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30 U. Pa. J. Int'l L. 1345 (2008-2009)
Back to the Future: De Facto Hostilities, Transnational Terrorism, and the Purpose of the Law of Armed Conflict

handle is hein.journals/upjiel30 and id is 1369 raw text is: BACK TO THE FUTURE: DE FACTO HOSTILITIES, TRANSNATIONAL TERRORISM, AND THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT GEOFFREY S. CORN* In the aftermath of World War II, the international community set about to revise the Geneva Conventions. Three of the four treaties that emerged from this effort, all of which had been adopted to mitigate the suffering of victims of war, were in force during the War. However, it was the failure of the law to fully accomplish their humanitarian purpose that animated the revision efforts. These efforts culminated in 1949 with four treaties addressing the plight of four particular groups of war victims, treaties which have since earned the distinction of being the only international agreements to be universally ratified. The substantive advances in the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) contained in these treaties reflect these. Of the many lessons learned in the battle laboratory of World War II, perhaps most profound was that even the most comprehensive treaty regime is meaningless unless it is applied and respected by the parties to a conflict. Prior to World War II, it was simply assumed that the law established to regulate war would apply to war. However, the limits of this assumption were exposed during both World War II and the civil wars that occurred the inter-war years. * Associate Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law. Prior to joining the faculty at South Texas, Mr. Corn served as the Special Assistant to the US Army Judge Advocate General for Law of War Matters, and Chief of the Law of War Branch, US Army Office of the Judge Advocate General International and Operational Law Division. Mr. Corn also served as a member of the US Army Judge Advocate General' Corps from 1992 - 2004. Previously, he was a supervisory defense counsel for the Western United States; Chief of International Law for US Army Europe; and a Professor of International and National Security Law at the US Army Judge Advocate General's School. Mr. Corn has served as an expert consultant to the Military Commission Defense team, and has published numerous articles in the field of national security law. He is a graduate of Hartwick College and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and earned his J.D., highest honors at George Washington University and his LL.M., distinguished graduate, at the Judge Advocate General's School. He frequently lectures on law of war and national security law topics. 1345

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