"The Banner Was the Least of It"

by bert
We have learned lately that you can't overflog a story. So let's let Juan Cole talk some too about the Mission Accomplished anniversary, even though Capper has also covered it.

Cole, the Mideast scholar at the University of Michigan, points out that the banner declaring the mission accomplished (which Bush's handlers were wimpily blaming on the ship's people . Doesn't anyone besides me remember Eddie Haskell?) was not the only problem that day. Cole revisits President Bush's aircraft carrier speech. Our president said five years ago that "our nation is more secure" and that "we destroyed the Taliban."

Cole also adds some comments in brackets to speech excerpts, as when Bush mentions Al Qaida:

"The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We have removed an ally of Al Qaida and cut off a source of terrorist funding. [There was no operational connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda. None. And the US occupation of Iraq gave al-Qaeda a new lease on life ]."

There's more, all of it helpful. And it is helpful because as we continue to reap this whirlwind in Iraq, it helps to realize how much --uh, let's say-- fertilizer was used when we sowed the wind.