Operation Eternal Propaganda

This article from today’s Washington Post about using graves at Arlington Cemetary for the purpose of pro-war spin caught my attention:

Nearly all Arlington National Cemetery gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts. That was not the case with earlier wars.

Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they have the option to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with “Operation Enduring Freedom” or “Operation Iraqi Freedom” at no extra charge, whether the service members are buried in Arlington or elsewhere.

The article goes on to mention that at least some families were not asked about the additions.

I’ve got a couple of questions. First of all, who came up with the name Operation Iraqi Freedom and when? Wasn’t this supposed to be Operation Keep Iraq from Nuking Us? Wasn’t that what Condi “Mushroom Cloud” Rice and Colin “Mobile Biowarfare Labs” Powell was telling us? My recollection was that only after the search for WMD turned up diddly did the Bush administration make the rhetorical adjustment to “spreading democracy.”

Second, does everyone in the Bush administration have a tin ear? Did no one question this decision? Did no one think something along the lines of: Using soldier’s graves to promote the war and ultimately the Bush administration is Kafkaesque to say the least, and more to the point sick.

Finally, does everyone at the Pentagon now serve the Republican propaganda machine? Is the next step to have Cheney/Rumsfeld 2008 printed on tombstones?