Free-fire zone

{{Short description|Area into which any weapon system may fire without additional coordination}} A '''free-fire zone''' is an area in which any person present is deemed an enemy combatant who can be targeted by opposing military forces. The concept of a free-fire zone does not exist in international law, and failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians is a [[war crime]].<ref>[https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule1#title-2 Rule 1. The Principle of Distinction between Civilians and Combatants] [[International Committee of the Red Cross]]</ref>

== World War II ==

General [[Chuck Yeager]] in his autobiography describes his (and his associates') disapproval of shoot-anything-that-moves low level [[strafing]] missions during [[World War II]] (although they were not necessarily called "free-fire zone" missions). He described his feeling that, had the U.S. lost the war, it might have been considered criminal.<ref name="yeager1" />

== Vietnam War == {{see also|Vietnam War body count controversy}} Returning veterans, affected civilians and others have said that U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam ([[MACV]]), based on the assumption that all friendly forces had been cleared from the area, established a policy designating "free-fire zones" as areas in which: *Anyone unidentified is considered an enemy combatant *Soldiers were to shoot anyone moving around after curfew without first making sure that they were hostile.

Gunter Lewy estimated that 1/3 of those killed and counted as "enemy KIA" killed by US/GVN forces were civilians. He estimates around 220,000 civilians were counted as "enemy KIA" in battlefield operations reports during battles against VC/NVA. Lewy estimated the use of free-fire zones was an important factor in this.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spc4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA34|title=East Asia's Other Miracle: Explaining the Decline of Mass Atrocities|last=Bellamy|first=Alex J.|date=2017-09-29|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780191083785|pages=33–34|language=en}}</ref> There are no distinctions between enemy KIA and civilian KIA inadvertently killed in the crossfire or through deployment of heavy artillery, aerial bombardment and so-on.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thevietnamwar.info/free-fire-zone/|title=Free Fire Zone|date=10 April 2014|access-date=15 June 2018|archive-date=28 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428232122/https://thevietnamwar.info/free-fire-zone/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a096431.pdf|title=Declassification of the BDM Study, "The Strategic Lessons Learned in Vietnam"|publisher=Defense Technical Center|pages=225–234|access-date=2018-06-15|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20190412100450/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a096431.pdf|archive-date=2019-04-12|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam|last=Appy|first=Christian|publisher=UNC Chapel Hill|year=1993|url=http://projectsmrj.pbworks.com/f/Working+Class+War+-+Christian+Appy.pdf|page=273}}</ref> Part of this stemmed from the doctrine requirements of producing "enemy [[Body count#Vietnam War|body count]]" during the Vietnam War, which saw violations and statistical manipulations due to ongoing pressures from MACV on units.<ref name=":3" />

=== Dellums hearings ===

Free-fire zones were discussed during 1971 ad hoc (i.e. not endorsed by Congress) hearings sponsored by Congressman [[Ron Dellums]] (California), organized by [[Citizens Commission of Inquiry|Citizens' Commission of Inquiry on US War Crimes (CCI)]].<ref name=uhl/>

=== Lawrence Wilkerson ===

Colonel [[Lawrence Wilkerson]] flew helicopters low and slow through Vietnam. He claims to have had vocal disagreements with some of his superiors and members of his own gunner crew over free-fire zones, including an incident in which one of his crew shot a wagon that had a little girl inside of it. He describes one incident in which he prevented an atrocity by purposely placing his helicopter between a position that was full of civilians and another helicopter that wanted to launch an attack on the position.<ref name=nels/> ==Israel–Hamas war== Israel has been accused of treating Gaza as a free-fire zone during the war.<ref name="u679">{{cite web | title=Israeli army in Gaza shot 'as they pleased' in free-fire policy | publisher=The New Arab | date=2024-07-09 | url=https://www.newarab.com/news/israeli-army-gaza-shot-they-pleased-free-fire-policy | access-date=2024-09-28}}</ref><ref name="x496">{{cite web | last=Beaumont | first=Peter | title=Israel’s rules of engagement seem looser than ever – if they are followed at all | website=the Guardian | date=2024-04-03 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/israels-rules-of-engagement-seem-looser-than-ever-if-they-are-followed-at-all | access-date=2024-09-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Monks |first1=Kieron |title=Israel created free-fire ‘kill zones’ in Gaza, soldiers tell newspaper |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/world/israel-free-fire-kill-zones-gaza-2985281?srsltid=AfmBOopdP67YAxTtlswESZtYkPH1T9z2Vmf5F1IzgVoDt3DuPETiAXdp |access-date=28 September 2024 |work=inews.co.uk |date=1 April 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

== See also == * [[Rules of engagement]] * [[Area bombing]] * [[Strategic Hamlet Program]] * [[Search and destroy]]

== References ==

<ref name=uhl>[http://www.thenation.com/article/thats-vietnam-jake?page=0,2 That's Vietnam, Jake] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014170020/http://www.thenation.com/article/thats-vietnam-jake?page=0,2 |date=2012-10-14 }}, by Michael Uhl, The Nation, November 29, 2001</ref>

<ref name=nels>[[Deborah Nelson]], [http://www.thewarbehindme.com/about.php “The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth About U.S. War Crimes”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717042423/http://www.thewarbehindme.com/about.php |date=2011-07-17 }}, [[Basic Books]], {{ISBN|978-0-465-00527-7}}, October 28, 2008</ref>

<ref name=yeager1>{{cite book|last1= Yeager |first1= Chuck |author-link1= Chuck Yeager |last2= Janos |first2= Leo |title= Yeager: An Autobiography |publisher= [[Bantam Books|Bantam]] |date= 1986-08-01 |isbn= 978-0-553-25674-1 }} </ref>

</references>

== Further reading == * Lewis M. Simmons, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20050924182430/http://www.crimesofwar.org/thebook/free-fire-zones.html Free Fire Zones]", in ''Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know'', Roy Gutman, Ed, W. W. Norton & Company, July 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-393-31914-9}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Free-Fire Zone}} [[Category:Military terminology]] [[Category:Vietnam War]]