Mission Accomplished (any minute now)

By Libby

Tomorrow marks the fifth anniversary of Bush's triumphal arrival by jet to make his victory speech under that Mission Accomplished banner. "Since that day, more than 3,900 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, representing more than 97 percent of total troop deaths there."

Today, reporter Helen Thomas asked White House Press Secretary Dana Perino how the president would “commemorate” the date tomorrow. Perino said the White House had “certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner.”

The White House is still spinning that banner as meant only for the men on at that ship, which I'm sure is why he held an international press conference under it -- just for them. I mean hasn't he done that for every ship that came home in the last five years? And all those wingers and warmongers who were pounding their chests and mocking the dirty effin peaceniks for being wrong, wrong, wrong about what a dismal failure this invasion would be, that was just a coincidence. And geez, Bush was so proud of that one ship, he just couldn't stop talking about them.

In fact, regardless of Perino’s attempts to amend the banner, it’s clear what Bush meant. Just a month after his speech on the U.S.S. Lincoln, he also spoke to troops in Qatar: “America sent you on a mission to remove a grave threat and to liberate an oppressed people, and that mission has been accomplished.”

The truly astounding part is that even five years later, the same warmongers are still telling us that any minute now, the mission will be a awesome victory. It's just around the corner. And some people still believe them.