Kinetic Military Action - A war by any other name

Euphemisms are one of my biggest pet peeves about politics. Cute or obscure words and phrase are used to paper over very serious things because politicians are too often afraid engage the public honestly. The Obama administration is a great lover of euphemisms. The administration has given us silly terms like "Overseas Contingency Operations" and "Man-Caused Disasters" to obscure the true meaning of Global War on Terror and Terrorism. Now the administration is trying to obscure the meaning of "war" with the new euphemism of "Kinetic Military Action".

Politico: Administration officials told congressional aides in a closed briefing earlier this week that the United States is not at war with Libya, and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes danced around the question in a Wednesday exchange with reporters aboard Air Force One.

“I think what we are doing is enforcing a resolution that has a very clear set of goals, which is protecting the Libyan people, averting a humanitarian crisis, and setting up a no-fly zone,” Rhodes said. “Obviously that involves kinetic military action, particularly on the front end. But again, the nature of our commitment is that we are not getting into an open-ended war, a land invasion in Libya.”

Those kind of verbal gymnastics to avoid calling a sustained bombing of a foreign country a “war” aren’t flying with members of Congress. [MORE]

These verbal gymnastics should not fly with anyone else. Our "kinetic military action" in Libya is very confusing to say the least. Why then must we add to the confusion by using silly euphemisms? I really do look forward to the day when America finally rids itself of cowardly politicians and all their ridiculous double speak.

Via: Politico
Via: Washington Post
Via: Fox News