Some editorial writer made an amazingly good point a year or so ago. With the fall of the Soviet Union, there is no country left that can face the US with uniformed troops in a ground war. For the forseeably future any one who opposes the US in armed struggle will have to use guerilla tactics. To the best of my knowlege, no army has ever been particularly good at dealing with guerillas. Not since the Romans and killing or enslaving everybody in the tribe is no longer acceptable. We're not arguing about principles but details. Afghanistan might have worked if we'd kept at it but the shrub pulled troops out to send them to Iraq.

The point about 'uniformed troops' is that uniforms help make the Geneva Conventions work. Without them, how do you tell a soldier from a civilian? You may agrue that the conventions don't work but an attempt at civilized war is better than no effort at all.