John McCain was with him from the start, and with him every step of the way.
For the rest of us? Patience. Endurance. Determination.
Trump’s Firehose of Stupidity
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To the Editor: Merriam Webster defines stupidity as acts “lacking
intelligence or reason.” A corollary is that stupid decisions reflect a
lack of understan...
42 minutes ago
Bush never said "Mission Accomplished". That was a banner made by the Navy.
ReplyDeleteLet's look at this. What Bush actually said was,
ReplyDelete"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."
"Mission Accomplished" was actually in the President's prepared speech, that being the major theme struck in the event, as displayed by the banner. But Rumsfeld, in a 2006 interview with Bob Woodword, said
"I took 'mission accomplished' out. I was in Baghdad, and I was given a draft of that thing to look at. And I just died, and I said 'my God, it's too conclusive'. And I fixed it and sent it back... and they fixed the speech, but not the sign."
In fact, Bush did in fact use the phrase himself a month later, telling American troops in Qatar:
"America sent you on a mission to remove a grave threat and to liberate an oppressed people, and that mission has been accomplished."
So the banner accurately reflects Bush's self-congratulatory frame of mind at the time.
I can't find a link, but I saw it last night on Faux News: Sen. Jim Webb conceded that Bush was right, in a sense. He said that by 1 May 2003, our American fighting men and women had achieved the mission for which they were intended: fighting. But they were not intended to serve as conquistadors, or an occupational force over foreign lands. Not indefinitely. Not even for 50 or 100 years.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I can't find a link to his exact words.
The banner was made by the Whitehouse, tho they lied about it until their lies caught up with them:
ReplyDeleteThe White House claimed that the banner was requested by the crew of the ship, who did not have the facilities for producing such a banner. Afterwards, the administration and naval sources stated that the banner was the Navy's idea, White House staff members made the banner, and it was hung by the U.S. Navy personnel. White House spokesman Scott McClellan told CNN "We took care of the production of it. We have people to do those things. But the Navy actually put it up."[5]
According to John Dickerson of TIME magazine, the White House later conceded that they actually hung the banner but still insists it had been done at the request of the crew members.[6]
and more here:
Asked at a news conference whether the "Mission Accomplished" banner had been prematurely boastful, the president backed away from it, saying it had been put up by the sailors and airmen of the Lincoln to celebrate their homecoming after toppling Saddam's regime.
Not long afterwards, the White House had to amend its account. The soldiers hadn't put up the sign; the White House had done the hoisting. It had also produced the banner — contrary to what senior White House officials had said for months. In the end, the White House conceded on those details, but declared them mere quibbles. The point was, they said, that the whole thing had been done at the request of the crewmembers. Even that explanation didn't sit well with some long-time Bush aides. "They (the White House) put up banners at every event that look just like that and we're supposed to believe that at this one it was the Navy that requested one?" asked a senior administration official. Others remember staffers boasting about how the president had been specifically positioned during his speech so that the banner would be captured in footage of his speech.
"Heck of a job, Brownie!"
ReplyDeleteYes, that's true, Petro. I do thank you for the inaccurate misappropriation of Bush's comment.
ReplyDeleteJohn McCain has admitted that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was for oil:
ReplyDelete"My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will - that will then prevent us - that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East."
McCain's Explanation:
ReplyDeleteNo, I was thinking about - it's not hard to - we will not ... By eliminating our dependency on foreign oil, we will not have to have our national security threatened by a cut off of that oil. Because we will be dependent, because we won't be dependent, we will no longer be dependent on foreign oil. That's what my remarks were.
Re: "John McCain has admitted that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was for oil:"
ReplyDeleteI never doubted that Bush-Cheney et al's true purpose for invading and warring in Iraq was oil!