The Law of Aerial Bombardment in the 1991 Gulf War

Abstract

I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts.—Thomas JeffersonOn August 2,1990, Iraqi forces invaded and occupied Kuwait, beginning a seven-monthlong series of events that would come to be known as the Persian Gulf war. Perhaps the most thoroughly examined of these events was the thirty-eight-day air campaign, which began on January 17,1991, and marked the beginning of the offensive by the coalition of states arrayed against Iraq, which ended after the latter’s withdrawal from Kuwait. Much has been written about the air campaign and its objectives, its implications for the future use of military force, and the extent to which it conformed to international law. Although this article will focus on the last of these topics, a contextual understanding of the air campaign is essential to a serious consideration of the military necessity and proportionality issues that lie at the heart of the legal analysis.