"The "WAS" operator is used to find issues that currently have, or previously had, the specified value for the specified field."

In fact, it would be more useful to have the operator find issues that do NOT currently have, but previously had, the specified value. My reasoning is based on the following use case:

A user wants to find issues that have been reopened - i.e. issues that once had the closed state, then did not have it; the issues may or may not have it now. This is impossible with the current semantics:

• "issuestatus was closed" picks up issues that were never reopened.
• "issuestatus was closed and issuestatus != closed" picks up issues that were reopened but misses such issues that were reclosed.

Such a change in semantics would increase the expressiveness of JQL with no decrease. To reproduce the current semantics, one would query like this:

• "issuestatus was closed or issuestatus = closed"

If it's thought that such a change now would break too many well-established expectations, then consider a new operator: "was once", with the semantics I am urging.

BTW, just in terms of natural English, "was" is not used when a state of affairs still exists at the point of speech. Consider: "I was (once) a callow youth and full of hope". This statement sounds distrinctly wrong when uttered by a person who is still a callow youth, full of hope.