I’ve honestly lost track. How many turning points in Iraq have there been? I suppose “the end of major combat operations” was one. Catching Saddam was #2, perhaps. The turnover of “sovereignty” may have been another (come to think of it maybe that really was a turning point since it got rid of Paul Bremer). I know each and every purple thumbed election (all three of them) has been a turning point.
But exactly what number turning point is this one?
WASHINGTON – Three years after delivering his “mission accomplished” speech on Iraq, President Bush on Monday declared another turning point had arrived with the establishment of a permanent government in Baghdad.
“We believe we’ve got partners to help the Iraqi people realize their dreams,” Bush said of the recent emergence of new Iraqi leadership. “They need to know that we stand with them.” […]
In Bush’s appearance outside the Oval Office with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the president walked a fine line between celebrating achievements and warning of more sacrifices to come.
“We believe this is a turning point for the Iraqi citizens and it’s a new chapter in our partnership,” Bush said. “This government is more determined than ever to succeed.”
Three years and already so many turning points. Good thing Bush this time believes we have partners to help the Iraqi people. And thank God/Allah they’re more determined to succeed. Not sure what we had before now. Minions, maybe? Puppets? Ungrateful wretches? Corrupt and vicious thugs?
Well, those were from other, lesser turning points I suppose. Now we’ve got the real deal, right? The mother of all turning points?
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., chairman of the House Democrats’ campaign arm, issued a reminder of some of the administration’s main prewar predictions that proved false: that Iraqi oil production would finance the reconstruction, that American troops would be greeted as liberators, that weapons of mass destruction would be found, and that a war that is now heading toward a $300 billion-plus price tag wouldn’t cost even a third of that.
Yes, but that’s all water under the bridge, according to our President. As the song says “Nothing’s gonna stop us now!” Our boys and gals will be home before Christmas, right? Right?
Well, maybe — if they get shipped home in a coffin:
In the three years since the [Mission Accomplished] speech, as of Sunday, there have been an additional 2,258 U.S. military deaths in Iraq — an average of 63 each month.
Come to think of it, maybe that’s the number of turning points we’ve really had in Iraq, a number measured only by our dead sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers. Day after day, more turning points for American families.
But that would miss all the Iraqis who have died. Surely their deaths count as turning points, too. And all the maimed and wounded bodies and minds of Americans and Iraqis. Surely they are turning points, thousands upon thousands of them.
But I would be negligent if I didn’t mention all the surviving family members, orphans and widows and bereaved parents and family members — who knows how many, but surely they should be counted as well.
So you see Mr. Bush, you have been too chary in your announcements of turning points in Iraq. In truth, they as as innumerable as the stars, and more of them are produced every day that dawns from today into an uncertain future. That is your true legacy in Iraq, sir. Not political developments. Not elections. Not the capture in a spider hole of a dirty, disheveled old horror of a man.
No, it’s all these turning points.
Mission Accomplished Anniversary
