Yes, that's right. Today is the fourth birthday of the "Mission Accomplished" banner. In other words, four years ago today, President Bush descended onto the USS Abraham Lincoln wearing his flight suit, then delivered his speech, in which he said "In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." This marked the official end to major combat operations.
Now, Flight Commander, er President Bush took some heat for the theatrics of the day, but most of the problems stemmed from the banner. The White House insisted at first that the Navy and the crew members of the USS Lincoln created the banner. This administration has never been big on accountability; they took Truman's "the buck stops here" sign and made it "the buck stopped on the way here; go back into the hallway, take a left, walk down the corridor, turn right, head down the steps, veer left, walk about 20 feet, then head into the third door on your right, and you will find the buck" mentality. They later admitted that they made the sign, but still say that the crew members clammored for them to put it up. Well, that makes it all better.
Total US military personnel fatalities since May 1, 2003: 3,205
Total US wounded since 5/1/07: 24,548
Total # of Bush vetoes to war funding bill with timetables for withdrawal: 1
I guess this isn't such a happy birthday afterall.
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