Howard Berkowitz wrote:

In article , (Peter
Stickney) wrote:

Howard, that's nonsense. There is no such thing as a formal
Declaration of War. There never has been.

Oh.

There is no specific wording required (by the constitution)
of a declaration of war - as is clearly found in Congress'
SR 23(joint) resolution of 13 Sept 2001 declaring war upon
stateless international terrorism, those who support it,
and all who have harbored terrorists.

For the first time, this particular 'formal' declaration of
war identified the enemy by his actions, rather than naming
a specific state. (For obvious reasons.)
In every other respect, it is no different from earlier
declarations. (Well... one other: the wily congresscritters
phrased it in such a way that if things went great, they could
claim credit for their foresight - and if popularity polls
showed any sort of lag in popular support, they could blame it
all on the executive branch.)