collateral damage

Collateral damage is damage that is unintended or incidental to the intended outcome.^[1] The term originated in the United States military, but it has since expanded into broader use.

Etymology

The word "collateral" comes from medieval Latin collateralis, from col-, "together with" + lateralis (from latus, later-, "side" ) and is otherwise mainly used as a synonym for "parallel" or "additional" in certain expressions ("collateral veins" run parallel to each other and "collateral security" means additional security to the main obligation in a contract). However, "collateral" may also sometimes mean "additional but subordinate," i.e., "secondary" ("collateral meanings of a word"), and that specific meaning of a rather obscure word in the English language seems to have been picked up and broadened by the military in the expression "collateral damage".^[2]

According to the USAF Intelligence Targeting Guide, the term means:

" [the] unintentional damage or incidental damage affecting facilities, equipment, or personnel, occurring as a result of military actions directed against targeted enemy forces or facilities. Such damage can occur to friendly, neutral, and even enemy forces".^[1]

• United States Department of Defense definition collateral damage — Unintentional or incidental injury or damage to persons or objects that would not be lawful military targets in the circumstances ruling at the time. Such damage is not unlawful so long as it is not excessive in light of the overall military advantage anticipated from the attack. (Joint Publication 3-60)

Intent is the key element in understanding the military definition as it relates to target selection and prosecution. Collateral damage is damage aside from that which was intended. Since the dawn of precision guided munitions, military "targeteers" and operations personnel are often considered to have gone to great lengths to minimize collateral damage.

History

At least one source claims that the term "collateral damage" originated as a euphemism during the Vietnam War and can refer to friendly fire, or the killing of non-combatants and the destruction of their property^[3]. Curtis Le May used the term in describing the bombing of Japanese cities in the Second World War.

The term 'collateral damage' has also been borrowed by the computing community to refer to the denial of service to legitimate users when administrators take blanket preventative measures against some individuals who are abusing systems. For example, Realtime Blackhole Lists used to combat email spam generally block ranges of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses rather than individual IPs associated with spam, and can deny legitimate users within those ranges the ability to send email to some domains.

A related term 'collateral mortality' is also becoming prevalent, and probably derives from the term collateral damage. This has been applied to other spheres in addition of the original military context. An example is in fisheries where bycatch of species such as dolphins are called collateral mortality; i.e. they are species that die in pursuit of in the legal death of fishery targets; e.g. tuna.^[4]

Example

• In an interview before his execution, convicted U.S. bomber (and Gulf War veteran) Timothy McVeigh referred to the deaths of 19 children killed in the government office building during the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing as "collateral damage".^[5]
• Jamie Shea, spokesman of NATO during NATO campaign against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, has became (in)famous for using this phrase in comments about civilian casualties killed by NATO.

See also

• Civilian casualties
• Geneva Conventions
• Externality
• Philosophy of war
• Realpolitik
• Total war
• War crime
• Aesopian language

References

External links

• Beyond Precision: Issues of Morality and Decision Making in Minimizing Collateral Casualties, ACDIS Occasional Paper by Lt. Col. Dwight A. Roblyer
• USAF Intelligence Targeting Guide - Attachment 7 : Collateral Damage
• Army Technology
• Air Force Law Review, Wntr, 2005 by Jefferson D. Reynolds
• The Faces of “Collateral Damage” by Charlie Clements, Friends Journal, April 2003
• Collateral Damage during NATO bombing of SR Yugoslavia 1999 Warning: explicit images
• "Collateral Damage: A Military Euphemism for Murder" by Camillo "Mac" Bica, Znet, April 16, 2007