This just made me laugh, because:
Back in 1967 (when I really was immature) while serving the first of my three Vietnam tours I was "Carrying the Bag" of a high ranking (General Grade) Intelligence officer at an intelligence conference in Hawaii (Hawaii, don't you know, being such a convenient intermediate meeting point between Vietnam and the Pentagon). Six glorious days, but I digress.
Among other duties, I was asked on occasion to take notes for him and was in the room for a lengthy discussion of PR pieces to be developed for possible future forays into Laos, Cambodia or certain other actions in North Vietnam. The point was to find the right descriptives to maximize positive response to the info being disseminated.
One word that was worked hard there was "incursion". You've heard of it. It was the word chosen (specifically to avoid the use of the word invasion) with respect to military actions taken in Laos and Cambodia.
Another phrase that was discussed (as an alternative or as complimentary to incursion) for at least a half hour was "Anticipatory Retaliation". This really cracked me up. Uh we invaded Laos - cause they was gonna invade us. Just getting even. Fair is Fair right?
And Damn, just like what you did here.
Cheers, BostonTim