The U.S. government has decided to call the ongoing campaign against the Islamic State “Operation Inherent Resolve.” This name is, to put it bluntly, almost as bad as the actual 2003 invasion of Iraq.
We’re going to cut the government some slack for not coming up with a better name. They have more important things to worry about—like conducting the military operation itself. So, while the Pentagon is busy scrambling F-15s from aircraft carriers and whatnot, we at the Daily Dot decided to poll our readers for a better name.
The U.S.’s name for its campaign against ISIS, “Operation Inherent Resolve,” is awful. What would you call it instead?
— Daily Dot Politics (@DotPolitics) October 15, 2014
There are a lot of things to consider when naming anything, especially a military operation that is going to be the subject of a thousand news stories. The name has to look good in both a CNN news chyron tomorrow and an American history book in 2044. Far too few people appreciate the challenges inherent in resolving this dilemma.
Luckily, we have some pretty smart readers. Here are the best of their suggestions for this new military campaign.
1) All of this has happened before and it will happen again
@DotPolitics @WillMcAvoyACN Operation This All Seems Strangely Familiar.
— Brian Johnston (@bgpjohnston) October 15, 2014
2) FX Networks won’t appreciate this suggestion
@DotPolitics @WillMcAvoyACN Operation LANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA #archer
— Anthony Falcone (@Falc1HasLanded) October 15, 2014
3) This campaign might not end by 2020
@DotPolitics @dailydot operation Hindsight…
— T33T3R5 (@tathan_neeters) October 15, 2014
4) This sounds more like a movie
@DotPolitics @WillMcAvoyACN Operation Hopeless Quagmire: See you for round II in fifteen years
— No Man’s Land (@nbboston) October 15, 2014
5) The cynical take
@DotPolitics @WillMcAvoyACN Op YAWFOMIC, or Yet Another War to Fuel Our Military Industrial Complex.
— Earthshine (@CaptainSaicin) October 15, 2014
6) What we really need, inexplicably, is a bigger war
Operation Obama Dither @DotPolitics @WillMcAvoyACN
— Jasen Boyens (@BoyensJC) October 15, 2014
7) Something tells me this wouldn’t fit on a bumper sticker
@DotPolitics @WillMcAvoyACN Operation ‘we will probably just create 1000s more jihadists unfortunately with the collateral damage we make’.
— Sarah Marley (@SarahMarley19) October 15, 2014
8) And the straight-faced “AMURCA” suggestion
@DotPolitics @WillMcAvoyACN Operation Steel Rain. Make me feel like the whole goddamn world is about to land on them.
— Vincent Morgado (@FlyandtheMighty) October 15, 2014
Photo via DVIDSHUB/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
