What’s your view? Here’s what I shared with Alan Rappeport at The New York Times:
New! Improved! U.S. Campaign in Syria Finally Gets a Brand Name
It lacks the ferocity of Operation Desert Storm in Iraq or the idealism of Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya. Instead, United States military officials took a more delicate and ambiguous approach in their belated naming of the campaign against the Islamic State — Operation Inherent Resolve.
And that may be the point.
“It doesn’t have that boo-yah attitude,” said Dean Crutchfield, a business consultant and brand expert. “It’s not ferocious, or too hard or frightening in a way that would make America seem to be the aggressor. It’s coming to protect.”
The military names operations for administrative and public relations purposes. Yet Inherent Resolve, which was disclosed on Wednesday, may not bring up images of enemy annihilation as much as it does household chores.
“The first thing that came to mind was that this didn’t make me think about hitting the bad guys in Syria and Iraq, it made me think about cleaning my carpet,” said Jonathan Schanzer, a former Treasury Department analyst, “ISIS being among the tough stains it would get out.”
– Alan Rappeport
PUNCH & KISS 