Invasion Preliminaries

I note that the Washington Post says US Special Forces are on the ground in Iraq, and already have begun advance preparations for the invasion. Their job involves reconnaissance, sabotage, recruitment, and the assassination of key local military and political leaders. In some ways this predictable endgame must come as a kind of relief to some people: after over a decade of interdiction, sanctions, and aerial bombardment that people in the US persist in believing was “not a war” my understanding of what constituted military action was getting fuzzy.