Wednesday, February 12, 2003

posted 2/12/2003 03:20:00 PM by Daniel   0 comments

What's in a name?

The invasion of Iraq is likely to begin in a matter of days. What will the history books call it?

When Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the United States quickly moved in forces to prevent Hussein from continuing into Saudi Arabia. The very poetic name chosen was Desert Shield. That operation continued for the next five and a half months while the U.S. prepared its counterattack.

I fully expected the counterattack to be named "Desert Sword" -- it just seemed so obvious. Instead it became Desert Storm, and I remember thinking what a wildly romantic and inspired choice that was.

In a few days we'll know the identity of this new military operation. Perhaps it will be clever, perhaps it will be pedestrian.

What would you name it? Post your suggestions in the Comments section, and we'll see if anyone guesses right. We'll also see what better names could have been selected.