The Smirking Chimp

By Jim Wolf, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The initial code name for the Pentagon's response to attacks on the United States, Operation Infinite Justice, likely will be changed to avoid offending Muslims, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday.

The issue arose at a Pentagon briefing when a reporter told Rumsfeld that several Islamic scholars objected to the name on the ground that only God, or Allah, can mete out infinite justice in their view.

"I understand. I understand," Rumsfeld replied. "And obviously, the United States does not want to do or say things that create an impression on the part of the listener that would be a misunderstanding, and clearly that would be."

This is the second time in a week that the administration may have tripped on terms that could alienate Muslims it would like to include in a broad coalition to fight terrorism.

Earlier this week, White House said it regretted if President Bush's call Sunday for a "crusade" against terrorism had offended anyone.

Rumsfeld acknowledged that "someone, somewhere" had dubbed what he termed a preliminary aspect of the Pentagon's military preparations Infinite Justice.

The code name had been passed on to reporters by defense officials on Wednesday along with news of deployments of U.S. warplanes to within striking distance of Afghanistan.

The United States is demanding, among other things, that Afghanistan's Taliban rulers -- who practice a strict form of Islam -- hand over Osama bin Laden, suspected of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center that left more than 6,500 people dead or missing.

Whether the name Infinite Justice will stand, "given what you've said and what I was aware of, I just don't know the answer. But I doubt it," Rumsfeld told the reporter who cited Islamic scholars.

"I don't think it can be said often enough that this is not an effort that is aimed at any religion or any people particularly, or even the people of a country," he said earlier in the briefing.

On Sunday, Bush's reference to mounting a "crusade" against terrorism may have summoned up in the Arab world both the past -- the Christian struggle from 11th to 13th centuries to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims -- and the present -- the depiction by some in the Arab world of Israel as a "crusader state."

Ibrahim Hooper of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: "Obviously the 'crusade' term is problematic and 'infinite justice,' if it's translated as ultimate justice, that's the prerogative of God."

A good code name for this operation can be as important for the Pentagon as "branding" a consumer good, said Naseem Javed, president of New York-based ABC Namebank, a naming consultancy.

"If they come up with a name that resonates in the region, it will help to achieve their mission," he said.

William Arkin, an expert on the military who has studied code names and operations, said the choice was constrained by Pentagon naming conventions tied to the units and commands involved.

In addition, "these days, names have to be politically correct, culturally sensitive and religiously neutral," he added in a telephone interview.

On Monday, Bush visited a major mosque in Washington, partly to blast any backlash against Arab-Americans. Hijackers of the airliners used in the attacks -- and one that crashed in rural Pennsylvania -- are believed to be mostly if not entirely from Arab countries.