Absurd, dumb, self-contradictory sentence heard this morning on NPR, in a news-summary story about the detention of suspects in Tikrit by U.S. forces:

"It was one of the biggest raids since the end of combat."

Over on the right, it's a hanging offense to say "suicide bomber" (rather than "homicide bomber") if you're on Fox News, or "inheritance tax" (rather than "death tax") if you're a GOP member of Congress. Yet here's an NPR reporter blithely describing the fall of Baghdad as "the end of combat." It's clear now that even "the end of major combat" isn't accurate. Shouldn't NPR -- shouldn't every news organization that tries to get the facts straight -- avoid all uses of "end" and "combat" in the same sentence with reference to Iraq?