The American Way of War.

(1) As always, the American military does not like fascists, and it thus will unleash horrific power to eliminate such autocrats as Noriega, Milosevic, the Taliban, and Saddam Hussein.

(2) It is as difficult to provoke the United States as it is to survive its eventual and tardy response. We will take months, years, even decades of slurs, random murdering of our own, terrorism, and general hostility before acting -- and then, in a primordial rage, we will at last unleash unimaginable firepower to remove the odious regime.

(3) The American media and associated punditry follow a predictable wartime volatility -- as Gulf War I, Serbia, Afghanistan, and the present conflict attest: Day One, euphoria; followed by Week Two of dejection and recrimination; followed by days of false knowledge; culminating in mild I-told-you-so's as peace seems nearer. Confidence in victory is never as strong as despair on rumors of quagmire. The stronger our military, the more likely grow the doubts of our elites.

(4) There is no typical "American Way of War" anymore, in the textbook sense of traditional armored drives supported by overwhelming firepower. George Patton would smile on our current ride northward, as would Ulysses S. Grant admire the hammer and tongs that batter Baghdad. The Swamp Fox would praise the special forces in Kurdistan, but then so would Hap Arnold like the bombing campaign, Adm. King the naval broadsides, and Adm. Nimitz our marvelous carriers.

(5) The enemy will kill more of its civilians than we will kill of its soldiers. Examples: Milosevic, the Taliban, and Saddam Hussein.

(6) The Arab street is as ready to rush out when the American military moves as it is to dissolve when it wins. It will always galvanize on behalf of homegrown ...