Read about it here:

http://www.usatoday.com/hlead.htm

God Bless America!!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), September 19, 2001

Answers

You gotta love the title "Infinite" Justice. That says this is gonna go on a looooong time....

War on Cancer, 40 years?

War on Drugs, 20 years?

-- KoFE (your@town.USSA), September 19, 2001.

"Operation Infinite Justice". Good name.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 19, 2001.

Kofe, I posted at the same time as you so did not see your response. I'm not criticizing your interpretation, I just took it differently. I took it to mean that the justice would be "infinite in quality, infinte in mercy". I'd settle for "adequate".

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 19, 2001.

Remember when names for military ops were picked deliberately at random, and deliberately without meaning relevant to their actual undertaking, rather than for pr purposes?

The names "Manhattan Project" had nothing to do with New York, and "Operation Overlord" had nothing to do with France. Ever since 'Desert Shield'...

-- Leps (Operation@Mail.GO), September 19, 2001.

Leps, names didn't matter much when known only to a few. Nowadays with TV war is very public. Besides the PR angle a catchy title might help bring an Emmy.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), September 19, 2001.

"Manhatten Project" and "Operation Overlord" both had secret meanings. Sorry, I can't reveal them to you.

-- (Roland@hatemail.com), September 19, 2001.

"Infinite Justice"? What man or woman is so perfect as to deliver infinite justice? Not me. Not GW Bush. Not a government bureaucracy.

This sort of thing just makes my stomach churn when I contemplate it. The fact that our leaders think such a public relations ploy has any meaning is a sick, sick, sick thing.

Either Bush and his cohorts are severely deluded. Or they hope and pray to severely delude all the rest of us. I don't know which is worse. War requires real sacrifice and danger. Reducing it to thin slogans is cheap. Damn cheap. Try telling a war widow or a grieving mother or father that their son or daughter died delivering "infinite justice".

It makes me want to puke. The Nazia\s did this sort of propaganda. I want no part of it.

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), September 19, 2001.

LN--

Would you settle for "finite justice"? I would, I bet the families of 6000 innocents would.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 19, 2001.

"Would you settle for "finite justice"?"

Damn straight I would, Lars. Justice plain and simple would be plenty enough for me. And so long as any man remains alive and free who aided and abetted this action, justice hasn't been served.

Adding the "infinite" to the "justice" is pure, unadulterated, Madison Avenue, wool-over-the-eyes shit-with-cream-gravy. When someone serves me shit, I am reluctant to eat it. Cream gravy or not.

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), September 19, 2001.

Rite on, nipper--as if we are so spiritually perfect. lol 1 lil' stone killed=goliath.

-- al-d. (dogs@zianet.com), September 19, 2001.

al on the other hand dishes up his own and shovels it in.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), September 20, 2001.

LN--

Now and then we agree.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 20, 2001.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

-- What (is.in@name.shakespear), September 20, 2001.

I always thought Desert Shield sounded like a feminine napkin and Desert Storm sounded like a particularly overpowering cologne.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), September 20, 2001.

Little Nipper and Tarzan, the two neo-socialists who gently weep at the death of the roach. You belong in an eastern European coffee house, smoking clove cigarettes, drinking espresso and discussing the finer points of Leninism versus Maoism. Sorry if "Infinite" Justice offends your tender sensibilities, Nipwad. If you and Tarzan were on the JCS, we'd probably have "Measured Acquiesence" or "Syrupy Waffle" or "Endless Chatter." Boo fuckin' hoo.

-- Boo (hoo@hoo.com), September 20, 2001.

Boo hoo, did you ever have one of those dreams where you are passionately kissing a beautiful woman, only to wake up and find out that you are drooling on your pillowcase so that it is sort of slimy and wet in your mouth?

Wake up. I think you're having one.

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), September 20, 2001.

I thought this article was interesting -

Why is Mission Called Infinite Justice?

by Michael Valpy

Operation Infinite Justice. It is a phrase carefully chosen by someone familiar with the rhetoric of conservative, evangelical, fire- and-brimstone Christianity. It is about heavy-duty retribution. Although the term does not appear in the Bible, it is a familiar one preachers use to talk about God collecting on the debt of original sin and punishing the fundamental wickedness of humanity.

A Pentagon spokesman last night wouldn't say why that code name was chosen for the deployment of combat aircraft to the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon still hasn't officially declared that is the name.

But a search of U.S. military operational names going back to the Second World War turns up nothing as remotely religious.

The U.S. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, which says its purpose is "to equip Christians with good information on doctrine," defines God's "infinite justice" as His "terrible price" exacted for the reinstatement to sin-free purity of "all His created humanity."

It is defined as God's condemnation of all guilt.

Its maximum penalty, "infinite punishment," sounds like the eternal fires of hell.

It is interesting, the religious factor.

The Americans' primary target, Osama bin Laden, has declared a jihad, an Islamic holy war, against the United States. U.S. President George W. Bush has stressed that no military action against terrorists should be construed as an attack against Islam.

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), September 20, 2001.

Debra -- perhaps there is no inner meaning to the phrase "infinte justice" and Michael Valpy is just a flake.

What do you think the odds are that the Pentagon even knew about the "U.S. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry" when they came up with the name?

-- E.H.Porter (just.wondering@about.it), September 20, 2001.

It's all about public relations E.H. and so I'd have to say it's ALL about inner meanings. Here is another interesting article -

Thursday September 20 7:04 PM ET

'Infinite Justice' May Not Stand, Pentagon Says

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The initial code name for the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s response to attacks on the United States, Operation Infinite Justice, likely will be changed to avoid offending Muslims, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday.

The issue arose at a Pentagon briefing when a reporter told Rumsfeld that several Islamic scholars objected to the name on the ground that only God, or Allah, can mete out infinite justice in their view.

``I understand. I understand,'' Rumsfeld replied. ``And obviously, the United States does not want to do or say things that create an impression on the part of the listener that would be a misunderstanding, and clearly that would be.''

This is the second time in a week that the administration may have tripped on terms that could alienate Muslims it would like to include in a broad coalition to fight terrorism.

Earlier this week, White House said it regretted if President Bush (news - web sites)'s call Sunday for a ``crusade'' against terrorism had offended anyone.

Rumsfeld acknowledged that ``someone, somewhere'' had dubbed what he termed a preliminary aspect of the Pentagon's military preparations Infinite Justice.

The code name had been passed on to reporters by defense officials on Wednesday along with news of deployments of U.S. warplanes to within striking distance of Afghanistan (news - web sites).

The United States is demanding, among other things, that Afghanistan's Taliban rulers -- who practice a strict form of Islam -- hand over Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), suspected of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center that left more than 6,500 people dead or missing.

Whether the name Infinite Justice will stand, ``given what you've said and what I was aware of, I just don't know the answer. But I doubt it,'' Rumsfeld told the reporter who cited Islamic scholars.

``I don't think it can be said often enough that this is not an effort that is aimed at any religion or any people particularly, or even the people of a country,'' he said earlier in the briefing.

On Sunday, Bush's reference to mounting a ``crusade'' against terrorism may have summoned up in the Arab world both the past -- the Christian struggle from 11th to 13th centuries to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims -- and the present -- the depiction by some in the Arab world of Israel as a ``crusader state.''

Ibrahim Hooper of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: ``Obviously the 'crusade' term is problematic and 'infinite justice,' if it's translated as ultimate justice, that's the prerogative of God.''

A good code name for this operation can be as important for the Pentagon as ``branding'' a consumer good, said Naseem Javed, president of New York-based ABC Namebank, a naming consultancy.

``If they come up with a name that resonates in the region, it will help to achieve their mission,'' he said.

William Arkin, an expert on the military who has studied code names and operations, said the choice was constrained by Pentagon naming conventions tied to the units and commands involved.

In addition, ``these days, names have to be politically correct, culturally sensitive and religiously neutral,'' he added in a telephone interview.

On Monday, Bush visited a major mosque in Washington, partly to blast any backlash against Arab-Americans. Hijackers of the airliners used in the attacks -- and one that crashed in rural Pennsylvania -- are believed to be mostly if not entirely from Arab countries.

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), September 21, 2001.

Nah, Nipwad, I haven't quite learned to type in my sleep. On second thought, your psuedo-intellectual masturbation might be easier to take if my eyes were closed and I zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

-- Boo (hoo@hoo.com), September 21, 2001.

How about "Operation 911"?

-- (Roland@hatemail.com), September 21, 2001.

It don't matter what the hell you call this campaign, as long as we go over there and do a number on them killers. Best we carpet bomb them diaper heads with pork sausage. That would put em out of circulation for a few years!

-- Boswell (fundown@thefarm.net), September 21, 2001.

They changed the name??? That sure as hell looks good huh......

While Operation Enduring Freedom has a nice ring to it, Operation Infinite Justice is exactly what we need to do!

So we offended a couple of Muslims........so what?? A few Muslims changed our lives forever. Who in the hell cares about being politcally correct now, especially about something like this?!?

Can't believe we caved like that.......

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), September 26, 2001.

Deano,

You really need to learn how to be more sensitive to other belief systems. ;)

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), September 26, 2001.

JBT

I believe there is a time for sensitivity and political correctiveness.

This ain't it.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), September 27, 2001.