Five years ago today, President George W. Bush gave a televised address on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln to declare, "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September 11, 2001, and still goes on." The speech, which took place after Bush made a splashy entrance by arriving on the aircraft carrier in a fighter jet, announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq, but the whole spectacle ended up being a target for criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the war.
Now the White House is admitting the banner was, uh, problematic, perhaps because it wasn't specific--or something like that. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said yesterday:
"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 on their mission.' And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year."
That would have been a way bigger banner--"Mission Accomplished for These Sailors who are on This Ship on Their Mission." Or how about "Mission Accomplished for Giving Everyone an Opportunity to Make Fun of President Bush and His Administration"?
Photograph by J. Scott Applewhite/AP
