Very interesting and informative responses all around. And to think I was a bit hesitant about broaching the topic because of the political implications!

I've done a bit of research and it looks like several terms in addition to "surge" were used in the early months. Maybe a lesson-learned in all of this is to pick a catch-phrase for a strategy at the beginning, define it clearly and use it consistently from there on out. Much less confusing for the unitiated not to mention it provides less room for those with political agendas to make their own definition.