Oh, the irony of it all!

[Dan]

Come have a laugh with me, would you?...

U.S.'s 'Iron Hammer' Code Name 1st Used by Nazis
2 minutes ago Add U.S. National

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military's code name for a crackdown on resistance in Iraq (news - web sites) was also used by the Nazis for an aborted operation to damage the Soviet power grid during World War II.

"Operation Iron Hammer" this week launched the 1st Armored Division's 3rd Brigade into the roughest parts of Baghdad to ferret out the attackers who have killed scores of U.S. troops since Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was ousted in April.

A Pentagon (news - web sites) official said the name was chosen because of the "Old Ironsides" nickname of the 1st Armored Division. He was unaware of any connection to any Nazi operation.

"Eisenhammer," the German for "iron hammer," was a Luftwaffe code name for a plan to destroy Soviet generating plants in the Moscow and Gorky areas in 1943, according to Universal Lexikon on the www.infobitte.de Web site.

A researcher at Britain's Imperial War Museum confirmed the existence of Eisenhammer.

The Nazi's long-range bombing operation was repeatedly postponed and was finally scrapped after an allied air assault destroyed many of the German planes on the ground in 1945, shortly before the defeat of Germany.

After it declared war on terrorism, U.S. officials changed the code name for its impending attack on Afghanistan (news - web sites) to Operation Enduring Freedom.

The original name, Operation Infinite Justice, was jettisoned amid fears that the Muslim world, already leery of U.S. intentions, would object on the basis of Koranic teachings that only God can provide infinite justice.

 

[dijetlo]

Your brilliant post serves to highlight a vast and growing problem in the US military complex, i.e. the critical shortage of really tough sounding names (RTSNs') for military operations. The bastard Nazis apparently have sullied many of the best RTSNs, rendering them useless in our present crisis.
As a desperated measure, our Sec. of Def. Don Rumsfeld has ordered all further operations by designated "Whuppass" followed by a sequential number.

 

[Dan]

Did the Nazi's use "Operation Forced Ideals" already? Cause that has a nice ring to it.

 

[jimnyc]

I guess they're all still better than what Saddam an Co. used:

"Operation kill men, women & children & bury them in mass graves"

 

[Dan]

Now, that's just a silly name for an operation.

 

[Sabir]

Silly but accurate. I also have a suggestion.. I think he should referred to as the Butcher of Baghdad.

 

[jimnyc]

Originally posted by Sabir
Silly but accurate. I also have a suggestion.. I think he should referred to as the Butcher of Baghdad.

Love that one, almost sounds familiar!

I'm confused, what could he possibly have done to be referred to as a "butcher"?

 

[SLClemens]

I'm just waiting for Bush to start talking of a "final solution" for Iraq.