Recently, a controversy has arisen as to the most appropriate term to apply to Mr. Bush's recent decision to condemn more American soldiers to another rotation in Iraq. Republicans refer to it as a ‘surge’, while Democrats call it ‘escalation’. Condoleeza Rice (in an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) and Tony Snow (in a meeting with the White House press corps) today trotted out the new, White-House-approved epithet, ‘augmentation’.
None of these words, however, really captures the clunky, directionless, insensate nature of the decision. I'd like to suggest a more nuanced and evocative term: ‘spasm’.
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created January 11, 2007
last revised January 11, 2007