Posting Date: May 6, 2008
Mission Accomplished: U.S. Pays for Mistakes
With all this chatter about winning with honor in Iraq and not supporting U.S troops, one resounding question was answered five years ago.
We won. How do I know? The president told us so.
On May 1, 2003, President Bush’s Navy jet landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln 30 miles off the coast of San Diego. Military historians said this was probably the first time a president landed on a carrier in such a fashion. Presidents usually arrive on carriers from helicopters.
But this was not supposed to be a simple photo op. This was arranged to make a big splash. Helicopters would not do for Bush, who trained as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard in the early 1970s, thousands of miles away from Vietnam. The president settled for being a co-pilot on this flight. Navy Cmdr. John Lussier of Orlando, Fla. was the pilot. (Bush did take the controls for a third of the flight under the guidance of Lussier.)
The plane came in at 125 miles per hour and snagged by a cable stretched across the deck. The words “George W. Bush, Commander-in-chief” were inscribed under the windshield. Bush emerged from the plane beaming in his green flight suit while carrying his helmet. The Navy crew appeared delighted to see the president. Bush enjoyed the attention but he was not there to exclusively impress the crew.
Hardly. This was a made-for-TV special. Another highlight for the 2004 presidential campaign. Under a banner stating “Mission Accomplished,” Bush informed the crew and presumably a national and international audience that “in the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” He also said that major combat operations in Iraq have ended. The war that began on March 19 has virtually ended, he said.
Oh, Bush did say that more had to be done. Bush would not claim the war was over. Making that statement could create complications — like requiring the release of prisoners of war and preventing the U.S. from going after a certain Iraqi leader who was still on the loose at the time. Make no mistake about it, if Bush could have, he would have informed the nation they have nothing to fear in Iraq.
The problem the Bush administration has always had after invading Iraq was deciding from week to week why we ended up there in the first place. First, it was to find weapons of mass destruction. Well, they didn’t find any. But, of course, there was al-Qaeda’ s influence in Iraq. However, it has been stated from many sources that al-Qaeda had no influence in Iraq until after the invasion. With the Sunnis and Shiites battling for supremacy in a lawless land after the invasion, al-Qaeda did have an opening.
When those explanations no longer seemed plausible, there is always the fight against terrorism. Sept. 11, 2001 gave Bush the all- encompassing reason to invade Iraq. The fight against global terror. If Bush’s objectives were getting rid of Saddam Hussein and creating a new government, even if it is on shaky ground, then he has succeeded.
Bush’s mission is accomplished. Perhaps he can save that green flight suit after he leaves the White House. And one of three presidential candidates — Hillary Clinton, John McCain or Barack Obama — will have to deal head on with those accomplishments in January.
(Joe Boyle is the managing editor of the Southwest News-Herald newspapers on Chicago’s Southwest Side. He can be reached at vonpub@aol.com.)