Time: So, What Went Wrong? (Cover * on Lincoln Mission Not Accomplished)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101031006-490595,00.html



On May 1, off the coast of California, president George W. Bush landed in flying gear on the deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln—which sported a banner reading mission accomplished—and said, "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

The war, said Bush, had been carried out "with a combination of precision and speed and boldness the enemy did not expect, and the world had not seen before."

But the mission wasn't accomplished then, and it still is not. The reconstruction of Iraq has proved far more difficult than any official assumed it would be. Since May 1, 170 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, as sporadic guerrilla attacks have continued. Two potential leaders of the new Iraq—Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and Akila al-Hashimi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council in Iraq—have been assassinated. Also dead is Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N. chief representative in Iraq, who was killed when a bomb exploded at U.N. headquarters last month. After a second bombing last week near the building, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan ordered a reduction in the size of the organization's mission—already much smaller than it had once been—for reasons of safety.

Over the long, hot Iraqi summer, frequent power cuts made life unbearable for millions, while the flow of oil, which the Administration had hoped would fund Iraq's reconstruction, was, on some days, less than half what it had been before the war. And despite five months of searching, the weapons of mass destruction (WMD), whose possession by Saddam Hussein had been the principal reason advanced by Bush for the war, are still nowhere to be found. "There are challenges greater than we anticipated," said a White House official last week, while insisting "In time, the benefits of our actions will be quite obvious."

[Beetwasher]

1. Bwahahahahahahah! This is PRICELESS!!!

Love it...

[knight_of_the_star]

2. I have to get me a copy of that issue

[Boom_cha]

3. Ruh roh

I bet Rove didn't anticipate this when he planned that photo op. I bet junior rues that day he let his handlers stuff that sock in his crotch.

[lebkuchen]

4. That's a keeper

I hope there's a copy left in the BX by tomorrow.

[lolly]

5. Gotta Buy this now!

Need to let editors (and advertisers) know that putting the truth about AWOL on their covers sells magazines!

In fact, I'd love to buy it at WALMART--wonder if it'll even be on sale there?

[Tatiana]

6. OMG!

That cover is just.....PRICELESS!

Mission NOT accomplished. Methinks this could be another talking point...

[The Zanti Regent]

7. Tell that to my nephew

He got his bullet in the spine AFTER President Asshole strutted around with a sock in his jockstrap and said it was over.

It's not over for Jonny!

My nephew is now a quadraplegic, and his life was destroyed NOT for freedom, but so that the BFEE could steal Iraq's oil!