It's not a War On Terror, it's an "Overseas Contingency Operation"

And it certainly isn't a defense action against the global jihad and Islamic supremacism.

Well, after sputtering and coughing for many years, the War On Terror appears to be finally over. It was always a silly thing, a war on a tactic of the enemy rather than on the enemy as such, but as we all know, the Global Jihad is The Enemy Who Cannot Be Named.

And so now we are engaged in a great Overseas Contingency Operation, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. And be assured: if the Overseas Contingency Operatives succeed in pulling off another Contingency Operation on American soil on the scale of 9/11, or more than one, we will indeed be sorely tested -- and utterly unprepared to meet the multifaceted cultural, military, political, and spiritual challenge the enemy presents.

The end of the Global War on Terror -- or at least the use of that phrase -- has been codified at the Pentagon. Reports that the phrase was being retired have been circulating for some time amongst senior administration officials, and this morning speechwriters and other staff were notified via this e-mail to use "Overseas Contingency Operation" instead.

"Recently, in a LtGen [John] Bergman, USMC, statement for the 25 March [congressional] hearing, OMB required that the following change be made before going to the Hill," Dave Riedel, of the Office of Security Review, wrote in an e-mail.

"OMB says: 'This Administration prefers to avoid using the term "Long War" or "Global War on Terror" [GWOT]. Please use "Overseas Contingency Operation.'"

Riedel asked recipients to "Please pass on to your speech writers and try to catch this change before the statements make it to OMB."

Not everyone thinks this is official, however:

An OMB spokesman took issue with the interpretation of OMB's wishes. "There was no memo, no guidance," said Kenneth Baer. "This is the opinion of a career civil servant."

Referring to the phrase "global war on terror," Baer said, "I have no reason to believe that would be stricken" from Hill testimony.

Bush officials tried to end the War On Terror years ago:

By way of history, senior Bush administration officials several years ago wanted to stop using the phrase and switch to something many felt might better reflect the realities of the fight against international terrorism.

One leading option was to change the name to GSAVE, or Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism. This was not as catchy an acronym as GWOT, but officials felt it more accurately described the battle.Then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld even used the GSAVE abbreviation publicly.

But, in a White House meeting, President Bush ruled that it was still a war for him, and Rumsfeld and everyone else went back to GWOT.

We are getting more and more PC. I can't wait until we get hit again. This time on a democrats watch. Let's see what the chosen one will do.