ABSTRACT
It should not be forgotten that the norm of today-a U.S.-led coalition war against international terrorism-is an astonishing change from past practices. Not even during the Ronald Reagan presidency was U.S. policy and strategy so focused on terrorists or “sub-state actors.” Perhaps never before in U.S. history, except in episodic fi ghting with Barbary Pirates between 1801 and 1816, has the country found itself so militarily preoccupied over many years with a problem not attributable to a sovereign state. Al Qaeda, a very original sort of enemy, has sparked this change.
