Operation Epic Fail
On Friday, March 6, our President Donald J. Trump called for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” in all-caps on Truth Social. This is a phrase first used by Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War, although Grant wrote it in lower case. Grant’s war ended in 1865, without an unconditional surrender.
Trump definitely sounds tough when he says “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.”
However, it is unclear who could surrender, since Iran’s Supreme Leader position is vacant, and it is unclear who could accept the surrender, since technically the current conflict in the Persian Gulf is not a war. (Not yet, at least.) It is a mere military operation.
Traditionally, U.S. military operations are given a pompous three-word title, consisting of the word “Operation” followed by an adjective and a noun. This time, Trump chose “Operation Epic Fury.” This was a bad choice, since the adjective “Epic” sounds like “Epstein” and the noun “Fury” sounds like “Fail.” It is easy to misread this title as “Operation Epstein’s Fury” and/or “Operation Epic Fail.” Be that as it may, no American military operation has ever ended in an unconditional surrender. The same goes for the many actual wars which America has fought during the past 250 years, including the two previous Gulf Wars. Operation Epic Fail will eventually end, but it won’t end in a truly unconditional surrender.