Abstract

Mission Unaccomplished

The author argues that U.S. President George W. Bush misled the country about the reasons for going to war with Iraq, and refuses to admit that the reconstruction effort is failing. When George W. Bush appeared aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln beneath a "Mission Accomplished" banner on May 1, 2003, to declare the end of "major combat operations," he was performing a PR stunt that embodied much that was--and is--wrong with his presidency. A year later, Bush is unable to admit error and continues to promote a false triumphalism. Instead of leveling with the American people about his Administration's miscalculations, he forbids the release of pictures showing the caskets of dead troops returning home, and instead of discussing options for ending a war that should never have been waged, he offers nothing but "stay the course" rhetoric. Before the war began, Bush refused to confront the challenges that could be expected. But before the war, there were foreign policy experts who warned that an invasion would trigger instability and that US troops would be stuck, and dying, in Iraq for a long time. In his aircraft carrier address, Bush continued to peddle the misleading reasons for the war, which he has stuck with ever since. He declared, "We've removed an ally of Al Qaeda." But there was no proof then--or now--that Saddam Hussein was a partner of the mass murderers of 9/11 or involved in the attacks. Bush did not tell the troops standing before him that a hunt had been under way for weeks and had not uncovered a trace of WMDs.