"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)