(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Doubt if many have it marked on their calendars, probably don’t want to be reminded that some 70plus% supported it and the drum beating from Washington and the Media outlets, all of them!
But Greg Mitchell over at ‘The Nation’ would like to remind everyone that an important anniversary approaches, everyone outside of those who serve us and their families, you know, the ones the Country has yet to ‘Sacrifice’ for and few even Demanding they do.
April 28, 2011 – Sunday marks the 8th anniversary of Mission Accomplished Day, or as it might better be known, Mission Accomplished (NOT) Day. Coming on a weekend, there will be even fewer mentions of this in the national media than last year, and Keith Olbermann will not be on the air to update the usual close to his telecast when he marks exactly how many days since Bush declared victory (you do the math).
In my favorite antiwar song of this war, “Shock and Awe,” Neil Young moaned: “Back in the days of Mission Accomplished/ our chief was landing on the deck/ The sun was setting/ behind a golden photo op.” But as Neil added elsewhere: “History is a cruel judge of overconfidence.”
Nowhere can we see this more clearly than in the media coverage of the event. Even today, nearly eight years later, the often “overconfident” reporting from Baghdad and Kabul sometimes takes your breath away. At least two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq this week so far, and over 45,000 or our troops remain there today. So let’s return to the days of Mission Accomplished….
Even many in the Pro-Peace coalitions quickly moved on, labeling both Iraq and Afghanistan to the incoming and now present administration, though both are still ongoing, and rarely calling for accountability for the crimes and terror committed in our names!
On May 1, 2003, Richard Perle advised, in a USA Today Op-Ed, “Relax, Celebrate Victory.” The same day, President Bush, dressed in a flight suit, landed on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major military operations in Iraq — with the now-infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner arrayed behind him.
Chris Matthews on MSNBC called Bush a “hero” and boomed, “He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics.” He added: “Women like a guy who’s president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It’s simple.”
Oh Greg’s got a few other quotes from the gushing talking heads that are worth reading and remembering.
When Bush’s jet landed on the aircraft carrier, American casualties stood at 139 killed and 542 wounded. That was over 4000 U.S. fatalities ago, and hundreds of thousands Iraqis. {continued}
As we say here in the U.S. about 9/11, “We will never forget!”.
Well what do you think those who survived our raging terror in Iraq, and lets not forget Afghanistan, will be remembering, especially the youngsters who have now grown up in that carnage of the death, destruction and many still in refugee status.
Yep, ‘Mission Accomplished!’, forgotten by most, good job bush you accomplished your goal!
2 comments
You’ve carried Bush’s dream even further than the neocons at PNAC could have hoped. These are Bipartisan Wars now, with Obama supporters cheering the drone-dropping “humanitarian” intervention in Libya and the old Bush supporters cheering Obama’s decision to escalate in Afghanstan and prolong the occupation of Iraq.
The real flesh-and-blood people who are maimed and die are of no concern to the cheerleaders, because they focus only on the political aspects of the wars, and the object of their admiration, whether it be Bush or Obama.
The real flesh-and-blood soldiers who suddenly discover that they are no long fighting for the people of their country but for corporate financial shenanigans must be so disillusioned. Yet they’re trapped, too.
After the revolution, these greed-crazed leaders should be rounded up, prosecuted, and then dropped on the streets of Baghdad and/or Kabul. The populations there can meet out justice as they see fit.
Mission Accomplished? Not for the innocents. Not for us. Not yet, Bush (and Obama). But the day will come.