So a few weeks ago, the Iraq Study Group (honestly, I didn’t even know there was a congressionally funded U.S. Institute of Peace before the ISG) issued its report and recommendations (which, like the 9/11 Commission Report and the Financial Report of the United States is worth a read by any public citizen) to much fanfare, not all of it good. Shortly thereafter, the New York Post ran a fairly obnoxious cover story calling the ISG “surrender monkeys”. Fast forward just a few more days, and we’re hearing a new buzzword for sending more troops to Iraq: “surge”.

Is it really this easy for the Bush administration to control political media marketing? Is there some ridiculous PR firm working behind the scenes to ensure that no major media outlet can discuss the fact that we’re on the verge of sending more troops to Iraq rather than discussing the fact that we’re on the verge of a surge? Are they really hoping that by rebranding a troop increase as a “surge” that it will somehow be more acceptable to the American public? Sadly, Harry Reid seems to have had his Senate Seltzer Water spiked with some Kool-Aid from Dick Cheney’s desk.

So while the neocons feel the urge to surge, I encourage less breathless readers to go check out William Arkin’s Early Warning, an excellent review of military and security issues that is not quite as irrationally exuberant as John McCain, surge monkey.

Photoshop credit: Mary Mancini

This post was written by Freddie