>it's the only war declared by a president against an
>individual/group and not a state.
>here we have a state against an enemy without government and
>borders.
>similar to the war on drugs theory.

These wars against mentalities (terrorism, poverty, and drug addiction) have been largely unsuccessful. They're open mandates because there is no way to truly eradicate any of them. The problems with the wars on terror and drugs is that they're focused on destroying the people that supply terror and drugs, rather than eliminating the demand for either.

I guess progress is more definable when you can say X number of people have been killed or arrested, but like our system of capitalism teaches, where there's a demand in a free society there will always be an enterprising supplier.

Unfortunately treating demand is usually much more expensive and labor intensive. But if actual progress is wanted, this is the route policy will have to go.