I enjoyed reading the thoughtful article by Scott Sagan and Allen Weiner.1 Yet, I write to point out some flaws in Sagan and Weiner's assertion that the prohibition on civilian reprisals in the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions (Protocol I) applies to the United States.2

In 1987, the United States objected to the reprisal ban in Protocol I3 because it would “remove a significant deterrent that protects civilians and war victims on all sides of a conflict.”4 Abraham D. Sofaer, legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State, provided the classic explanation for this decision.5 Sagan and Weiner contend (pp. 129–130 and 157–160), however, that the United States is now bound by Protocol I because its prohibition has become customary law and the U.S. objection has been retracted. Sagan and Weiner base their claim of a change in U.S. opinio juris...

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