ABSTRACT
During the Gulf War of 1990-1 and the war against Yugoslavia in 1999, air forces of the U.S.-led coalitions attacked dual-use targets: infrastructure such as electrical generation and transmission systems, bridges and other transportation sites, communications facilities, and other infrastructure with both civilian and military application. Some hold that many dualuse targets should be put off-limits to attack in future conflicts due to the effect on civilians whereas others argue that attacks on dual-use facilities offer an opportunity to wage war more efficiently and humanely than by targeting only fielded military forces. This chapter summarizes the arguments made for and against more restrictive rules on targeting dualuse facilities and puts these in the context of the broader principles of jus in bello. To this end, it first analyzes what constitutes a dual-use target; second, it looks at what defines a military target and makes somebody or something liable to attack; and third, it shows how differing concepts of liability play into the debate about dual-use targets.
