"Collateral Damage"

[ANNE V. GILBERT]

James:

> "Collateral damage" supposedly is a US Armed Forces term (although in my
> experience it is used almost exclusively by reporters) meaning "civilian
> casualties."  The phrase became well-known with the Gulf War (actually
during
> Desert Shield, the build-up for the Gulf War).  Since the US Armed Forces
> have not been deliberately targeting civilians (else there would have been
a
> lot more civilian dead in the last decade!), the implication of
"collateral
> damage" is "unintentional casualties" or "unfortunate casualties".
>

I think "collateral damage" dates back to the Vietnam period.
Anne G