Democrats call it "escalation"; GOP, "surge" or "augmentation"; Pentagon, "plus-up"

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: Escalation or surge: Those are fighting words
January 24, 2007
By Thom Patterson

....Bush's proposal to quell insurgent attacks and sectarian violence in Iraq by adding 21,500 U.S. troops to the war is so controversial that members of Congress can't agree on what to call it.

The Republican arsenal of words includes "surge" and "augmentation," while Democrats pull their triggers with terms such as "escalation." Meanwhile, the war planners at the Pentagon use a word of their own: "plus-up."

"The Democrats believe that the word surge was chosen by Republicans to imply the troop increase is temporary," said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider....

***

Escalation, which carries ominous overtones from the Vietnam War, is the word of choice of Sen. Edward Kennedy, a leading opponent of the troop increase....

Using surge to describe the Bush plan already has become so controversial, Schneider said, that many Republicans are holstering it for now, preferring to use an alternative -- augmentation....

***

Across the Potomac, Pentagon officials often forge their own words when the dictionary fails them.

"They use words with a very specific meaning for things," said CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre. "In this case, they used plus-up because the military considers this to be a small additional number of troops --- what they call a plus-up."... (Schneider said) "I don't think voters are being deceived by the use of the words augmentation, surge, escalation -- they don't care what you call it -- all they know is that more troops are going to be in harm's way."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/24/iraq.words.war/index.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. They changed the wording in the resolution to "increase"

yesterday. The 'escalation' was discussed and unanimous consented to be changed to "increase".

[BOSSHOG]

2. Back in the olden days

when I was in the Navy (when ships were made of wood and men of steel), a plus-up meant getting an addition to an annual budget approximately at mid year so we could squander more of the tax payers money thanks to poor planning the year before. Then we'd surge at the end of the fiscal year to ensure we spent every penny we said we would whether it was justified or not. Such activity tended to escalate the blood pressure of commanders who knew what damnation would reign down upon their heads from above if they didn't have a zero balance come midnight 30 September.