Thread: "Geronimo" - is the Code Name for Osama bin Laden Evidence of Racism?

Senate Indian panel to discuss racial concerns
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press – 11 mins ago

Geronimo. The U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee didn't know when it scheduled a hearing on racial stereotypes that members would have such an emotionally charged example to discuss. But the use of the Apache leader's moniker as a code name for Osama bin Laden has appalled many Native Americans and drawn calls for an apology....
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Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

Interesting question. Would anybody here be offended if Osama bin Laden's code name had been George Washington or Robert E. Lee?

In the British military, codenames are randomly generated by computer from a list. Seems a simple way of avoiding these silly arguments. And it means missions have cool-sounding, abstract names like 'Operation Telic' instead of daft, propagandist names like 'Operation Iraqi Liberation'.

Originally Posted by caffeine

In the British military, codenames are randomly generated by computer from a list. Seems a simple way of avoiding these silly arguments. And it means missions have cool-sounding, abstract names like 'Operation Telic' instead of daft, propagandist names like 'Operation Iraqi Liberation'.

Great to see you here. You always add solid information. If you were Obama and you wanted to prove OBL is dead, what would you do?

I think they should have called him "confucius".

Are they going to have to rename the Apache helicopter as well? After all, one of them crapped out during the Bin Laden mission and had to be blown up - that doesn't cast a positive light on the tribe.

Originally Posted by kingstonsd

Perhaps they were hoping he would jump off of cliff?

If that was their strategy wouldn't they have named it "Operation Buffalo Jump"?