Mission Accomplished + 5

It’s now been five years since George Bush stood on the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished”. He said, “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.”

Except of course, they hadn’t, they didn’t and they still haven’t. The Bush-Cheney regime launched a war they’d planned since before 9/11, and did so with no plan for what to do afterward. They still have no plan—apart from wasting more and more. What are they throwing away? Billions more in taxpayer dollars and countless more young American lives—and innocent Iraqi lives, too, of course.

This won’t end, and probably can’t end, while Republicans have control. The only way to end it will be vote the Democrats into Congress and the White House. Then the mission really will be accomplished.

The White House photo at the top of this post carried the following caption: "President George W. Bush addresses sailors and the nation from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln of the coast of San Diego, California May 1, 2003. White House photo by Paul Morse." Is it just plain mean to ask, how can a ship be "of" a coast?