ABSTRACT
This chapter presents whether the military can or should be humanitarian. The 'can' part may be divided between competence and capacity, but it is difficult to muster a great deal of interest in the question of military competence to undertake or support humanitarian tasks. United Nations (UN) hardly requires a cynical disposition to regard the Gulf War as a happy conjunction of international law, global responsibility and national interest, yet the imposition of sanctions and the use of force were acts of law enforcement. Government train, equip and sometimes require its armed forces to deal with the sharp end, but the blunt substance of humanitarian emergencies is considerable, daunting and long-term. In the author's sense, it is decent that the military should be on the frontline in a double sense. Military have work to do on the humanitarian disposition of its public body the work of citizenship, of soldiers and civilians alike, as they go marching on.
