Enlarge imageBy Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - From Decapitation to Shock and Awe, the language of Armageddon rules in the U.S.-led conflict against Iraq.
Ghastly euphemisms for death abound. Troops are killed by Friendly Fire. Dead civilians are classed as Collateral Damage.
The psychological war of words is as bitter as the war on the desert battlefield.
"Battles are won more and more by the will to win rather than just by the military hardware," said Dr John Potter, who for eight years taught military psychology at Sandhurst military academy.
"Saddam Hussein and his military people are well schooled in the way the West works," he told Reuters. "They are not evenly matched because the Americans and the British have the edge as they were the teachers. But the Iraqis are learning fast."
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Psychologist Eugene Burke felt mindgames were vital.
"Psychological warfare is extremely important. Troops have to have cohesion and be motivated. It is vital for the troops to see their leaders are being determined and focused."
The war to topple Saddam, the Iraqi president, began with a precision attack on his leadership. That, the world discovered, was called a Decapitation Exercise. Here was an irresistible Target of Opportunity, the Americans said.
Then the streets of Baghdad shook. TV viewers saw a city pounded by a giant aerial bombardment. The Americans called it Shock and Awe.
On the political side, President George W. Bush sold his mission as part of the fight against an Axis of Evil by a Coalition of the Willing. He hailed U.S. troops as liberators.
FRIENDLY FIRE?
Amid the fog of war, mistakes are inevitable but for the families of those killed by their own side, it is scant comfort to know they are victims of what the military call Friendly Fire.
Military and political leaders on the U.S.-led side insist that precision bombing cuts civilian casualties to a minimum. The receiving end takes a different view.
Syria said on Monday that U.S. and British aircraft had bombed a bus carrying Syrian civilian workers returning home from Iraq, killing five and injuring an unspecified number in what it described as a "criminal act".
"I do not like this terrible phrase Collateral Damage," John Reid, Labour party chairman said.
The Americans are not alone in coining memorable war phrases that become legendary in the lexicon of war.
In 1991, Saddam promised The Mother of all Battles against then-President George Bush. In 2003, Saddam scornfully dismissed Bush’s son, the current president, as Little Bush.
On the U.S. side, the military revel in war lingo from Vertical Envelopment -- flying in troops to attack from behind -- to Going Kinetic, which means bombing targets. Speed Bumps are military obstacles.
The military love acronyms. Troops hunt for WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), go to MOPP-1 (Mission-Oriented Protective Posture) in the face of chemical attack and, when not fighting, consume MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) rations.
Journalists used to work as pool reporters sending copy back from the front. Now they are, in militaryspeak, Embedded Correspondents attached to troop units.
U.S. jargon is not just aimed at the enemy.
American fury over French President Jacques Chirac’s refusal to back the war reached new heights when they gave to French Fries the name Freedom Fries.
And The Simpsons, an icon of western popular culture, have been cited by American pundits for their memorable insult to the French: Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys.
