The President is commander-in-chief. He is in charge of foreign policy, and Von Clausewitz's axiom still holds true: "War is the extension of foreign policy by other means."

War has always been and will continue to be, for the foreseeable future, the strong arm of foreign policy. Military force is the only way to deal with many international problems, such as a country like Iraq failing to live up to its written commitments made in treaty. War is also the only way to deal effectively with terrorism, as presidents from Thomas Jefferson on have discovered. Yes, good old Tom Jefferson waged undeclared war against pirates in, of all places, Libya. (Why am I not surprised?) It is amazing how little has changed in 200 years.