Declaration of War

So when is a war a war?

Seems like you don't have to bother with the formality of actually declaring war on another country these days, you just go in when you're ready, invade and take over, making sure that you 'liberate' many people from their lives. Then you destroy the infrastructure, hold dodgy 'elections' which then replace the previous government with one made up of puppets working for you and give the contracts to rebuild to your buddies in the Military-Industrial Complex. The illusion of 'democracy' can then be preserved.

Oh, but you don't have to stop killing the people who dare to object to you being there, who don't welcome you with flags and open arms and cheer when statues get toppled (that's just for the 'embedded' reporters), just make sure you call them 'insurgents'. Isn't it wonderful how changing the semantics makes sure that the folks back home can ease their consciences by knowing that their boys are fighting the good fight against 'terrorists' in that country, and not against the people who actually live there and might object to uninvited guests. (I mean, how dare they?)

According to (ahem) Wikipedia in the page concerning Declaration of War you can find this -
'It has been noted that "developments in international law since 1945, notably the United Nations (UN) Charter, including its prohibition on the threat or use of force in international relations, may well have made the declaration of war redundant as a formal international legal instrument." In addition to this, non-state or terrorist organisations may claim to or be described as "declaring war" when engaging in violent acts.
Also -
'The United Nations has issued Security Council Resolutions  that declared some wars to be legal actions under international law, most notably Resolution 678, authorizing war with Iraq in 1991. The UN Resolutions authorise the use of "force" or "all means necessary".

Hmmm, not for 2003 it would seem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war

Here's a very moving film that amazingly made it onto mainstream TV (ITV in the UK) recently. Good on you, John Pilger. He might not go all the way and declare himself a 'conspiracy theorist' like some of us, but with this film he doesn't have to. Some of the people involved tell you (some apologetically, others not) the parts they played in the sham of the mainstream media reporting of these conflicts.
I should go to Youtube and watch it fullscreen.