Richard Tafoya
May 2nd, 2008, 03:26 AM
Kansas City Star Editorial:
http://www.kansascity.com/340/story/601362.html
The Bush White House has a hard time owning up to mistakes.
So it isn’t surprising that the administration says the infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner was problematic not because of its hubris, but because it lacked details.
Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of the day that President Bush flew a Navy jet onto an aircraft carrier with the banner and proudly announced that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”
“President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said ‘mission accomplished for these sailors who are on this ship …’ ” spokeswoman Dana Perino said this week. “And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner.”
But the embarrassment caused by misplaced bluster is minuscule compared to the toll that others have paid for a mishandled war. Bush’s show of swagger on the USS Abraham Lincoln was emblematic of a military invasion that took place without adequate planning and tragically underestimated the possibility of an insurgent revolt.
The result: More than 4,000 Americans killed and nearly 30,000 wounded in Iraq. Casualties for Iraqi citizens are much higher. The cost of the war has exceeded $500 billion.
The mission now is to find an end game. When that will be accomplished is anybody’s guess.
http://www.kansascity.com/340/story/601362.html
The Bush White House has a hard time owning up to mistakes.
So it isn’t surprising that the administration says the infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner was problematic not because of its hubris, but because it lacked details.
Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of the day that President Bush flew a Navy jet onto an aircraft carrier with the banner and proudly announced that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”
“President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said ‘mission accomplished for these sailors who are on this ship …’ ” spokeswoman Dana Perino said this week. “And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner.”
But the embarrassment caused by misplaced bluster is minuscule compared to the toll that others have paid for a mishandled war. Bush’s show of swagger on the USS Abraham Lincoln was emblematic of a military invasion that took place without adequate planning and tragically underestimated the possibility of an insurgent revolt.
The result: More than 4,000 Americans killed and nearly 30,000 wounded in Iraq. Casualties for Iraqi citizens are much higher. The cost of the war has exceeded $500 billion.
The mission now is to find an end game. When that will be accomplished is anybody’s guess.