&gt; However, the same could be said of the current, US recognized Iraqi government.<p>Lots of people have said that the current, US recognized government of Iraq is a make-believe state, and that the strongest claim to actually being an effective state in that area is the notionally-subordinate government of the Kurdish region within Iraq.<p>So, yeah, the same <i>is often</i> said about the current, US recognized government of Iraq.<p>&gt; as Hollande has claimed France is at war with IS, there is certainly a case to be made.<p>War between states and non-state actors is not new, though the most <i>common</i> case is between a state and an internal non-state actor. Perhaps the defining attribute of the modern &quot;wars against terrorism&quot; is that they are wars between states and external non-state actors (or, at least, non-state actors that have a substantial external component relative to many of the states that are fighting them.)