Partly Cloudy

Ethics in War, Espionage, Covert Action, and Interrogation

By (author) David L. Perry

Publication date:

12 October 2016

Length of book:

258 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

237x162mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781442262027

Partly Cloudy: Ethics in War, Espionage, Covert Action, and Interrogation explores a number of wrenching ethical issues and challenges faced by military and intelligence personnel. It provides a robust and practical approach to analyzing ethical issues in war and intelligence operations, and applies careful reasoning to issues of vital importance today, not only for soldiers, intelligence professionals, and policy makers, but also for the citizens they serve and protect.

This new edition has been updated throughout and includes new contents, to deal with critical issues such as torturing detainees, using espionage to penetrate terrorist cells, mounting covert actions to undermine hostile regimes, practicing euthanasia on the battlefield as mercy-killing, or using targeted killings as a means to fight insurgencies.

Partly Cloudy provides an excellent introduction to the field for students, instructors, and practitioners who are interested in the ethical challenges faced by public servants.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Ethical Reasoning
Chapter 2: Comparative Religious Perspectives on War
Chapter 3: Just and Unjust War in Shakespeare's Henry V
Chapter 4: Anticipating and Preventing Atrocities in War
Chapter 5: Battlefield Euthanasia: Should Military Mercy-Killings Be Allowed?
Chapter 6: Secret Intelligence and American Democracy
Chapter 7: The KGB: CIA’s Traditional Adversary
Chapter 8: Espionage
Chapter 9: Covert Action
Chapter 10: Targeted Killing
Chapter 11: Interrogation
Epilogue: On Peacemaking
About the Author
Index

Once again Perry has provided an ethicist's insights into the study of warfare's uglier aspects. This new edition updates the case studies and vignettes that make this reference so valuable. Perry transports the context of espionage, atrocities, assassination, and torture from medieval times into the 21st century, and his new chapter on battlefield euthanasia is especially compelling. He disabuses us of the delusion that dirty deeds are purely attributable to the demonic enemy and forces us to face the darker side of our common humanity. This book belongs in the hands, minds, and hearts of military leaders and civilian policymakers everywhere!