BY MICHAEL KILIAN
The Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON — One of the most frequent questions posed to the Pentagon about Operation Desert Fox on Thursday was not what the Iraqi bombing mission accomplished, but why it was given that name.
As anyone familiar with World War II — or even World War II movies — would quickly recognize, “Desert Fox” was the nickname bestowed by friend and foe on Adolf Hitler's most celebrated general, Erwin Rommel.
“We'd rather they picked a different name,” said Phil Boudahn, media relations director for the American Legion, the nation's largest veterans' organization. “But I don't suppose they would have wanted to call it Desert Bear.”
The Legion's 2.8 million members include large numbers of World War II vets.
“Actually, with American troops on the line here, we've got our minds on more important things than nicknames,” Mr. Boudahn added.
According to one Defense Department spokesman, the code name was picked not to honor Gen. Rommel but to reflect the surprise nature of the attack. A Pentagon spokeswoman said the name was chosen by Marine Corps Gen. Tony Zinni, head of the military's Central Command and field commander for the Persian Gulf forces.
“These operational names go through a complicated process,” she said. “I'm not sure what was in their minds.”
As leader of the German Army's famed and once invincible Afrika Korps, Gen. Rommel inflicted heavy casualties and frequent defeats on American, British and other Allied forces throughout North Africa.
After superior Allied numbers finally drove him back across the Mediterranean, Gen. Rommel commanded the German forces that defended the French coast against the Allies' Normandy invasion, memorialized again this year in the film Saving Private Ryan.
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