TODAY is actually the the anniversary of MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

http://www.nocommercialpotential.net/dubya/14.html

The sad thing is when first confronted with the Mission Accomplished photo op. Bush lied and said the soldiers on the ship did it. Then he waffled and admitted that they did not do it and his staff had it done. At what cost to us taxpayers did this little play act cost us?  I have heard estimates of up to $1 mil. Half of that is probably more accurate but I'm not privy to budget information.

Could this money have been better used for something more important than boy George play acting fighter pilot?

I think so.

This post doesn't get any smileys, sorry but it is not meant to be humorous.

If you're looking for a absurd counterpoint to the "mission accomplished" banner touting George W.'s 'victory' in Iraq, you only have to see today's LATimes showing former General Saleh, dressed in his old unform of Hussein's Republican Guard, taking over security of Fallouja as our marines retreat from the city.

One wonders if the U.S. was planning this from the very start of the war. After all, it's not as though we haven't done business with the Baath Party before, particularly when they were acting as our surrogates in the 1980's to attack Iran. If so, this is just brilliant! Maybe this is just the first step in going whole hog, as it were, and reinstating Saddam Hussein, now that he's "tan, fit and rested"? At least Saddam had no problems maintaining order in Iraq during his tenure as dictator.

Hmm! On the other hand, maybe the clerics and Shiites in the South will take umbrage, believing that the U.S. is going back to their old ways, supporting secular Sunnis over the majority Shiites. Maybe this new strategy isn't so brilliant after all.

Because as we know, at his recent press conference, he couldn't think of any mistakes that he has made in his entire Presidency.

So, we must accept the flight suit and the mission accomplished banner as just a couple of the many flawless elements of this presidency.  

Although, I suggest that we ask some of the families who have had loved-ones killed in Iraq how flawless the Bush Presidency really has been.

in which there are uprisings?  Certainly seems likely.

The war is going very badly.

At least those who support the war cannot blame those who oppose it for the fact that it is going badly.  But my prediction is that they will try to, as soon as possible.

Mark my words.  You heard it first here.

-- Modified on 5/1/2004 9:58:03 AM

Your first point about this pacification "technique" being extended to other troublesome areas was anticipated further on in the LATimes article:

"...Daniel Goure, a former U.S. defense official now at the Lexington Institute consultancy in Virginia, said the move implied that "if things get bad in Ramadi, you negotiate to create a Ramadi security force, then a Tikrit security force. And then gradually [U.S. forces] are out of the country. He said Iraqis would see the security transition as a defeat of U.S. forces and it would encourage more attacks....If the administration thinks that the Iraqis are going to let us have peace over the next six months, when the elections come, they've made a bad mistake," Gore said. "They're smelling blood: ours".

One of the most difficult operations of war is relieving a unit in contact with the enemy. It first requires the existence of the relief force. News accounts which suggest that this-still-to-be formed Fallujah Protection Army (FPA) will take over from the Marines, said to be evacuating "front line positions" within a few days, are only slightly less incredible than a report that Batman, the Hulk and Wolverine have joined the Navy to see the world. ... The most likely scenario is that the FPA will be given charge over city areas free from heavy fighting and assigned general police duties when the Marines feel that they are ready.

The below linked press release from CENTCOM outlines the plan for Fallujah more clearly than the media has.

RLTW

meant that "A mission (was) accomplished", i.e., we got rid of Saddam.  How can any thinking, rational person listen to his BS and consider voting for him?

-- Modified on 5/2/2004 7:01:52 AM

even on this battle torn board.

Extremists beware, possibly more comedic relief to follow.

But be forewarned, I may forget the smilies from time to time and to those of you that take offense, TOO F"ING BAD!!! Go buy a sense of humor.

It is much easier to find humor on Bush than it is on Kerry.

Plus, spending one's formative years fighting in a war tends to make one a more serious individual than spending the same time as a raging drunk and drug abuser.