Associated Press Photographer Uses Photo Caption As Bush Bashing Editorial

Associated Press Photowire Via Yahoo ^ | Thu Oct 4, 2:08 PM ET | Scott Applewhite

[Doctor Raoul]

President Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq
as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham
Lincoln off the California coast, in this May 1, 2003
file photo. Over and over, President Bush confidently
promised to 'solve problems, not pass them on to future
presidents and future generations.' As the clock runs
out on his eight-year presidency, a tall stack of
troubles remain and Bush's words seem to ring hollow.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Click here for the original AP photowire entry on Yahoo News.

[Doctor Raoul]

AP = Associated craP

[SolidWood]

Allah's Propagandists

[dep]

the photographer didn’t write the cutline. the picture is clearly intended to be used with an “analysis” piece, and the writer of that piece, or his editor, whote the caption. all the photographer did was take the picture.

[Doctor Raoul]

AP DC Photo 202-776-9510

[Doctor Raoul]

AP Photo Desk New York 212-621-1980

[loreldan]

"Over and over, President Bush confidently promised to 'solve problems, not pass them on to future presidents and future generations."

Yes, but then Bush (and we) found out that to defeat America's enemies we must first defeat the Democrats.

[ConservativeMind]

I’ve contacted them before on a prior issue.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Absolute Pablum.

[do the dhue]

Since this day, the US has not shot down an Iraqi aircraft, an Iraqi Tank, or a uniformed Iraqi Soldiers. Since this day the war has been over and won by the US. And since this day, we have been trying to establish a new government in Iraq.

[haroldeveryman]

“Yes, but then Bush (and we) found out that to defeat America’s enemies we must first defeat the Democrats.”

Let me complete the sentence for you.
Yes, but then Bush (and we) found out that to defeat America’s OTHER enemies we must first defeat the Democrats.

[haroldeveryman]

“Yes, but then Bush (and we) found out that to defeat America’s enemies we must first defeat the Democrats.”

Let me complete the sentence for you.
Yes, but then Bush (and we) found out that to defeat America’s OTHER enemies we must first defeat the Democrats.

[Landru]

No one w/could expect anything less from our very own Associated Quislings.

Smear artists.

...supreme.

[Jacquerie]

The “mission accomplished” banner was posted by the crew, not the President or his staff. They fought and won in the battle for Iraq and returned from months at sea. They had every right to be proud and boastful.

[L.N. Smithee]

AP=APes with keyboards

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

The “mission accomplished” banner was posted by the crew, not the President or his staff.

But Scott McClellan stated that it was the White House that actually produced the sign.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan told CNN that in preparing for the speech, Navy officials on the carrier told Bush aides they wanted a "Mission Accomplished" banner, and the White House agreed to create it.

"We took care of the production of it," McClellan said. "We have people to do those things. But the Navy actually put it up." source

[Turret Gunner A20]

re: @ 13

The “mission accomplished” banner was posted by the crew, not the President or his staff. They fought and won in the battle for Iraq and returned from months at sea. They had every right to be proud and boastful.

You know that, I know that, everybody with a brain who was paying attention, instead of hating our president, knows that. Surely you don't expect the demorats to know it -- they just can't get anywhere close to hearing the truth, much less recognizing and telling it.

No truer words were ever spoken than these: "Yes, but then Bush (and we) found out that to defeat America’s OTHER enemies we must first defeat the Democrats."

[MediaMole]

I just checked the actual AP wire for this photo. The photographer DID NOT write this caption.

The caption was written by an editor.

The caption is still crap, but the photographer had nothing to do with the caption as written.

[StAnDeliver]

^5 -- cannot be said better.

[Doctor Raoul]

In Tony Franks' book, he claims it was the military that wanted it done and he played some role in it, that it was to give the troops a sense of accomplishment because the war was over so quick and so decisively..

It's a shame that the petty loony left made an issue out of the banner. They have become very good at twisting things, especially since truth and reason don't have to be in play.

Just say it like you believe it yourself. They have the advantage in that they have no shame.

[Doctor Raoul]

The caption was written by an editor.

How did you determine that?

[Jacquerie]

From your source:

Navy and administration sources said that though the banner was the Navy's idea, the White House actually made it.

Split hairs if you wish. The Lincoln returned from a great cruise and they were proud. If the leftist media wants to make it an issue years later, screw 'em

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Fine, but don’t make it sound like the White House had no idea it was going to be there, either.

[Michael.SF.]

There are few things that the left does that angers me more then their continued misuse and abuse of this speech. This is primarily because my son was one of the sailors serving on the Lincoln. That ship left Everett with about 5,000 men and women on board, each of whom returned home safely. That ship served the longest deployment since WWII and was off of Australia, on their way home, when they were ordered back to the gulf.

Here is his speech (PLEASE Note the comments in bold if you do not read the whole speech):

Bush makes historic speech aboard warship

Thank you. Thank you all very much.

Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.

In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty and for the peace of the world. Our nation and our coalition are proud of this accomplishment, yet it is you, the members of the United States military, who achieved it. Your courage, your willingness to face danger for your country and for each other made this day possible.

Because of you our nation is more secure. Because of you the tyrant has fallen and Iraq is free.

Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a combination of precision and speed and boldness the enemy did not expect and the world had not seen before.

From distant bases or ships at sea, we sent planes and missiles that could destroy an enemy division or strike a single bunker. Marines and soldiers charged to Baghdad across 350 miles of hostile ground in one of the swiftest advances of heavy arms in history.

You have shown the world the skill and the might of the American armed forces.

This nation thanks all of the members of our coalition who joined in a noble cause. We thank the armed forces of the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland who shared in the hardships of war. We thank all of the citizens of Iraq who welcomed our troops and joined in the liberation of their own country.

And tonight, I have a special word for Secretary Rumsfeld, for General Franks and for all the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States: America is grateful for a job well done.

The character of our military through history, the daring of Normandy, the fierce courage of Iwo Jima, the decency and idealism that turned enemies into allies is fully present in this generation.

When Iraqi civilians looked into the faces of our service men and women, they saw strength and kindness and good will. When I look at the members of the United States military, I see the best of our country and I am honored to be your commander in chief.

In the images of fallen statues we have witnessed the arrival of a new era. For a hundred of years of war, culminating in the nuclear age, military technology was designed and deployed to inflict casualties on an ever-growing scale.

In defeating Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Allied forces destroyed entire cities, while enemy leaders who started the conflict were safe until the final days. Military power was used to end a regime by breaking a nation.

Today we have the greater power to free a nation by breaking a dangerous and aggressive regime.

With new tactics and precision weapons, we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians.

No device of man can remove the tragedy from war, yet it is a great advance when the guilty have far more to fear from war than the innocent.

In the images of celebrating Iraqis we have also seen the ageless appeal of human freedom. Decades of lies and intimidation could not make the Iraqi people love their oppressors or desire their own enslavement.

Men and women in every culture need liberty like they need food and water and air. Everywhere that freedom arrives, humanity rejoices and everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We're pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime who will be held to account for their crimes. We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons, and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated.

We are helping to rebuild Iraq where the dictator built palaces for himself instead of hospitals and schools.

And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by and for the Iraqi people.

The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done and then we will leave and we will leave behind a free Iraq.

The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001 and still goes on.

That terrible morning, 19 evil men, the shock troops of a hateful ideology, gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the beginning of the end of America.

By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve and force our retreat from the world.

They have failed.

In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the Taliban, many terrorists and the camps where they trained. We continue to help the Afghan people lay roads, restore hospitals and educate all of their children.

Yet we also have dangerous work to complete. As I speak, a special operations task force lead by the 82nd Airborne is on the trail of the terrorists and those who seek to undermine the free government of Afghanistan.

America and our coalition will finish what we have begun.

From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down Al Qaida killers.

Nineteen months ago I pledged that the terrorists would not escape the patient justice of the United States. And as of tonight nearly one half of Al Qaida's senior operatives have been captured or killed.

The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We have removed an ally of Al Qaida and cut off a source of terrorist funding.

And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more.

In these 19 months that changed the world, our actions have been focused and deliberate and proportionate to the offense. We have not forgotten the victims of September the 11th, the last phone calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States, and war is what they got.

Our war against terror is proceeding according to the principles that I have made clear to all.

Any person involved in committing or planning terrorist attacks against the American people becomes an enemy of this country and a target of American justice.

Any person, organization or government that supports, protects or harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent and equally guilty of terrorist crimes. Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups and seeks or possesses weapons of mass destruction is a grave danger to the civilized world and will be confronted.

And anyone in the world, including the Arab world, who works and sacrifices for freedom has a loyal friend in the United States of America.

Our commitment to liberty is America's tradition, declared at our founding, affirmed in Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms, asserted in the Truman Doctrine and in Ronald Reagan's challenge to an evil empire.

We are committed to freedom in Afghanistan, Iraq and in a peaceful Palestine.

The advance of freedom is the surest strategy to undermine the appeal of terror in the world. Where freedom takes hold, hatred gives way to hope.

When freedom takes hold, men and women turn to the peaceful pursuit of a better life.

American values and American interests lead in the same direction. We stand for human liberty.

The United States upholds these principles of security and freedom in many ways: with all of the tools of diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence and finance.

We are working with a broad coalition of nations that understand the threat and our shared responsibility to meet it.

The use of force has been and remains our last resort. Yet all can know, friend and foe alike, that our nation has a mission: We will answer threats to our security, and we will defend the peace.

Our mission continues. Al Qaida is wounded, not destroyed. The scattered cells of the terrorist network still operate in many nations and we know from daily intelligence that they continue to plot against free people. The proliferation of deadly weapons remains a serious danger.

The enemies of freedom are not idle, and neither are we. Our government has taken unprecedented measures to defend the homeland and we will continue to hunt down the enemy before he can strike.

The war on terror is not over, yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide.

No act of the terrorists will change our purpose, or weaken our resolve, or alter their fate. Their cause is lost; free nations will press on to victory.

Other nations in history have fought in foreign lands and remained to occupy and exploit. Americans, following a battle, want nothing more than to return home. And that is your direction tonight.

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.

We are mindful as well that some good men and women are not making the journey home. One of those who fell, Corporal Jason Mileo, spoke to his parents five days before his death. Jason's father said, "He called us from the center of Baghdad, not to brag but to tell us he loved us. Our son was a soldier."

Every name, every life is a loss to our military, to our nation and to the loved ones who grieve. There is no homecoming for these families. Yet we pray in God's time their reunion will come.

Those we lost were last seen on duty.

Their final act on this Earth was to fight a great evil and bring liberty to others.

All of you, all in this generation of our military, have taken up the highest calling of history: You were defending your country and protecting the innocent from harm.

And wherever you go, you carry a message of hope, a message that is ancient and ever new. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "To the captives, come out; and to those in darkness, be free."

Thank you for serving our country and our cause.

May God bless you all. And may God continue to bless America.

[Jacquerie]

The democrats refuse to believe radical islam is at war with the US. The GOP refuses to believe the democrats are at war with the GOP.

[in hoc signo vinces]

All...did anyone read Tommy Franks Book?

In it Gen. Franks explains the origins of the banner...essentially Franks in one of his conference calls with the CINC/POTUS after the taking of Baghdad, which was the fastest any mechanized infantry and heavy combat units had every moved across land in a War, made a point of asking Bush to do something special for the troops (similar to what the British were doing for British soldiers after taking Basra)...as a morale booster...and Presto Bingo...the Banner came to life.

This FACT that the banner was made to congradulate US troops on their actions in taking Baghdad...and an action consistant with US military history of supporting successful operations during an ongoing campaign as a moral booster are ignored by LIBERAL DUMBOCRATS because it doesnt further their agenda...

It just goes to show you how deceptive, agenda driven, and evil AP writers are...

[Jacquerie]

So what if the White House knew? The banner idea came from the crew.

[in hoc signo vinces]

This speech is just further testament that Democrats rely on the ignorance of the people that their media lackeys perpetuate...

To liberal journo hacks...Bush’s speeches exist in a vacuum...never to be brought up again because they ring to true to reality and hold to many facts.

[savedbygrace]

Always Pimping

[roses of sharon]

LOL, the WH was damn proud of our guys at sea, as evidenced by the great sign, and unlike you guys who seem to get all squirmy about US military victories, and any pro US propaganda.

Thank God we have some American patriots still in office.

[Ramius]

Who cares who’s idea it was? The banner was right. Their mission *was* accomplished, both the ship’s mission and the larger military mission of defeating the Iraqi forces.

[Ramius]

That was a great speech.

[bray]

Direct feed from Media Madhatters

Pray for W and Our Troops

[Jacquerie]

Non-news like this gets the attention.

Meanwhile, Hillary’s pipeline of Chinese money through Norman Hshu has fallen off the radar screen. Without the reliable old media, there could be no democrat party.

[Michael.SF.]

I agree 100%!!

[Michael.SF.]

That it was!

[roses of sharon]

BDSers just can’t let go, its like political porn, addicting I guess.

Who would have thought that a sign welcoming home a ship who turned around back out to sea on 9/11, and was gone for a year, would give them such fits.

[353FMG]

“..America’s OTHER enemies we must first defeat the Democrats.”

I think that the first opinion is still valid. I see very little difference between the Democrats and the “OTHER enemies”. Both are equally poisonous to the future welfare of our country.

[LiteKeeper]

And the Navy made and hoisted the banner. And the reference is to the mission of that Carrier Task Force, not the war! That was made clear over and over again.

[do the dhue]

Thank you, but I should have added that since that day, the butcher of Baghdad has not been in power.

[do the dhue]

Both are equally poisonous to the future welfare of our country.

HEAR HEAR!!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I wonder if Jack Cafferty wrote the caption.

AP =Associalist Press

[haroldeveryman]

“I see very little difference between the Democrats and the “OTHER enemies”. Both are equally poisonous to the future welfare of our country.”

I stand by the substance of my remark, but I can see where it may have seemed peculiar. It left implied a cause and effect sequence for our various security problems. For example,

Cause: The Democrat controlled Church Commission that gutted the CIA during the 70’s and the “Wall” established by the Clinton admininistration has left us with no human intelligence.
Effect: Nine-Eleven, inability to to anticipate the insurgency in Iraq, confusion over WMD’s in Iraq, and also Iran despite widespread hostiliy to their government there). that prevented the CIA from communicating with the

Cause: Democrat staffers leaked defense secrets to the media, like Usama using a cell phone to communicate with his terrorist underlings.
Effect: Usama and friends went to other means of communication.

Cause-The Democrats have politicized our court system(they want us to be more like Europe)
Effect: Following the “outing” of a CIA operative, Cheny’s chief of staff is spending 2-1/2 years in jail for “perjury” when the there was no breach of the law in the matter being investigated (the “outed” CIA employee was not legally a covert operative and therefore there was no underlying crime), and it was known well before Libby was questioned who the leaker was (Richard Armitage, a liberal media hero). This Democrat boondoggle has actually made us look more like Saddam Hussein’s Iraq than like Europe.

In other words if Democrats had been elected to nothing above the level of dog catcher, eight years ago, then dealing with America’s OTHER enemies would subsequently have been much easier.

[weegee]

Why did we fight the Cold War? WWII was over.

Why did we fight the KKK for 100 years? The Civil War was over.

Why are there still troops in South Korea? The Korean War is over.

[weegee]

We won the Cold War (or so it seems, but Putin is playing games) but we did not win the war against global socialism and it still poses a threat.

We do not face a similar threat from fascism/nazism. Islamic Imperialism IS a threat to the rest of the world. Like Nazism, it is a supremacist ideology that sets the “other” as a lower lifeform with fewer rights and protections under the law.