Say Anything Blog

The Associated Press gets it.  When will the Democrats?

Sorry, can somebody explain to me the differences between the two again?

Looks like the AP is a little behind the curve, Bush announced Mission Accomplished on May 2, 2003. That news is over five years old.

You’re here because you know something. What you know, you can’t explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. Like a splinter in your mind—driving you mad.

With the difference being that we now actually have won, or are as close to victory as we ever have been.

The Bush Administration’s “Mission Accomplished” speech was premature, and ill-advised, no question about it. We had deposed Saddam, and instead of providing infrastructure and quickly establishing a functional sovereign nation, we muddled about in a military puppet state, while Iraqis were drawn back to their sectarian allegiances. All the while, top brass in the US Armed Forces were still busy coming to grips with the full scope of the asymmetrical warfare they were being engaged in. If it weren’t for the fantastic redirection given to the amazing boys on the ground from Gen. Petraeus, we’d be mired in an Iraqi civil war, with casualties in the scale of late 2006, early 2007. The news five years ago would have had a far more profound effect if there had been a positive outcome of the supposed “victory”.

The Bush Administration’s “Mission Accomplished” speech was premature, and ill-advised, no question about it.

I think it’s more accurate to say that the “Mission Accomplished” speech was misunderstood, largely on purpose by partisans who wanted to make political hay out of it.

Since day 1 Bush said the war in Iraq would be a “long, hard slog.”  He never said it would be easy, and I think that if you went back and read the speech he gave on that ship you’d see that.

The “Mission Accomplished” banner was hung on that ship by the sailors who were declaring the their mission in the invasion of Iraq completed, not the war itself.

Remember that a war consists of dozens (and maybe more) different missions each with a specific objective that contributes to the overall successful outcome of the war itself.

I know the “Mission Accomplished” speech is such a pervasive liberal article of faith that it’s almost not even worth refuting their nonsense, but that doesn’t mean we conservatives should ignore reality.

The purpose of government shouldn’t be to do good, but simply to refrain from doing evil.

Now winning = Victory?

For truth is named after the daughter of time, not of authority.

-Francis Bacon

Is ‘victory’ different than ‘mission accomplished’? What of all the timelines? What a useless exercise, seeing as how we’ve won.

For truth is named after the daughter of time, not of authority.

-Francis Bacon

The sailors may have rigged the banner, but the white house ordered and paid for it.

The “Mission Accomplished” banner was hung on that ship by the sailors who were declaring the their mission in the invasion of Iraq completed, not the war itself.

Noted Rob. I was merely stating that the Mission Accomplished speech is not comparable to the Associated Press’s admitting we have reached a turning point in Iraq.

The Bush Administration had confidence from the get-go. Historically speaking, the Associated Press was skeptical, to say the least.

By the way, is this a full time job for you dude? You have a wicked fast response time, better than most devoted political forums even. o.0

By the way, is this a full time job for you dude? You have a wicked fast response time, better than most devoted political forums even.

I wish, but no.  I’m just that obsessive compulsive.

I work really hard at it, and there is a mobile version of the blog I can access from my phone too.  So I can drive my wife nuts responding to your comments while we’re out eating.

The purpose of government shouldn’t be to do good, but simply to refrain from doing evil.

So I can drive my wife nuts responding to your comments while we’re out eating.

Wow. My wife would kick the shit out of me for doing that.

For truth is named after the daughter of time, not of authority.

-Francis Bacon