First, the re-branding. Up next: the business process re-engineering.

The CLCs -- Concerned Local Citizens -- are no longer. Just a week ago ... everything revolved around the CLCs. But now, ... with the amazing speed of an acronym-happy military, I've found out that the new, hot-off-the-presses Iraqi-approved term is "Sons of Iraq." SOI (*) for short. Seems that "Concerned Local Citizen" didn't translate into Arabic so well, and the Iraqis didn't like it.

(*) At the risk of crossing the streams, I recall the following exchange, from Bart on the Road:

Father: Martin, here's $10 to invest in the futures market.

Martin: "Soy! Soy! Soy! Soy! Soy!"
Father: "Martin, you're up $1 million."
Martin: "Yes!"
Father: "And now you've lost all but $600."
Father: "You got greedy, Martin."

Another explanation:

The Iraqi government has decided to call members of the Awakening who join Iraqi security forces "Sons of Iraq."

The Awakening Council are members of the Sunni tribes that have declared war on Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

A government source said that the name change came in recognition of the national role of the Awakening members.

The Iraqi Interior Minister announced that it will continue to recruit Sunni tribe members to the police force, subject to the usual checks and examinations prior to joining, until their number reaches 12,000.

Remember Johnny Tremain?