US bombing of dual-use infrastructure in Iraq (1991)
During the Gulf War, US-led coalition forces systematically destroyed Iraq's electrical grid, telecommunications networks, water treatment plants, and bridges. The Pentagon classified these as 'dual-use' infrastructure supporting Saddam Hussein's military capacity. The campaign knocked out 90% of Iraq's electrical generation within days.
Iraqi military command and control was severely degraded. Coalition forces achieved rapid battlefield dominance.
The destruction of civilian infrastructure contributed to a humanitarian crisis that killed an estimated tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians in the following years. The 'dual-use' doctrine became standard in US military planning but drew lasting criticism from international humanitarian law scholars.
Iran is now applying a mirror-image version of the dual-use doctrine the US pioneered: designating American commercial technology infrastructure as military targets because of its contracts with the Pentagon. The legal and ethical arguments each side uses echo the debates from 1991.
