text: Chapter 1
  1-5. Although LOAC is part of international law, it is important to understand that different States may
  have different LOAC obligations. Understanding where these differences may arise is often important in
  dealing with an enemy; it becomes critical when working with allies and other foreign partners. Partner States
  are often bound by treaties to which the United States is not a party (for example, Additional Protocol I).
  Partner States may also have different interpretations of LOAC obligations even where the same treaty
  provision is at issue. Consequently, those partners often adopt conditions or “caveats” during multinational
  operations that express those States’ interpretations or their differences on issues of national policy.
  1-6. DOD policy is that “[m]embers of the DoD Components comply with the law of war during all armed
  conflicts, however such conflicts are characterized, and in all other military operations.” (DODD 2311.01E,
  para. 4.1). Soldiers and Marines must comply with LOAC in all military operations (as well as with any
  further restrictions imposed by the rules of engagement). Although reciprocity may play an important role in
  encouraging LOAC compliance, DOD policy is to comply with LOAC even when enemy forces are engaged
  in violations of their LOAC obligations (see DOD Law of War Manual, 3.6).
  PURPOSES OF THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT
  Purposes of the Law of Armed Conflict
  There are two reasons . . . for the preservation and enforcement, as even-handedly as
  possible, of the laws of war. The first is strictly pragmatic: They work. Violated or ignored
  as they often are, enough of the rules are observed enough of the time so that mankind is
  very much better off with them than without them. . . .
  Another and, to my mind, even more important basis of the laws of war is that they are
  necessary to diminish the corrosive effect of mortal combat on the participants. War does
  not confer a license to kill for personal reasons – to gratify perverse impulses, or to put
  out of the way anyone who appears obnoxious, or to whose welfare the Soldier is
  indifferent. War is not a license at all, but an obligation to kill for reasons of state; it does
  not countenance the infliction of suffering for its own sake or for revenge.
  Unless troops are trained and required to draw the distinction between military and non-
  military killings, and to retain such respect for the value of life that unnecessary death and
  destruction will continue to repel them, they may lose the sense of that distinction for the
  rest of their lives. . . .
  As Francis Lieber put the matter in his 1863 Army regulations: “Men who take up arms
  against one another in public war do not cease on this account to be moral beings,
  responsible to one another and to God.” [Lieber Code, art. 15]
  Telford Taylor
  Nuremberg Prosecutor
  1-7. The main purposes of LOAC are:
  * Protecting combatants, noncombatants, and civilians from unnecessary suffering;
  * Providing certain fundamental protections for persons who fall into the hands of the enemy,
  particularly prisoners of war, military wounded and sick, and civilians;
  * Facilitating the restoration of peace;
  * Assisting the commander in ensuring the disciplined, ethical, and effective use of military force;
  * Preserving the professionalism and humanity of combatants; and
  * Preventing the degeneration of warfare into savagery or brutality.
  WHEN THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT APPLIES
  1-8. Commanders must be prepared to comply with LOAC whenever there is the possibility of military
  operations or hostile actions. Different LOAC rules can apply to an armed conflict against another State
  versus an armed conflict against a non-State armed group, such as a terrorist or insurgent group. Guidance