This is
pretty despicable:
Q Mr. President, if I may take you back to May 1st when you stood on the USS Lincoln under a huge banner that said, "Mission Accomplished." At that time you declared major combat operations were over, but since that time there have been over 1,000 wounded, many of them amputees who are recovering at Walter Reed, 217 killed in action since that date. Will you acknowledge now that you were premature in making those remarks?
THE PRESIDENT: Nora, I think you ought to look at my speech. I said, Iraq is a dangerous place and we've still got hard work to do, there's still more to be done. And we had just come off a very successful military operation. I was there to thank the troops.
The "Mission Accomplished" sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished. I know it was attributed some how to some ingenious advance man from my staff -- they weren't that ingenious, by the way.
The USS Lincoln appearance was stage-managed to the "t". Everything from the backdrop to the placement of the troops, to the placement of the aircraft carrier itself (San Diego had to be out of sight) was managed by Bush's political operation.
Now, called on the fact, he has the temerity to
lay the blame on our sailors??? He's the commander-in-chief, for chrissakes! If the banner didn't reflect his thinking, he could've simply asked that it be removed.
This doesn't happen often, but I'm suddenly speechless.
Update:
NTodd in the message boards provides the
key news story proving Bush's latest lie:
"Keepers of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft to New Heights"
By ELISABETH BUMILLER, NYT, May 15, 2003.
...The most elaborate - and criticized - White House event so far was Mr. Bush's speech aboard the Abraham Lincoln announcing the end of major combat in Iraq. White House officials say that a variety of people, including the president, came up with the idea, and that Mr. [Scott] Sforza embedded himself on the carrier to make preparations days before Mr. Bush's landing in a flight suit and his early evening speech.
Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.
"If you looked at the TV picture, you saw there was flattering light on his left cheek and slight shadowing on his right," Mr. King said. "It looked great."
Update II: This is how Reuters
tackled the issue:
Reflecting some sensitivity, Bush said it was not White House staff who put up a "Mission Accomplished" banner on the Abraham Lincoln during his May 1 appearance, adding it was the aircraft carrier's staff who hung the sign because the ship itself was concluding a long overseas mission.
How the hell is blaming someone else for your f-up suddenly "reflecting some sensitivity"? In my book, it's the exact opposite.
Update II 1/2: Some in the message boards suggest the writer meant to say that the criticism struck some sort of raw nerve with Bush. That would make sense, but the language is still ackward to me (being ESL and all).
Update III:
Snafu in the message boards also reminds us that Bush did, in fact,
utter the fateful words himself:
Bush to troops in Qatar: 'Mission accomplished'
DOHA, Qatar (CNN) -- President Bush told U.S. troops in Qatar on Thursday that their duty and sacrifice had liberated the people of Iraq and helped in defeating global terrorism.
"Our actions sent along a clear message that our nation is strong and our nation is compassionate," Bush told the troops at the rally. "America sent you on a mission and that mission has been accomplished."
There's even video of that speech on that CNN page.