Fighting Words

The Village Voice's Cynthia Cotts provides a handy, pointed glossary of official and unofficial euphemisms being used to discuss the war:

"The liberation of Iraq was seen as a cakewalk, but encounters with death squads led to an operational pause." That kind of opaque military jargon is now infiltrating the media war coverage. Like fog or white noise, the dead language of bureaucrats drowns out the emotion and details that belong in any credible picture of war.

…Herewith a glossary of war euphemisms, plus some slang terms that tag along.

Entries range from "asymmetric warfare" to "kill box" to "weapons of mass destruction a/k/a WMD."