Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Reverse MacArthur
During the Big War, General Douglas MacArthur commanded a mixed army of American and Commonwealth (to a first approximation all Australian) troops. MacArthur was a big fan of issuing Press Releases announcing the latest victory of the troops under his command. But there was a special secret code he used in his press releases. If American troops did something good, the Press Release would brag about the victory of "American soldiers". If Americans and Australians working together won a victory, the Press release would tell the tale of victory of "American soldiers". If Australians did all the work to win a battle, the Press Release would talk about how "American and Allied soldiers" had won a victory.
So, Internets, did you figure out the code? That's right, Americans are always mentioned, and Australians are relegated to Allies and only get a mention when they do all the work.
So where does the "Reverse MacArthur" title come from? When ever I see a News Item about military operations in Iraq it's almost always about how "Iraqi and American troops" are conducting some kind of asswhipping. I suspect "Iraqi and American troops" means American troops. If we ever see a story about how "Iraqi troops" did something that will mean that Iraqi troops managed to at least do part of the heavy lifting along with the Americans.
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