Operation PLYMOUTH ROCK????

[Avalux]

I can't believe I just heard this on NPR. The name of the new offensive in Iraq. Fuck those Pentagon bastards!!

[4dsc]

1. Isn't Plymouth rock a burial stone??

And its unfortunate that our brave man and women have to die for a lie!!

[annabanana]

2. I guess it is now..............................n/t

[Avalux]

4. It's the landing place of the pilgrims in the 17th century

and symbolic of our Thanksgiving. I think I'm going to be ill.

[PurityOfEssence]

6. No, it's an icon of providence

It's a damned rock on the coast of Massachusetts that's supposedly where the darling persecuted puritans set foot on the new land.

godgodgodgodgodgodgodgod. Welcome to the future: god rules all and he wants you to help him kill anyone who disagrees with us. Why an all-powerful superwhatever needs our help is beyond me, but I'm just a heathen.

[grasswire]

18. no

You're wrong.

The Mayflower Pilgrims were not Puritans. They were Separatists. The Puritans came later. The Pilgrims drank alcohol, dressed in bright colors, danced and made music. (And very likely had sex.) Don't blame puritanism on them.

As far as Plymouth Rock is concerned, there is plenty of evidence of its authenticity.

My ancestors John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley stepped on the rock in 1620. Elizabeth was just a girl. All her family died in the first winter. Howland was just a manservant. They were humble people, not intending to impose dour living on anyone.

So please stop casting aspersions on all Mayflower pilgrims.

[grasswire]

19. oh, and I'm mad..

...about the use of this to describe a military assault by a death machine, too.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. Maybe it's where they buried the last Plymouth.

[LSparkle]

3. Why do they have to name these crusades?

Makes it sound like a friggin' video game!

[Rumba]

16. Once upon a time

they named operations for security reasons. If someone who might let the other side know your plans hears you talking about "operation llama", they can't do as much with that as if they heard you talking about "operation take hill 1411 from the south".

These days it's about PR spin. The big ops have to have a name that will make good copy on the news. By the time the thing kicks off anyone watching Fox or CNN will know exactly what the operation is.

[Krupskaya]

5. A new offensive? Does that mean the old one was a success?

These names make me hurl. IT'S NOT A FUCKING GAME.

[Avalux]

7. Thursday is Thanksgiving

and Plymouth Rock is symbolic of this....it's just wrong. :cry:

[LSparkle]

8. Coming soon: a crusade they'll LOVE to name

Something to do with CHRIST-MAS ... Talk about insensitive!

[grasswire]

20. what?

Operation Santa's Sack?

Operation Empty Tomb?

[Jackpine Radical]

23. I think that empty tomb business has to do with Easter.

Maybe it will have something to do with Adolf--I mean Rudolph.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

9. A liberal northeastern rock...

won't this reflect badly on the new morality brigade??? ha.ha.

[annabanana]

10. Massachusetts HAS got stones, ya know...............................n/t

[izzie]

13. Could fool me I thought they all were in Maine.

Does any one know what General is the General who names all these fights? Wonder if he gets help from that other person who loves to dress up and give names to people?

[LSparkle]

11. Here, I'll name the next one for them:

"Operation BabyJesusInAManger"

[Avalux]

15. lol!

That's funny if not completely repulsive. :hi:

[stellanoir]

12. Sheesh

and I though "Operation Iron Hammer" was pathetic enough. This is truly beyond the pale. As a thirteenth generation american I am morally insenced by this excessively disingenuous nomenclature. Hurrrrrumphhhhh.

Plymouth Rock is a joke. No one knows upon what rock they landed. You think, after endless months of turbulance and illness they really paid attention to geology when they finally hit shore. . .? The rock looks as if it's not even indigenous to the area. It's a total tourista transport deal.

Well in that regard, and that regard only, it might be a truly appropriate. This stuff is so insufferably annoying.

Arghhhhhhh.

[Avalux]

14. I guess I got offended

because my kids were talking about Plymouth Rock, The Mayflower, etc. - they learn it in school. It's part of this country's beginnings whether accurate or not. It just made me so damn mad.

[orpupilofnature57]

21. Of course you knew, they landed at provincetown first.

And in fact did most of their first,fighting, exploring and meeting the Nauset indians,on my heaven on earth CAPE COD.

[WHAT]

17. Plymoth Barracuda is what I thought of...

because in my mind this automobile roughly followed the history of Viet Nam...'64-'74 (I think). It just seems more historically significant to me.