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law.

Recommended Citation

Mary E. O'Connell, When Is a War Not a War? The Myth of the Global War on Terror, 12 ILSA J. Int'l & Comp. L. 535 (2005-2006).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/795