Tattoo this on the inside of your skull!
From page 4 of the 2001 document.
Lawfare describes a method of warfare where law is used as a means of
realizing a military objective.16 Though at first blush one might assume lawfare would
result in less suffering in war (and sometimes it does17), in practice it too often produces
behaviors that jeopardize the protection of the truly innocent. There are many
dimensions to lawfare, but the one ever more frequently embraced by U.S. opponents is
a cynical manipulation of the rule of law and the humanitarian values it represents.
Rather seeking battlefield victories, per se, challengers try to destroy the will to fight by
undermining the public support that is indispensable when democracies like the U.S.
conduct military interventions. A principle way of bringing about that end is to make it
appear that the U.S. is waging war in violation of the letter or spirit of LOAC.
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