I believe that it's actually surprisingly easy to initiate war today because so little seems to be at stake.
Our sense of superiority before a war is so great that (especially after the 1991 Gulf War) our public doesn't tend to take the opponents really seriously.
Did any TV station predict a 7+ year war against Taleban when the invasion begun? Fuchs
I agree with the first part, but disagree with the second. A nation hasn't been mobilized, a volunteer Military has been deployed. National leadership will throw around a few mobilization terms such as Patriot Act (sounds more communist than anything the Soviets came up with), etc., but our nation has not been mobilized. Instead it was angered by 9/11, but that anger quickly faded.

I can't recall if anyone predicted a 7 year war with the Taliban, but I don't recall anyone thinking it was going to be easy. Most discussions centered around British and more recent USSR experience in Afghanistan, but our national leadership realized we still needed to get this none.

If you go to a fight without moblizing the nation is it a war?

Which was the essential model for the Cold War and its wars of liberation Tom
True, but that sword cut both ways and we won. Fighting through surrogates is ideal, there is no need to mobilize the population to support these activities if you can keep them out the public eye.