Gilding the Lily

I'm not sure which is a more appalling use of our fallen service men and women.

This

Families are supposed to have final approval over what goes on the
tombstones. That hasn't always happened.

Nadia and Robert McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in Iraq in
June 2004, said "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ended up on his government-
supplied headstone in Oceanside, Calif., without family approval.

"I was a little taken aback," Robert McCaffrey said, describing his
reaction when he first saw the operation name on Patrick's tombstone.
"They certainly didn't ask my wife; they didn't ask me." He said
Patrick's widow told him she had not been asked either.

"In one way, I feel it's taking advantage to a small degree," McCaffrey
said. "Patrick did not want to be there, that is a definite fact."

[...]

Former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., who lost both legs and an arm in
Vietnam and headed the Veterans Administration under President Carter,
called the practice "a little bit of glorified advertising."

"I think it's a little bit of gilding the lily," Cleland said, while
insisting that he's not criticizing families who want that information
included.

[...]

The Pentagon in the late 1980s began selecting operation names with
themes that would help generate public support for conflicts.

Gregory C. Sieminski, an Army officer writing in a 1995 Army War
College publication, said the Pentagon decision to call the 1989 invasion
of Panama "Operation Just Cause" initiated a trend of naming operations
"with an eye toward shaping domestic and international perceptions about
the activities they describe."

or the repugnant babble that Chimpy excreted yesterday during the first leg of his propoganda tour in Salt Lake City.

"Each of these struggles for freedom required great sacrifice. From
the beaches of Normandy to the snows of Korea, courageous Americans
gave their lives so others could live in freedom. Since the morning of
September the 11th, we have known that the war on terror would require
great sacrifice, as well. We have lost 1,864 members of our Armed Forces
in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and 223 in Operation Enduring Freedom. Each
of these men and women left grieving families and loved ones back home.
Each of these heroes left a legacy that will allow generations of their
fellow Americans to enjoy the blessings of liberty. And each of these
Americans have brought the hope of freedom to millions who have not
known it. We owe them something. We will finish the task that they gave
their lives for. We will honor their sacrifice by staying on the offensive
against the terrorists, and building strong allies in Afghanistan and
Iraq that will help us win and fight -- fight and win the war on terror."

Both of them just make me sick to my stomach. I can only imagine how those families must feel that have lost someone because of all this idiocy.