"Geronimo" = Osama bin Laden?

[Dawnslayer]

This is not a bin Laden topic. This one is about Native American issues.

---

As some of you may have heard, a new controversy has arisen concerning the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound: the codename used for bin Laden during the operation was "Geronimo," a famous Apache who spent much of his life fighting the occupation of his people's lands. Prominent voices of the Native American community, and the Apache tribes in particular, have expressed that their peoples are deeply offended by this use of Geronimo's name, described as slander, and have demanded a formal apology. ( Source )

I'm curious to hear the opinion of the Newgrounds community on this issue. Did the military use poor judgment in choosing the codename? Are the tribes right to feel insulted, or they taking it too seriously? And what does this say about relations between Native Americans and the U.S. government and military in the present day?

Further resources: Native American activist and former U.S. vice presidential candidate Winona LaDuke, speaking on the issue today as transcribed from political talk show "Democracy Now!": Link

[morefngdbs]

At 5/6/11 08:12 PM, Dawnslayer wrote: I'm curious to hear the opinion of the Newgrounds community on this issue. Did the military use poor judgment in choosing the codename? Are the tribes right to feel insulted, or they taking it too seriously?

;;;;
I think its Just bullshit.
Why were they not offended by US paratroopers using it as a rally to leap from planes ?
One of the things i remember abotu Geronimo form school days id he was supposedly able to 'walk invisibly' , meaning he didn't leave tracks that could lead his enemies to him.
Osamma bin laden avoided detection for the best part of 10 years...invisibly living in plain sight for what we're being told for about 5 years !
If anything it was a name of praise.
He was also , as far as I can tell from what id written about him, fighting for his way of life & the contiuation of his religious Bullshit.
I may not agree with his ideology. I can understand fighting for something you believe in though.

[SmilezRoyale]

Geronimo never had the opportunity and I don't think he would have the desire to kill as many Americans in cold blood as Bin laden did.

But, To be quite honest, qualitatively speaking, the connection seems quite accurate.

Both men were enemies of the US Government
Both men wanted American influence out of the territory they perceived as belonging to them
Both men evaded capture and fought what could be described as wars of attrition.

The difference is a matter of degree and perhaps also of morals.

____________

Just keep in mind that I don't "Hate" Osama as much as most people do. Osama would probably imprison or murder me if he had the chance, but so would most communists. Nor am I in arguing that the connection is legitimate trying to imply that Geronimo was was despicable as Osama.

I'm just trying to take the subconscious tribal emotionalism out of the issues.

[SolInvictus]

what if its meant to convey the notion that this was an operation intended to protect the lives and freedom of peoples (America), as was its namesake.
there are a whole bunch of non-slanderous interpretations.

maybe a little self-aggrandizing, but eh, no ones perfect.

[Yorik]

The US military has been using native american words in coded transmissions since at least WW2. Who cares? The point of coded messages isn't to make abstract claims, it's to communicate in a way that is indecipherable to people that are not in-the-know if they should happen to be able to intercept the transmission.

Besides, the word "geronimo" is used by many people as an exclamation while dropping something, in most cases probably without knowing where it comes from. They were probably just looking forward to bombing him.

[Light]

I wish I had a more eloquent way of saying this, but who gives a fuck? It's not very important and these tribes are just complaining about something that wasn't meant to be offensive, something that couldn't be offensive by any reasonable stretch of the imagination.

If I were president Obama, I'd simply disregard these Indian tribes and move on to more important matters.

[Korriken]

question is "are they referring Osama to Geronimo, or are they referring to their stealthy way to taking him down as Geronimo?"

first option would be shameful. second option would make more sense, but not much sense overall. Geronimo as stated in earlier posts, used stealth tactics to attack the Americans on their land.

Afghanistan isn't our land.

*facepalm*

Either way its a minor issue at best, but as with all other issues, SOMEONE is gonna make sure it gets out of hand.

[Ranger2]

The whole operation was called "Neptune Spear." I think we should apologize to all Greeks for using their deity as a codename.

[Graduation]

The operation to remove Noriega from power in Panama was named "Bluespoon".

I think we should start writing apology letters to all of the blue spoons across the country.