He meant "The Taliban" as the governing group

Really James, did you help write the speech and hang the mission accomplished banner? You seem to have all kinds of insight into them that everyone else lacks...

Mmph. I doubt the anti-war foamers have the ability to think quite so deeply on such matters. Look, they're pissed we ahve a military at all, much less that it's deployed.

Really bit, could you possibly be a bigger ass? I for one, oppose the war. I opposed it before it started, and I oppose it now. On the other hand, our military forces now have, and have always had, my full support.

I grew up in an Air Force town when there was a shooting war going on. Our county is blessed to have such fine men & women in uniform, and cursed to have leaders, past and present that have provided such poor leadership for them (I refer to LBJ, Nixon & Bush)

5 years later, same traitors undermining the same war effort for the same reasons. When you gonna do a post on them?

You're right, this post left out quite a few of the traitors.

The only quibble I have with that statement is the "almost". I remember people estimating U.S. loses in the 3,000 to 6,000 range for the initial invasion. The public was cool with that apparently since roughly 80% thought invading was the right thing to do.

I still feel the Iraq War will go down in history as the greatest gain for the cost since the Mexican War.

The banner was also to celebrate their homecoming from the longest deployment in current times. The ship was on its way home from a normal deployment when it was ordered to turn around and go to war.

The enemy propagandists win again.

Bush's speech was designed to give credit to our forces for a job well done, the invasion and toppling of the Iraqi army. The choice of some words was obviously wrong but far from malicious or purposely misleading. The speech did not change the continuing battle on the ground in any way.

The continued insurgency was clearly not planned for properly but that has nothing to do with the speech. Soldiers did continue to give their lives but that had nothing to do with the speech. If criticism is due it should be directed toward military and civilian planners who underestimated the continued fighting. Even that criticism should be muted and constructive since no one can foresee what happens on the battlefield with 100% accuracy. To ask that is silly.

I ask critics to give it a rest simply because they are not offering anything other than criticism for political gain.

I don't know that angst over the anniversary of this event is necessarily an attempt to "rewrite history." Much of the snark and dissatisfaction boils down to a genuine disgust that military and top civilian leaders did not understand that the difficulty of toppling of Saddam would pale in comparison to the nation-building that would have to occur afterward.

Mmph. I doubt the anti-war foamers have the ability to think quite so deeply on such matters. Look, they're pissed we ahve a military at all, much less that it's deployed. Wars almost never go as adverstised, but that difference gives then another lever to use against the hated BOOOOSH.... and frankly that's all this nonsense ever was.

'In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the Taliban"

There's much to lament about the speech, including that line. He meant "The Taliban" as the governing group, which we pretty much had destroyed. But certainly there are rump elements out there who control territory and which has partially reconstituted. "The Taliban" as we understood it in 2003, though, was pretty much destroyed.

'In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the Taliban"

And as of tonight, nearly one-half of al-Qaida's senior operatives have been captured or killed.

Is anyone keeping count of al-Qaida's "senior operatives"? Since we seem to keep getting them every couple of weeks, they must be breeding like rabbits.

After service in the Afghan and Iraqi theaters of war — after 100,000 miles, on the longest carrier deployment in recent history — you are homeward bound. Some of you will see new family members for the first time — 150 babies were born while their fathers were on the Lincoln. Your families are proud of you, and your nation will welcome you.

I wonder how many of the poor saps on that boat thought that 5 years henceforth the ship would be back in the 5th Fleet area, fighting for an Iranian-backed Prime Minister in the thick of an Iraqi civil war?

Of course, the banner referred to the crew of the USS Roosevelt, which was on its way home, having in fact accomplished their assigned mission.

You're not serious, are you?

President Bush’s infamous speech aboard the USS Roosevelt

I think you meant the USS Abraham Lincoln.