Expect to hear the phrase “tactical momentum” from Randy Kuhl, Tom Reynolds, and Jim Walsh over the next few weeks, as they prepare to vote in favor of another Friedman Unit or two of surging in Iraq (from the NYT):

The featured guest was Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American military commander in Iraq. With an array of charts and maps behind him, he told the lawmakers that President Bush’s troop buildup had produced “tactical momentum,” a phrase he would use repeatedly in Congressional briefings, and that lawmakers are now beginning to use as well.

(snip)

Representative Peter Roskam, a freshman Republican from Illinois, held a conference call with his constituents from his dormitory room in Baghdad this summer; 6,000 people listened in. He had just come from dinner with General Petraeus at Ambassador Crocker’s house and, like others, said that the phrase “tactical momentum” stuck in his mind.

I wonder how many focus groups they went through before they came up with this phrase. It sure beats “lobster tail.”

Just for the fun of it, I’m going to give five examples of how the phrase “tactical momentum” has appeared in White House propaganda over the past couple weeks.

From the Buffalo News:

A senior U.S. commander in central Iraq said Friday that a reduction of U.S. forces in his region this year would be “a giant step backwards,” allowing insurgents to quickly return and jeopardizing the military’s “tactical momentum” in reducing violence.

“In my battle space, . . . I need the forces” until the Iraqi army and police can take over, said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who oversees a contentious region south of Baghdad. “That’s not going to happen between now and Christmas.”

From the UK Guardian:

Reed, a Rhode Island senator who visited Iraq last month, said there’s been tactical momentum…

From EarthTimes.org:

A key U.S. Army general in Baghdad says the “tactical momentum” is moving against al-Qaida in Iraq.
Brig. Gen. Keven Bergner, deputy commander of coalition forces in the western part of the country, spoke to reporters Wednesday.

From Pressroom.com:

“We have established a degree of tactical momentum and will continue to build on that momentum,” Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, deputy spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said during an in-country media roundtable this morning

USA Today:

“We’re chasing them to areas where they’re not so well prepared and they don’t have time to prepare, so chances are we will have fewer casualties,” a senior U.S. military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the sensitive operations. “The tactical momentum has shifted to us.”