The Current World Contingency Operation How does the current World Contingency Operation (War on Terror) adhere to or diverge from previous conflicts in terms of objectives and a Declaration of War?

(Use Vietnam and WW1 as conflict comparisons) How has the strategy to win in Afghanistan or Iraq reflected or diverged from the American Ways of War? Contingency operations are military actions requiring rapid deployment of the full spectrum of military forces in support of national policy short of war. These operations are normally undertaken when vital national interests are at stake and when direct and indirect diplomacy or other forms of influence have been exhausted or need to be supplemented by either a show of force or a direct military action.