{"id":256843,"date":"2018-01-28T14:24:53","date_gmt":"2018-01-28T19:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/?p=256843"},"modified":"2021-04-15T19:44:08","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T23:44:08","slug":"we-come-in-peace-really-operation-olive-branch-and-other-ridiculously-named-military-campaigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/we-come-in-peace-really-operation-olive-branch-and-other-ridiculously-named-military-campaigns\/","title":{"rendered":"We come in peace, really: \u2018Operation Olive Branch\u2019 and other ridiculously named military campaigns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>RAEL\u2019S COMMENT:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>Another way of creating illusions.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Since WWI, armies have provided code names for their military operations. Many, however, have been euphemisms to conceal what really stands behind them.<\/p>\n<p>This week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u00a0launched\u00a0a military campaign against the Kurdish People&#8217;s Protection Units (YPG) in the enclave of Afrin, situated in northern Syria. Codenamed \u2018Operation Olive Branch,\u2019 it has failed miserably from the outset to live up to its name.<\/p>\n<p>First, considering that Ankara views the YPG as a bona fide terrorist organization, it is hard to understand how it could give such a blatantly deceptive codename to what amounts to a full-blown military incursion. But then again, deception is part and parcel of any such enterprises.<\/p>\n<p>More importantly, however, by launching an air and land operation against the YPG, Turkey \u2013 like the US-led forces \u2013 has grievously violated the territorial integrity of a foreign nation. It also crucial to note that the YPG receives direct US military support in its battle against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), which makes Erdogan\u2019s operation not only a serious risk, but quite far from any olive branch.<\/p>\n<p>It has been reported that dozens of civilians have been killed and around 5,000 displaced since its start.<\/p>\n<p>Operation Enduring Freedom<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most misnamed military operation in history came in the wake of the 9\/11 terrorist attacks against the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Operation Enduring Freedom,\u2019 otherwise known as the \u2018Global War on Terrorism,\u2019 was launched by then-President George W. Bush against a number of countries, most notably Afghanistan. Far from the promise of securing freedom as implied by its glorious namesake, OEF actually did the very opposite.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning with the invasion of Afghanistan &#8211; the notorious \u2018graveyard of empires\u2019 &#8211; in October 2001, the campaign continued on its freedom tour through Africa and Southeast Asia. In direct contradiction to its aim, the so-called war on terror has injured, killed or displaced millions of people &#8211; the great majority of them Muslims -since its inception.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/417200-operation-olive-branch-military-codenames\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/417200-operation-olive-branch-military-codenames\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RAEL\u2019S COMMENT: Another way of creating illusions. &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":327508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}