The definition of what is war and what is law enforcement action is a very gray area to me.  My concern is that if all foreign actions are deemed to be acts of law enforcement then that means we are in a police state where international law enforcement can over ride our individual freedoms.  We have witnessed U.S. Citizens being involved with terrorist activities.  All Gov't facilities require searches before entering.  It was actually easier to move from state to state behind the iron curtain during the cold war than it is to board a commercial flight today.  I don't know if my logic makes sense to anyone else, but the rights of the individual becomes more clouded day by day - at least to me.

Congress must declare war before its a war. Its a legal technicality. All else is a police action. The press uses the word "war" mistakely in many circumstances. The last war we were in was WWII...

I applaud the fortitude of Seal Team 6.  What they undertook was at great personal risk. You had to be there to fully understand the situation. I am sure we haven't been told everthing.  However, I feel the USA must hold ourselves to a higher standard.  If you have the opportunity to capture an enemy, you take him prisoner.  If you don't , you lay the ground work for the treatment of our service personnel who fall into enemy hands.  I served as Marine ground pounder in 68 RVN.  A couple of times , we recovered our own, too late. who weren't treated as prisoner combatants . The NVA & VC didn't believe in prisoners.   

Kurt

Interesting discussion. Here in the UK, I have not heard any criticism of the raid at all---but there was some comment about the initial news release being in accurate.
Fred