Four Years After 'Mission Accomplished'

Similarly, deputy press secretary Dana Perino just last week argued that critics had misconstrued the carrier appearance. ABC News's Martha Raddatz challenged her, but to no avail. From the transcript of the April 26 briefing:

"Q I don't know how they've misconstrued it. The President said, 'Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.'

"MS. PERINO: And he specifically also said, and this is a quote, 'We still have difficult work to do in a dangerous country, which needed [sic] to be rebuilt.' He also said, 'The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time.' And he has also said -- let me remind you what he said on January 10th --

"Q But he said major combat operations are over. I mean, I don't even know why you're still arguing about that."

The subject came up again in this morning's gaggle, where Perino called the Democrats' timing "a trumped-up political stunt that is the height of cynicism."

"Q Does the President -- does the President regret the 'mission accomplished' speech?

"MS. PERINO: Look, I've never heard him describe it that way, absolutely not. Let me just remind everybody, in case you need it, that speech there, I encourage people to read it. The President never said 'mission accomplished.'"

But that depends on how you define "never." About a month after his appearance on the flight deck, Bush traveled to Qatar, where he told troops: "America sent you on a mission to remove a grave threat and to liberate an oppressed people, and that mission has been accomplished."

Editorial Watch

From a Baltimore Sun editorial this morning: "In the four years since President Bush put on that Navy flight suit and headed out on his mission before the cameras, his administration has accomplished almost nothing in Iraq, and now argues that that is the very reason U.S. soldiers and Marines must stay there and keep fighting and dying. . . .

"Enough is enough."

Cartoon Watch

Mike Luckovich, David Horsey and Pat Oliphant on the anniversary.

Next Steps

Edwin Chen and Nicholas Johnston write for Bloomberg: "The showdown over the Iraq war moves from statecraft to stagecraft as President George W. Bush prepares to veto congressional limits on military operations in Iraq. . . .