Slashdot Mirror
Domain: hnn.us
Stories and comments across the archive that link to hnn.us.
Comments · 101
-
Re:does this happen often?
A good place to start would be Max Boot's _The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power_, which is a history of small-scale military engagements which the US has participated in -- from the conflicts with the Barbary Pirates starting in 1800 through the present.
You can find a review of Mr. Boot's book from the History News Network (with some discussion of the subject) here, or order it here.
In short, what you'll find is that out of over 100 military campaigns the US has participated in, from the dawn of our nation through the present, less than a dozen have been declared wars. This suggests that the body of precedent backs up what I have said...