Recent high-profile debates about" unlawful" or" unprivileged" combatants call for
fundamentally rethinking the role of international law in relation to war. In the conventional
view, the laws of war, both jus ad bellum and jus in bello, primarily seek to oppose or
restrain the practice of organized violence. This Article, focusing on the legal doctrines
crucial to the combatants' privilege, argues for three contrary propositions. First, law's role in
relation to war is primarily not one of opposition but of construction—the facilitation of war …