The Pentagon crosses the lexicon

[diamond14]

As the horizon in Iraq recedes, the U.S. military’s language adapts.


Conservative Iraq war supporters like Sen. John Warner, R-Va.; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.; and Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., all have expressed concern of late that the administration is putting too rosy a tint on the Iraq war.

“It is perhaps the greatest mistake made by the Johnson and Nixon administrations with regard to Vietnam,” says a Senate Republican source. “You have to tell the American people something that meshes with the facts on the ground, or sooner or later they’re going to stop believing anything you say, and then the critics look like geniuses.”

Abizaid apparently decided he wanted none of mincing words: “I think describing it as guerrilla tactics being employed against us is, you know, a proper thing to describe in strictly military terms.”

The terms refuse to be defined however. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of military forces in Iraq, last week called them “noncompliant forces.”



http://www.msnbc.com/news/987469.asp?0cv=CA01

[Voltaire99]

1. Q: Why did the Pentagon cross the road?

A: To lie on the other side.

[radfringe]

2. it's a "WAL-MART" administration

putting a :) on everything

spin spin spin

[Democat]

3. "noncompliant forces"?

Anyone heard that on Fox yet?

[Scurrilous]

4. Noncompliant forces?

In keeping with this theme, any Iraqi irregulars killed by our soldiers will henceforth be referred to as 'compliant forces.'

[Mari333]

5. Im watching a repeat of Aaron Brown's CNN report

on the soldiers , their training, and the aftermath of killing that happens.
These are teenagers with guns, basically...Its like I told my son...
When you were in basic training, you were playing soldier. Your bayonet stuck itself into a tire.
You dont want to live the rest of your life knowing you stuck a bayonet into a human being.
He agreed.
These are teenagers with guns.
they will come home, and become adults who are a mess for the rest of their lives.

[diamond14]

6. missing words: bomb, ambush and WMD

-snip-

But certain words and phrases — descriptive nouns like “bomb” and “ambush,” along with less surprising terms like “WMD” — are missing in action, at least from the Pentagon’s briefings.