I saw this same article (and tweeted about it) earlier today.  I do wonder about naming the mission Geronimo; seems a little bit loaded and insensitive, but maybe I am reading too much into it!

ThatFrontierHistorian, did you seriously just suggest that the use of the codename "Geronimo" was insensitive and dare I say, politically incorrect? ???

Political Correctness doesn't enter into it.  For me this issue touches upon how we think about and contextualise Indians in our past.  The issue, for me, is that it suggests - and I said I am probably reading too much into it - a degree of legitimacy for the actions of the US against the Apache.  Put simply, I do not think it is appropriate to link Geronimo to OBL, or the Apache to AQD.  This is not because it may offend modern Indians (although it's possible, I can't pretend to speak for them) but because it suggests something about the actions taken against Geronimo and his people that I do not think is appropriate.  To put it another way - the hunt for OBL was a legitimate exercise, whereas the hunt for Geronimo and his followers was far more problematic.  Or, if you like, OBL doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the context of Geronimo just as Geronimo does not deserve the the indignity of being mentioned in the context of OBL.Like I said, I am reading a lot into this and I dare say the government/military did not intend to make any great statement re: how America recognises its own past with regards to the Indians.  But I am not making a comment because of political correctness.  I made the comment I did because this raises an important historical issue; does the naming of this mission suggest that the government still views the Indian wars of the late 19th century as a legitimate exercise comparable to the mission to bring OBL to justice? That was what I meant by insensitive (I admit it was a poor choice of words); this is an important and (I feel) appropriate type of discussion.All best

Maybe because Geronimo had nothing to do with Bin Laden, it was the most secure code !?

Difficult question : however I dont recall how many attempt were launched against OBL but I think they miserably failed because of "unfortunate" leaks ... hence a total secrecy surrounding the last one (not to mention a probable paranoid climate about this last long-breathed hunt)You might be right when evoking a kind of total blackout even through code-names (all details matter)!Let's wait for our special ops expert, Scout !  😉

Let's wait for our special ops expert, Scout !  😉

Specops expert, I don't think I have ever made that claim.  Military historian yes, snake eater no.Frontierhistorian, you lost me at contextualize.  And I agree and think you are reading way to much into the codename.  If you try to deconstruct the use of the word you will get lost, just ask Derrida.  It was probably picked because of there is historical significance to the name, even more likely in my view is that it is an easy word to remember and not a word that sounds similar to something in the local language.

I made the comment I did because this raises an important historical issue; does the naming of this mission suggest that the government still views the Indian wars of the late 19th century as a legitimate exercise comparable to the mission to bring OBL to justice?

Hopefully not, but another question I ask would be did the US government view Geronimo as an equal threat back then just as the current government views (or viewed) OBL now?

Good question but as Omer said, I don't believe so; more of an inconvenience, although Geronimo's role in the public imagination was far weightier than any real threat he posed.

I'm not really reading too much into it, I'm just throwing it out there as a means of generating a discussion; it doesn't particularly bother me.  That said, if the operation had been carried out by the British government and the codename was William Wallace it would have really upset a lot of people, certainly a lot of the people I know (bear in mind I am Scottish).  To my eyes I could not imagine the British government ever using a codename like that precisely because it would carry a lot of dubious implications.  That said, I have no doubt that this is probably just a codename with little thought having gone into it, but in some ways that is an interesting point of discussion - that Geronimo can be used as a codename with little thought.  In at least some cases it appears that code names are picked very carefully: "shock and awe" doesn't seem like an arbitrary choice to me.Again, I'm not trying to start a discussion about political correctness, but rather the use of Geronimo as an image, the ideas and connotations that spring to mind 🙂