After the war began and it became clear that not every American citizen agreed with it, President Bush made speech that will live in infamy. The “Mission Accomplished” speech he gave is an example of shortsightedness, although not completely out of character for a President. The speech was given aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1st, 2003, just less than two years after the war began.
Larry Downing/Reuters
He starts by saying, “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.”1 But the combat portion of the Iraq war was not over and as we can see today, still isn't. He goes on to say that, “we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians.”2 While our advanced weaponry is an advantage, it's estimated that about 276,600 Iraqi civilians died violent deaths directly related to the war, since the beginning until mid-2011.3 Later in the speech he says, “The war on terror is not over, yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory...”4 In front of a huge banner saying “Mission Accomplished” he himself admits that it was not and may never by over. Bush said that the Taliban was defeated and that al-Qaida were close to being destroyed as well. The name of the enemy may change but troops are still there, fire fights are still happening and people are still dying.
AP. May, 2008. Five Years Since "Mission Accomplished" Speech.
President Obama was partially elected due to his promise to end the war in Iraq and others like it. For a long time it seemed that he had kept that promise saying, “as commander in chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into another war in Iraq.”5 After some time he even pulled a good amount of troops out and brought them back home. All steps in the right direction to upholding his promise. According to the New York Times last year, the President indicated, “that lethal airstrikes and humanitarian assistance drops he ordered last week in Iraq could go on for months, preparing Americans for an extended military presence in the skies there as Iraq’s leaders try to build a new government.”6 There was the back slide on the promises. The Atlantic notes, “A leader declares one day that he won't be dragging us into a new war in Iraq; he says the next day that he'll order U.S. warplanes to kill people in Iraq for months; and he doesn't expect us to notice the contradiction?”7 But we did notice. It's naive to think that a President will undoubtedly go their entire term without the threat or necessity of war but American people deserve not to be lied to or have promises broken.
1CBS News. Text of Bush Speech. By Jarrett Murphy AP. May 1, 2003. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/text-of-bush-speech-01-05-2003/
2CBS News. Text of Bush Speech. By Jarrett Murphy AP. May 1, 2003. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/text-of-bush-speech-01-05-2003/
3BBC News. Iraq Study. October 16th, 2013. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24547256
4CBS News. Text of Bush Speech. By Jarrett Murphy AP. May 1, 2003. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/text-of-bush-speech-01-05-2003/
5The Atlantic. The Contradictions in President Obama's Promises on Iraq. By Conor Friedersdorf. August 11th, 2014. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/president-obama-is-on-the-precipice-of-lying-us-into-war/375846/
6The Atlantic. The Contradictions in President Obama's Promises on Iraq. By Conor Friedersdorf. August 11th, 2014. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/president-obama-is-on-the-precipice-of-lying-us-into-war/375846/
7The Atlantic. The Contradictions in President Obama's Promises on Iraq. By Conor Friedersdorf. August 11th, 2014. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/president-obama-is-on-the-precipice-of-lying-us-into-war/375846/