PRESIDENT CODPIECE... FIVE YEARS ON-- HAS HE FIGURED OUT THE MISSION YET?

I wanted to mark May Day with a post dedicated to working Americans and I hope the report on yesterday's OSHA vote accomplished that. But there is another notable anniversary today-- the fifth anniversary of President Codpiece's infamous naval photo op and declaration of "Mission Accomplished." Yesterday, White House flack Dana Perino rued the wording on Bush's banner. "President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific, and said, Mission Accomplished For These Sailors Who Are On This Ship On Their Mission. And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner." I'm very sorry for the "price" the Bush Regime has paid (although, I might add most of the corporate media was absolutely fawning in their coverage) but no amount of spin will distract the vast majority of Americans from a keen understanding that we have burdened ourselves with the least competent and most venal leadership in the history of our country. What a combination!

Meanwhile, the mission, of course, is clearly not accomplished-- unless the mission was to devastate Iraq and turn its civil society back a thousand years while driving our country into economic recession and uniting it in unprecedented hatred for George Bush and his rubber stamp political party. The fact of the matter is, there never was a clear mission to accomplish-- except in the devious minds of the Neocons who, basically, were just lusting for blood. The Senate Democratic Communications Center summed it up well on behalf of their weak and ineffective caucus that has accomplished nothing whatsoever in stopping Bush:

On May 1, 2003, President Bush declared, “My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” Unfortunately for our troops, veterans and nation, five years later the war still rages and the costs continue to grow. Our troops have done their job, but the Iraqis have failed to take responsibility for their own country and the Bush Administration has no other policy than to stay the course. Our brave men and women are still being killed and wounded amidst the ongoing violence in Iraq. The burden on American taxpayers to pay for the war continues to mount while needs at home go unmet. The war continues to erode our military readiness making America less safe and continues to divert focus and resources from the global terrorist threat. Democrats believe we must redeploy from Iraq so we can rebuild our strained military, refocus on the terrorist threat and focus our resources here at home.

Russ Feingold has also marked this sad anniversary by noting what Bush has accomplished:

"[F]ive years later, with the image of the president under that banner etched into the memories of so many Americans, our brave men and women remain bogged down in Iraq in a war that is jeopardizing our national security, damaging our military, and provoking regional instability. This anniversary marks yet another year of the administration’s failure to address the global threat posed by al Qaeda. The State Department Country Terrorism report released yesterday serves as yet another reminder that al Qaeda continues to be the greatest terrorist threat to the U.S. and is reconstituting its capabilities. Congress should not wait for the next anniversary before fixing the Administration’s mistaken priorities. For the good of our military and national security, and for the stake of stability in the Middle East, we must safely redeploy our troops from Iraq and refocus on those who attacked us on 9/11.”

Most of the candidates endorsed by Blue America this year have also issued statements commemorating this sad anniversary. Congressman Tom Allen's campaign did a great guest blog at TurnMaineBlue which includes a video of Tom speaking about how he differs on the war from Susan Collins, the Bush Regime rubber stamp he is challenging in the November Senate race.

But I especially want to emphasize the video Eric Massa made about the cost of this war. Take a minute and watch his poignant and clear-eyed clip.