GWOT?? Old term means new dollars for good cause

Washington Post columnist Al Kamen had a generous thought for CPJ today. Kamen writes that an Office of Management and Budget e-mail sent to the Pentagon recently declared: “This Administration prefers to avoid using the term ‘Long War’ or ‘Global War on Terror’ [GWOT]. Please use ‘Overseas Contingency Operation.’ “

But it seems the government is less committed to this word shift than it first appeared. “Administration officials have been insisting that no decision has been made to stop using the term ‘global war on terror’–or GWOT (GEE-wot)–in official communications,” Kamen writes.

After a bit of back and forth, the columnist came up with a plan:

Okay. So here’s what let’s do. For the rest of the year, anytime a senior administration official–assistant secretary or above–uses ‘GWOT’ or ‘global war on terror,’ in the present tense, in written testimony sent to the Hill, we will contribute–personal cash here–one American dollar to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The CPJ is an organization that works to keep reporters from being gunned down or jailed in such places as Sierra Leone, Iraq, China, North Korea, Mexico, Georgia and Russia. Just send a copy of, or direct us to, the relevant page of testimony. Send e-mail to intheloop@washpost.com or mail to In the Loop, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

Sounds like a decent plan to us.