Well, we’ll soon find out if, at least in a small way, President Bush is unafraid to own his failure:
As former president George W. Bush broke ground Tuesday in Dallas for his presidential library, officials weighed whether or not to display one item that few know is being held in storage there: the “Mission Accomplished” banner.
The banner was the backdrop aboard the USS Lincoln during Bush’s televised speech May 1, 2003, to proclaim the end of major combat in Iraq. It caused controversy in the months that followed when violence in Iraq spiraled.
The banner now sits in storage and will become part of the library’s collection. A decision on how or whether to display the red-white-and-blue banner hasn’t been made, said Alan Lowe, director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
Yeah, I think it will stay in storage.
It should be displayed alongside his Captain Codpiece attire.
The Smithsonian Presidents exhibit is a good place for this tableau.
The sad thing is, yes, it will stay in storage for a few years, but if we’ve learned anything about Reepubs since St Ronny Reagan, they’re going to be working 24/7/365 on W’s reputation until some day, maybe 6-8 years from now, the right wing will be howling for aircraft carriers and schools to be named after him. And even if there’s significant opposition to such historical revisionism, it won’t matter. At that point the banner will be “rediscovered” and hauled out front and center.
We seem to be suffering from a case of national aphasia. There’s absolutely no capacity for long-term memory evident in our populace at large.
I think the only aphasia suffering person is the war criminal GW Bush.
I`m certain I won`t forget his actions, not that aphasia has anything to do with memory loss.
For the war criminal, here is an apt definition, in my own humble opinion.
Aphasia: ” loss or impairment of the power to use or comprehend words usually resulting from brain damage.”
Thank you…No harm intended for the correction on the use of the word.
Thanks for the clarification. I had in mind that aphasia was more or less what we used to call dementia or senility, with a bunch of attending symptoms of overall loss of brain function.
You and I will never forget, along with some millions of others. We were never fooled in the first place, never believed that the Iraq invasion was anything to do with national security, or countless other lies that carried the day when they were current. We don’t appear to be calling the shots. That banner is going up before too many years go by.
hz,
You are right, we were never fooled in the first place.
I should mention also that it`s a pleasure meeting you.
Nice to make your acquaintance, too. I’ve been here for years, but I don’t post much.
What with it being a library, I’m more curious on whether or not they’ll have the infamous copy of My Pet Goat.
It seems that there are no copies to be had on the internet. Amazon, ABE, etc. have no available copies.
Has the Bush library bought them all up already?
Today, I learned something. Two things, actually.
The first is that the story is actually called The Pet Goat not My Pet Goat as is commonly believed.
The second is that it is not (not that I could find, and apparently you either) available as an individual book. Instead, it is part of a collection of stories, which is indeed available at Amazon.com.
Even if you don’t really want to buy it (and at that price..whew!) the reviews alone are worth clicking the link. Not quite up to Tuscan Whole Milk, One Gallon level, but then, what is?
ejmw,
I believe there was only one copy of that “novel” & it was rolled up to stuff the codpiece.
The library will have to present it as such, (that big manly war criminal`s outfit) or they`ll have to show the pee stained book next to a deflated emasculated suit of cowardice.
At least until 2012.
Krugman today. What do you think?
Axis of Depression
Three different opponents to the Fed’s policy. Two want to help their own country’s standing to gain politically. One wants to hurt their country’s standing to gain politically.
Of course they do. It’s the one believable thing Mitch McConnell has ever said.
Bring the banner out of storage…the Mission WAS Accomplished.
We won. For now, the Iraqi people have a democratically elected government, not a butcher/dictator who brutalizes his own people.
Good work, W.
And Thank You to the men and women who fought in Iraq.
Iran won. It’s that simple.
That depends on how the U.S. proceeds.
At this point, the US is irrelevant in that part of the world. And no amount of saber-rattling will make us relevant again.
Puppet Allawi is out. The US will not want to face down another war in Iraq, this time with the Sadrist Mahdi Army.
The only folks who did good were a few Western oil companies. They got their leases from the Maliki government last year. Oh, and Halliburton(the Dubai corporation) gets to service the southern oil fields near Basra; no American jobs there.
The best thing that the US can do for the region is to cultivate Turkey and Iran as the key allies in the region instead of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In fact the key geopolitical countries in the Muslim world are Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran to begin with. The US can’t drop Egypt and Saudi Arabia outright; they are essential because of their size (Egypt) and their centrality to Islam (Saudi Arabia). But both countries are potentially unstable because of their autocratic rulers.
The second best thing that the US can do is to move away from national security dependence on oil as rapidly as possible.
The third is to force a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the same way we forced an end to the ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia. Get all of the parties together (including Hamas) go to a meeting place, lock the doors, and don’t come out without an agreement. Israel is currently on a suicidal path that ends in disaster. As strong friends of Israel, the US must intervene with forceful diplomacy to bring them back from the brink. An Israel that is a Jewish state that supplants the Palestinians from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River is a pipe dream; continuing to make it a fait accompli will result in the destruction of Israel, nuclear weapons or no nuclear weapons. Israel cannot use nuclear weapons on the Palestinians or forces within the claimed territorial limits of Israel, Judaea, and Samaria because of the nature of nuclear weapons and the effect on Israel itself.
The neo-conservative project is dead.
Listen to Lib. “That depends on how the U.S. proceeds.”
In other words:
“We left 135,000 troops in Iraq with no exit strategy. A government that is shaky at best and unable to provide basic security without 50,000 U.S. troops. So lets blame it on Obama when this house of cards falls apart.”
Lib how many moons circle your planet? Does your sun reside in a galaxy like the milky Way? I am interested in your world. š
Salunga…three moons in my world.
Iraq was not planned well…but turned out okay.
My world…hmmm…my wife and I just got done shoveling horse poop in our barn.
You’re welcome to join us!
Bush has inflicted a shitload of death and anguish on the Iraqi people. Ultranationalist, American exceptionalism thinking is what got 5,000 U.S. soldiers and well over 100,000 Iraqis killed.
I’m proud of the founders they were exceptional in their thinking. Yet hypocritical when it came to race and gender. We are in no way exceptional now. Killing people in the name of nationalism is not exceptional. Its been done over and over.
No thanks on the poop offer. My wife wanted horses she boarded two when she was young. So she bought two when we got our place. What a hassle. I’ll give you this you have more energy then me. I opted out but gave her enough rope so to speak. She lost interest after about a year. š Horses are a lot of work and expense!
Horses were the bridge between the Wheel and the Car…
They have served Humans like no other species…
Thank You, Horses..
I am proud to scoop your poop!
That`s not really a nice thing to offer.
You might need bigger shovels but you purchased the horses.
Dig your own way out of the pile, just as this country must.
This country got a pig in a poke with that stupid Texan cowboy, & he was so scared of horses, even his wife wouldn`t shovel his shit.
The Iraq attack was a war crime of the most heinous kind, & in my book, it will never be okay,(as you say) unless maybe the liar who instigated it is tried & punished to the fullest extent of the law.
( remember that Saddam`s head was ripped off during his demise)
Regrettably nothing will happen to those responsible for the Iraq fiasco (what I tend to think of as the third phase of the war that was started in the early 1990s). About the best we can hope for is that some of the perpetrators might get tried in absentia, and that their travel plans might be somewhat narrowed. But as far as being held accountable? Short of the collapse of the US, I don’t see it happening.
“Short of the collapse of the US”
First let me introduce myself since we`ve not met Don Durito.
Its a pleasure.
Now,
You mention the collapse of the US.
As long as there is no accountability, don`t you think the collapse has already started?
I would like to be able to link an article about Bush keeping his book tour national, since he could very well be subject to arrest, as close as in the British Isles, with a commentary by Jonathan Turley, which was quite humorous for such a dark subject.
Another thing I`d like to mention, is what the fuck Henry Kissinger was doing in a meeting on nuclear negotiations at the same table as this present administration.
He`s another fucking war criminal.
(pardon my French,… I mean, hell, we just met)
Nice to meet you too. š
About whether or not the US has already collapsed or is in the process of collapsing, or merely teetering on the brink – that’s a good question.
The lack of accountability of our public officials, you’re right that it is glaringly obvious. There appears to be none nationally, and for the moment at least internationally. We could add to that the disconnect between what many Americans might want and what we receive in return. From my reading of Chomsky’s book “Failed States”, one could well make the case that the US is at bare minimum a failing state. Of course to say so is not politically correct at this point in time, and may be inconceivable to the vast majority of Americans.
There’s certainly the continuing saga of the economic collapse. The other shoe from the housing bubble and subsequent crash – namely the lack of any paperwork with which we could determine who actually holds the deed to any house that has been purchased in the last, say, decade – is only now beginning to drop. Yves Smith’s very fine blog, naked capitalism has been covering this phenomenon in some detail. Bottom line: the banksters are convinced they are accountable to no one. I’m thankful that I’ve managed to avoid the whole real estate fiasco altogether.
Then there is the bit about the ethical and intellectual decline among our so-called “new professional class”. That bit’s not exactly news, but the decline there does seem to be accelerating.
At this point I might still be tempted to say that the current system will lumber along in its dysfunctional fashion for a fair amount of time – collapses don’t occur overnight. However, there’s always someone like Dmitry Orlov to suggest that my view my seem much akin to that of the average Soviet citizen circa 1988.
To take a few ideas of Orlov’s, assuming that we still have a bit of time before a collapse is truly underway, there are quite a number of useful things our government could do in preparation, starting with closing down military bases in those far-flung corners of the world and bringing our troops back home in as orderly a fashion as possible. Otherwise, we’ll be looking at the prospect of a lot of men and women stranded in (some cases) hostile territory. I’d also be suggesting taking the initiative in holding those responsible for any crimes against humanity accountable now, partially because it would be the right thing to do, and partially because it will make international dealings far less unpleasant post-collapse. The odds of such useful actions happening are very long. I know how I’m placing my bets.
I could be wrong of course.
yes, GWB is afraid of horses, one of my favorite facts. Did you follow the Akha guy’s blog, how he rode his horse from Oregon to NYC, spending a day in front of GWB’s house. Very funny that he inadvertently instilled fear in GWB (probably can’t imagine anyone being afraid of horses). He posted a few diaries here.
Knucklehead, what’s that about Saddam’s head?
Errol,
They botched the hanging resulting in his head being ripped off, but I see now that it was his half-brother that was decapitated during his hanging.
Saddam was only verbally taunted during his.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,460100,00.html
Wow…I mostly agree with you.
I am much more “libertarian”-ish tham “neo-conservative”–ish.
I was ambivalent about Iraq before the war…but once you make a commitment, you MUST follow through. We didn’t do it in Vietnam, but we did it in Iraq.
Were we differ is in your underestimation of American Execptionalism.
This country is truly different than any country in history…an unrivalled force that combines power and wealth, with a people with a good heart and a will to do the right thing.
Israel may have its faults, but, it is (maybe, except for Great Britain) the second most exceptional country in the world. (I’m not Jewish).
This country has been blessed, and we owe it to humankind to use our advantage to promote peace, equality, and well-being around the globe.
“This country has been blessed, and we owe it to humankind to use our advantage to promote peace, equality, and well-being around the globe.”
Is there any possibility that you`d know when that`s about to start?
Well…how about when we defeated a Nazi Germany that killed millions of Jews…or Stalin’s Soviet Union, that killed three times that many.
Progressives…Governments have killed and imprisoned and mutilated many more people than private citizens and “evil coporations”…
To fight evil, watch Governments first.
Stalin killed 18 million jews? I don’t think so. Stalin’s gov was responsible for many deaths, esp Ukrainians and Russians, but 18 million jews (were there 18 million jews in Russia?) – you are making that up.
note: some Ukrainians and some Russians killed were Jewish, some were Orthodox, some were atheist
I’d like to see us make more of an effort to promote peace, equality and well-being in our own country.
That was really good snark.
Knucklehead…in reality…the true “Theist” loves and forgives all beings, while refraining from judgement (“judge not, and you will not be judged…condemn not, and you will not be condemned”), while the Atheist hates and judges the Theist for judging him or her.
Ironically, the primary motive of Atheists stems from Jesus’ primary message of non-judgement.
That is somehow impossible.
As an atheist, how could I ever hate someone who relies on their faith in a deity to forever deny me entry into a heaven.
My first question to the priest in an annual parish visit ( gotta keep the passed tray full ya know) was what happened to the Indians(the cree, the iroquois, the blackfoot, the great plains natives etc) when they died. Were they not entitled to some kind of provision in their afterlife, as proper stewards of the land.
No, they were not, as un-baptised “heathens”.
Those people were massacred by white men from the same stock that tortured humans during the Spanish inquisition to george bush just a few years ago.
Jesus, who by the way is a model of a man I try to live up to, had no hate in him, but he was never a “true theist”.
He was simply a man among others.
Atheists don`t judge, they live, & not with hate.
The reason for that is that they are not conditioned by faith to deceive others into a philosophy of exception.
As you say, (with this caveat) the primary motive of atheists is not to adhere to a faith of non-judgement, but simply not to judge.
Jesus was a Man among others…
That found God.
Today’s “Christians” are the Pharisees of Jesus’ time…
Please do not associate the teachings of “eternal hell” with the man from Galilee…
God does not exclude anyone…we can no more be separated from God than one section of sky can be separated from another…
Liberty For All
We probably should not carry this conversation any further since you seem to think the “reborn Christian” George Bush, a self avowed torturer, done good.
Let him carry the “Mission Accomplished” banner to hell where he will eventually go, for using the name of god in vain.
His crusade was a hypocritical stand in the name of his god which was revenge for “They tried to kill my daddy” & simply a fetus in a jar for his incompetence & ignorance.
How you could say after 100`s of thousands of deaths at his hand is a win is beyond my scope of understanding.
And one more thing, Jesus did not “find” God, he is God according to the Holy Trinity.
I`m quite well read on the facts of all three.
May the Holy Ghost be with you also.
Please do not construe any of my replies to you as adversarial.
They are not.
Well…we should probably not continue the conversation due to the late hour…but…
The United States had to kill thousands of innocent Germans (fire bombed Dresdan) and Japanese (e.g. Hiroshoma) to save innocent Jews…
Morality and War do not mix.
The United States did NOT have to kill innocents to save Jews nor did bombing Hiroshima have anything to do with Jews.
The bombing of Dresden was a war crime on its own.
Did you even read what you wrote.
Here check it out, slowly,
“The United States had to kill thousands of innocent Germans (fire bombed Dresdan) and Japanese (e.g. Hiroshoma) to save innocent Jews…
They HAD to kill thousands of innocents…. to Save innocents.
What the hell is wrong with that.
Go over your statement slowly, & read it it out loud to yourself.
Do you hear what you said?????
Morality, stupidity, & war should never be mixed.
The irony was intentional…
Check this link on Dresden,
A war crime.
War crimes are not to be taken lightly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II