Irrelevance of a Formal Declaration of War: Although the Constitution allocates to Congress the power to declare war, a formal declaration has not proven historically to be a condition precedent for the existence of "war"; and in more modern times, such a declaration has become entirely irrelevant. Consider that, prior to 1990, "only five of the eleven major conflicts fought by the United States abroad [were] formally declared wars." 24 After that date, each and every one of the episodes of war-like hostilities waged by Presidents George H. W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush occurred in the absence of any Article I, Section 8 declaration.
Non-State Parties as War Enemies: Unlike the military definition of war as hostilities between contending sovereign states or groups with equal power,25 a current "war" may involve a relatively powerless enemy that is not recognized as a sovereign state. For example, reflect on President Clinton's 1993 combat operations in Somalia to roust the politico-military figure Mohamed Farah Aideed, and Clinton's 1994 air strikes in Bosnia to bomb Serbian militias.26
Short Duration or Low-Level Intensity of Hostilities: The American political culture currently understands a state of "war" to exist even when the actual armed conflict is relatively small and of short duration. The best modern example is President Ronald Reagan's October to December 1983 invasion of Grenada.27
Rise of "Metaphorical Wars": Increasingly, the conventional concept of a clash of arms in multiple theaters of war (e.g., World Wars I & II) is supplanted by the contemporary notion of a clash of ideologies that justifies a state of "war" in which the government may act in ways normally deemed illegal or immoral, including killing "enemies" (even innocents), destroying property, and suppressing free speech.
