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'''Collateral damage''' is a general term for deaths, injuries, or other damage inflicted on an unintended target. In American [[military terminology]], it is used for the incidental killing or wounding of [[non-combatant]]s or damage to non-combatant property during an attack on a [[legitimate military target]].<ref name=USAF /><ref name="Merriam-Webster">{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collateral%20damage |title=collateral damage |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]]}}</ref> In US military terminology, the unintentional destruction of allied or neutral targets is called [[friendly fire]].
'''Collateral damage''' is a general term for deaths, injuries, or other damage inflicted on an unintended target. In American [[military terminology]], it is used for the incidental killing or wounding of [[non-combatant]]s or damage to non-combatant property during an attack on a [[legitimate military target]].<ref name=USAF /><ref name="Merriam-Webster">{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collateral%20damage |title=collateral damage |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]]}}</ref> In US military terminology, the unintentional destruction of allied or neutral targets is called [[friendly fire]].


Critics of the term see it as a [[euphemism]] that [[dehumanization|dehumanizes]] non-combatants killed or injured during [[combat]], used to reduce the perception of [[culpability]] of military leadership in failing to prevent non-combatant [[casualties]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Political Psychology of Collateral Damage|url=http://security.pr.erau.edu/read.php?kind=html&article_volume=14&article_issue=10&article_title=%5BB%5DThe%20Political%20Psychology%20of%20Collateral%20Damage%5B%2FB%5D}}</ref><ref name="Olsthoorn2010">{{cite book|author=Peter Olsthoorn|title=Military Ethics and Virtues: An Interdisciplinary Approach for the 21st Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzZZBwAAQBAJ|date=21 September 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-89429-9|page=125}}</ref><ref name="Shabo2008">{{cite book|author=Magedah Shabo|title=Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDIbJUAZeuwC|year=2008|publisher=Prestwick House Inc|isbn=978-1-58049-874-6|page=134}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/21/cleansing-stock-doublespeak-people-killing|title=‘Cleansing the stock’ and other ways governments talk about human beings|author=[[George Monbiot]]|date=22 Oct 2014|work=[[Comment is Free]]}}</ref>
Critics of the term see it as a [[euphemism]] that [[dehumanization|dehumanizes]] non-combatants killed or injured during [[combat]], used to reduce the perception of [[culpability]] of military leadership in failing to prevent non-combatant [[casualties]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Political Psychology of Collateral Damage|url=http://security.pr.erau.edu/read.php?kind=html&article_volume=14&article_issue=10&article_title=%5BB%5DThe%20Political%20Psychology%20of%20Collateral%20Damage%5B%2FB%5D|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105605/http://security.pr.erau.edu/read.php?kind=html&article_volume=14&article_issue=10&article_title=%5BB%5DThe%20Political%20Psychology%20of%20Collateral%20Damage%5B%2FB%5D|archivedate=4 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Olsthoorn2010">{{cite book|author=Peter Olsthoorn|title=Military Ethics and Virtues: An Interdisciplinary Approach for the 21st Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzZZBwAAQBAJ|date=21 September 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-89429-9|page=125}}</ref><ref name="Shabo2008">{{cite book|author=Magedah Shabo|title=Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDIbJUAZeuwC|year=2008|publisher=Prestwick House Inc|isbn=978-1-58049-874-6|page=134}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/21/cleansing-stock-doublespeak-people-killing|title=‘Cleansing the stock’ and other ways governments talk about human beings|author=[[George Monbiot]]|date=22 Oct 2014|work=[[Comment is Free]]}}</ref>


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
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==External links==
==External links==
* [http://acdis.illinois.edu/publications/207/publication-BeyondPrecisionIssuesofMoralityandDecisionMakinginMinimizingCollateralCasualties.html ''Beyond Precision: Issues of Morality and Decision Making in Minimizing Collateral Casualties''], ACDIS Occasional Paper by Lt. Col. Dwight A. Roblyer
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100705085027/http://acdis.illinois.edu/publications/207/publication-BeyondPrecisionIssuesofMoralityandDecisionMakinginMinimizingCollateralCasualties.html ''Beyond Precision: Issues of Morality and Decision Making in Minimizing Collateral Casualties''], ACDIS Occasional Paper by Lt. Col. Dwight A. Roblyer
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usaf/afpam14-210/part20.htm USAF Intelligence Targeting Guide - Attachment 7: Collateral Damage]
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usaf/afpam14-210/part20.htm USAF Intelligence Targeting Guide - Attachment 7: Collateral Damage]
* [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J134v10n04_06#preview The Culture of Collateral Damage: A Genealogy by Glen Perice, The Journal of Poverty, Volume 10, No. 4, 2007]
* [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J134v10n04_06#preview The Culture of Collateral Damage: A Genealogy by Glen Perice, The Journal of Poverty, Volume 10, No. 4, 2007]

Revision as of 14:05, 6 December 2017

For other uses, see Collateral damage (disambiguation).

Collateral Damage, injured Iraqi civilian being carried away after bombing in market

Collateral damage is a general term for deaths, injuries, or other damage inflicted on an unintended target. In American military terminology, it is used for the incidental killing or wounding of non-combatants or damage to non-combatant property during an attack on a legitimate military target.[1][2] In US military terminology, the unintentional destruction of allied or neutral targets is called friendly fire.

Critics of the term see it as a

casualties.[3][4][5][6]

Etymology

The word "collateral" comes from medieval Latin collateralis, from col-, "together with" + lateralis (from latus, later-, "side" ) and is otherwise mainly used as a synonym for "parallel" or "additional" in certain expressions ("collateral veins" run parallel to each other and "collateral security" means additional security to the main obligation in a contract). The first known usage of the term "collateral damage" in this context occurred in a May 1961 article written by T. C. Schelling entitled "DISPERSAL, DETERRENCE, AND DAMAGE".[7]

The USAF Intelligence Targeting Guide defines the term as the "unintentional damage or incidental damage affecting facilities, equipment, or personnel, occurring as a result of military actions directed against targeted enemy forces or facilities. Such damage can occur to friendly, neutral, and even enemy forces".[1] Another United States Department of Defense document uses "[u]nintentional or incidental injury or damage to persons or objects that would not be lawful military targets in the circumstances ruling at the time. Such damage is not unlawful so long as it is not excessive in light of the overall military advantage anticipated from the attack."[8]

Intent is the key element in understanding the military definition as it relates to target selection and prosecution. Collateral damage is damage aside from that which was intended. Since the dawn of

precision guided munitions, military "targeteers" and operations personnel are often alleged to have gone to great lengths to minimize collateral damage.[9]

Non-military uses of the phrase

The term 'collateral damage' has also been borrowed by the

Realtime Blackhole Lists used to combat email spam generally block ranges of Internet Protocol
(IP) addresses rather than individual IPs associated with spam, and can deny legitimate users within those ranges the ability to send email to some domains.

The related term collateral mortality is also becoming prevalent, and probably derives from the term collateral damage. It has been applied to other spheres in addition to the original military context. An example is in fisheries where bycatch of species such as dolphins are called collateral mortality; i.e., they are species that die in pursuit of the legal death of fishery targets, such as tuna.[10]

Controversy

The U.S. military states the term is used in regards to unintentional or incidental damage to non-combatant casualties and non-combatant property,[1] however, at least one source claims that the term "collateral damage" originated as a euphemism during the Vietnam War and can refer to friendly fire, or the intentional killing of non-combatants and the destruction of their property.[11]

On December 7, 1941, the

civilian casualties and damage to civilian property were caused by strategic bombing of enemy cities. If the intent of the strategic bombing was to destroy the enemy's war industry, then civilian casualties were called collateral damage. Given the low accuracy of bombing technology in World War II, it was inevitable that civilian casualties would occur. However, the Japanese bombing of Chongqing, the Allied strategy of creating firestorms in cities such as Hamburg or Tokyo,[12] and the indiscriminate attacks by the Germans on Allied cities with V-weapons fall outside the definition of collateral damage as these raids were meant to or suspected of intentionally terrorizing and killing enemy civilians.[13][14][15]

Also during the

linguist Deborah Cameron,[16] "the classic Orwellian
argument for finding this usage objectionable would be that

In 1999, "collateral damage" (German: Kollateralschaden) was named the German Un-Word of the Year by a jury of linguistic scholars. With this choice, it was criticized that the term had been used by NATO forces to describe civilian casualties during the Kosovo War, which the jury considered to be an inhuman euphemism.[17]

When

Collateral Murder
.

International humanitarian law

armed conflict
and how that relates to collateral damage.

2003 invasion of Iraq
and he published an open letter containing his findings. A section titled "Allegations concerning War Crimes" elucidates this use of Military necessity, distinction and proportionality:

Under international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute, the death of civilians during an armed conflict, no matter how grave and regrettable, does not in itself constitute a war crime. International humanitarian law and the Rome Statute permit belligerents to carry out proportionate attacks against military objectives,[18] even when it is known that some civilian deaths or injuries will occur. A crime occurs if there is an intentional attack directed against civilians (principle of distinction) (Article 8(2)(b)(i)) or an attack is launched on a military objective in the knowledge that the incidental civilian injuries would be clearly excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage (principle of proportionality) (Article 8(2)(b)(iv).

Article 8(2)(b)(iv) criminalizes:
Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;
Article 8(2)(b)(iv) draws on the principles in Article 51(5)(b) of the 1977 Additional

inter alia
, an assessment of:
(a) the anticipated civilian damage or injury;
(b) the anticipated military advantage;

(c) and whether (a) was "clearly excessive" in relation to (b).

— 
Luis Moreno-Ocampo[19]

U.S. military approach

The U.S. military follows a technology-based process for estimating and mitigating collateral damage. The software used is known as "FAST-CD" or "Fast Assessment Strike Tool—Collateral Damage."[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "USAF Intelligence Targeting Guide — AIR FORCE PAMPHLET 14- 210 Intelligence". 1 February 1998. p. 180. Retrieved 6 October 2007.
  2. ^ "collateral damage". Merriam-Webster.
  3. ^ "The Political Psychology of Collateral Damage". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ISBN 978-1-136-89429-9
    .
  5. ISBN 978-1-58049-874-6
    .
  6. Comment is Free
    .
  7. ^ "Dispersal, Deterrence, And Damage - Tags: Bombers (Airplanes) War". Connection.ebscohost.com. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  8. ^ http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf
  9. ^ "Defense.gov News Article: U.S. Military Works to Avoid Civilian Deaths, Collateral Damage". Defenselink.mil. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  10. ^ Chuenpagdee, R., Morgan, L.E., Maxwell, S.M., Norse, E.A. & Pauly, D. (2003) Shifting gears: assessing collateral impacts of fishing methods in US waters. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 1, 517-524.
  11. ISBN 0-275-98227-0
    .
  12. ^ Macintyre, Ben (21 March 2014). "'The Bombers and the Bombed,' by Richard Overy" – via NYTimes.com.
  13. ISBN 0-5215-4869-1
    .
  14. ISBN 0-5215-4869-1
    .
  15. ISBN 1-8427-7543-X
    .
  16. ISBN 041510355X
    .
  17. Spiegel Online. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help
    )
  18. Luis Moreno-Ocampo References
    page 5, footnote 11).
  19. Luis Moreno-Ocampo OTP letter to senders re Iraq Archived 27 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
    9 February 2006. "Allegations concerning War Crimes" Pages 4,5
  20. ^ Bradley, Graham (21 February 2003). "Military Turns to Software to Cut Civilian Casualties". Washington Post. p. A18.

External links

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