Guns, Food, and Liability to Attack in War

The principle of noncombatant immunity, whereby noncombatants ought not to he targeted in the course of a war, is a cornerstone of jus in bello. Although noncombatants are often thought to encompass all civilians, the latter (as has often been noted) often participate in the war: as citizens, they sometimes vote for warmongering political leaders; as taxpayers, they provide the funds which finance the war; as journalist, they can help sway public opinion in favor of the war; as political leaders, they take the country into war. Last, but not least, as workers, they provide the army with the material resources without which it could not fight, such as weapons, transports, construction units, but also food, shelter, protective clothing, and medical care. Here, Fabre addresses the latter contributions--an issue which has become more salient in the last few years as professional armies increasingly rely on civilian private contractors for help of the aforementioned kinds: current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are but two examples of the growing intermeshing of army and civilian personnel in war zones.