This is odd. I’ve been seeing a barrage of hits from all over the US for searches for “operation iraqi freedom”. Just now I found this weblog post in my referers. Someone pinch me. I can’t find what is truly going on as that Google search returns one of my weblog entries as the only search result! I knew I should have trademarked that phrase.

Someone fill me in!

Folks, this is the real deal. I just heard it on a local news station. You can also find it at the following “legitimate news” links:

• MSNBC (Special forces already inside Iraq: Chemical response expected to U.S. Operation Iraqi Freedom)
• Guardian (Blair battles on after record rebellion): Anti-war MPs vowed to fight on; they are convinced that disaster awaits Mr Blair during the campaign dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom by the US yesterday.

I never thought that someone would actually name the war “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. It was a name I thought of as a joke. I mean, how exactly are these Iraqis being freed? By the 3000 bombs which will hail down from above? At the time, the name seemed absurd. Trust the US government to once again become their own parody.

Regardless of the absurdity of the name, you can bet that I will try and find some way to milk this for all it’s worth. As the one who originally thought up the name, I must be entitled to something!

Update (03/19 12:45): The hits keep coming in, now numbering in the hundreds from all over the world and from varying search engines, discussion boards and weblogs. The shock of the naming has long gone, only to be replaced by pity; pity for an administration which couldn’t come up with a name which doesn’t so easily lend itself to parody. Mind you, the name is not yet official so the US administration can still redeem itself.

The Google bubble should burst any minute now.

Update (03/19 13:32): Gary Turner’s Weblog: Pre-Emptive Copyrights:

Actually, I wonder if a bunch of high google ranking anti-war bloggers ‘hi-jacked’ the name for the operation, if that would constitute negative, unpatriotic behaviour?

You’re damned right it would! That’s why I should have registered operationiraqifreedom.com when the first few dozen hits came in. Hey, if more people link to this site and include the words “operation iraqi freedom”, there’ll be at least one anti-war weblog in the top ten search results.

Update (03/19 20:16): The Google bubble has finally burst. Nothing to see here, folks.