"X ` Man" wrote in message ...

On 10/26/11 7:12 AM, Eisboch wrote:


"iBoaterer" wrote in message
...


Like "hope and change" or "yes we can" Don't knock stupid slogans. They
worked for one clown.

Yeah, they did. "Mission Accomplished".

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This myth keeps being perpetuated by the media and those who like to
bash Bush as if he was declaring the end of the war in Iraq.

The "Mission Accomplished" banner displayed on the USS Abraham Lincoln
had nothing to do with Iraq, despite what the media
and Bush haters would like to believe.

US Naval ships often deploy on long term "cruises" that typically last
for 4-6 months or more away from their home port.
Each of these cruises have a specific "mission". The mission is unique
to the ship or the task force that it is part of.

Navy tradition includes a celebration of sorts by the ship (or task
force) to acknowledge that their specific, unique "Mission" has come to
an end and the ship(s) are returning to their home ports and families.
On smaller ships tradition often includes mounting a broom
upside down somewhere on the mast to indicate a "clean sweep" in the
performance of the unique cruise or mission.

When Bush visited the Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier had just
been relieved by another carrier and was on it's way
back to it's home port. The "Mission Accomplished" banner on the ship
was in celebration of the end of it's specific cruise
and not the end of the Iraq war.

Eisboch (10 year Navy veteran)


Some years ago, I read somewhere that it was the Navy's idea to put the
sign up because Bush was coming aboard and that the White House got the
sign made. The entire event was a Bush media circus, including the part
when he landed on the carrier in a jet with a Navy pilot.

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It's a big deal ... even on a nuke aircraft carrier .... to have the
Commander in Chief come aboard.
I was on a couple of small ships and we were once visited by the Secretary
of the Navy.
I thought the Captain was going to **** a brick getting the ship prepared
for his visit.
I am sure the CO of the Lincoln did everything he could to make Bush's visit
memorable.

But again, I repeat ... flying the broom or celebrating the successful
completion of a ship's
long term cruise and mission is traditional. In this case it was not
intended to celebrate a
victory in Iraq. The media reports and interpretations over the years have
made it what
many now view it as.

Eisboch
Anyway, twist and turn