Obama's declaration that we are not engaged in "hostilities" in Libya may create a new doctrine of war: the "sucker punch" rule!
The administration’s logic has been criticized by some academic experts. They said it amounted to an argument that a battle, if won handily enough, does not amount to a battle.“If I just sort of sucker-punched someone, and they doubled over on the floor, I think we would say that I was involved in a hostile action, whether or not they were able to land a punch or a blow in response,” said Saikrishna Prakash, a law professor at the University of Virginia.
I can't to see this defense used in court.