I would like to start by thanking Jutta and Geoffrey for their detailed and very thoughtful comments. I am particularly glad that Geoffrey focused on my interpretation of IHL, bringing to bear his military expertise and that Jutta focused on the theoretical part of the book, which is inspired by her…

In 2003 during their invasion of Iraq American troops were commended for going to great pains to comply’ with international law and at the same time they were condemned as the ‘most violent and murderous army’ in American history. The question these dichotomous assessments raise is: what can international law (IL) accomplish in war? What does…