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FR EXCLUSIVE: "Mission Accomplished" banner was ordered by the Navy, not by the White House
NAVY WEBSITE ^ | 5-1-07 | DFU

Posted on 05/01/2007 2:40:20 PM PDT by doug from upland

Because today is the fourth anniversary of the commander in chief landing aboard the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN with the famous "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner, the enemies at home are going to attempt to use it for political purposes. I don't think I need to name the enemies at home. We all know them well. They are the ones who see defeat as politically beneficial to them and will do whatever they can to embolden the enemy and hurt our troops.

To get to the truth of the story, I phoned the media office of the 2nd Fleet in Norfolk, VA. The man who had the answers for me and graciously returned my call was Captain Conrad Chun.

"When something of such high level is planned, such as the landing of the commander in chief on the ship," said Chun, "there are several planning meetings. At one of the meetings was the idea for a banner that said MISSION ACCOMPLISHED." The mission in this case, was the mission of the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN. The men and women aboard the nuclear-powered carrier accomplished their mission and stayed out for a record time -- 290 days. It was a very long cruise for them.

The banner specifically was designed to celebrate and memorialize the ship's successful deployment. According to Chun, they had no way to make the banner aboard the ship, so the White House was asked to have it made for them.

"There are still those who will doubt the story," said Chun, "but after speaking to those on the ship, I have no doubt that is how it happened."

On a side note, Godspeed to my former son in law Josh who is on the Nimitz now. Go, Navy!


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: missionaccomplished; navair; navyone; ussabrahamlincoln; waronterror
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1 posted on 05/01/2007 2:40:24 PM PDT by doug from upland
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To: doug from upland

Sweet.


2 posted on 05/01/2007 2:41:08 PM PDT by LikeLight (tagline expired - do you wish to renew?)
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To: doug from upland

Took them just four years to get the story straight.

I tell you, love him or not, this admin is just abominable when it comes to communication, and it has really hurt them (and us).


3 posted on 05/01/2007 2:41:29 PM PDT by HitmanLV ("If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do suck seed." - Jerry 'Curly' Howard)
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To: LikeLight

****A little late Alert***


4 posted on 05/01/2007 2:41:46 PM PDT by samadams2000 (Someone important make......The Call!)
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To: doug from upland

If you read the President’s speech from that day, you will find that he talked a great deal about how much work was still left to do in Iraq.


5 posted on 05/01/2007 2:42:18 PM PDT by SittinYonder (Ic þæt gehate, þæt ic heonon nelle fleon fotes trym, ac wille furðor gan)
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To: HitmanLV

In fairness, Chun made a comment about this after it happened. I wanted to verify it for myself and bring his words directly to FreeRepublic.


6 posted on 05/01/2007 2:42:34 PM PDT by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: HitmanLV

Its the quietest ineffectual administration weve had since...Bush 1. Afraid hes dribbling out the clock like his father did. These Rino elites will be the death of us.


7 posted on 05/01/2007 2:43:28 PM PDT by samadams2000 (Someone important make......The Call!)
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To: All

For you wise guys, Conrad Chun is not called Connie Chun. At least not by anyone who wants to keep his rank. :)


8 posted on 05/01/2007 2:43:34 PM PDT by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: samadams2000

I wonder how many other ships had a similar banner that day.


9 posted on 05/01/2007 2:45:03 PM PDT by ex-snook ("But above all things, truth beareth away the victory.")
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To: Vroomfondel; SC Swamp Fox; Fred Hayek; NY Attitude; P3_Acoustic; Bean Counter; investigateworld; ...
SONOBUOY PING!

Note the last line.
Good luck, Josh! Be safe.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium volume pinglist.

10 posted on 05/01/2007 2:45:06 PM PDT by magslinger (Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors. And miss. R.A.Heinlein)
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To: doug from upland

I don’t doubt that, but my point still stands. This admin has an almost pathological inability to make a clear, convincing, and cogent message across.


11 posted on 05/01/2007 2:47:19 PM PDT by HitmanLV ("If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do suck seed." - Jerry 'Curly' Howard)
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To: SittinYonder
Bush said:

"We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We are pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes. We have 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 only thing he lied about was standing with the Iraqis and staying until the work was done ... but it was Reid and Pelosi that made liars out of him, not himself.

The thing that's always gnawed at me about that danged banner is that it was right: For the sailors on that ship, their mission was accomplished.

12 posted on 05/01/2007 2:47:24 PM PDT by SittinYonder (Ic þæt gehate, þæt ic heonon nelle fleon fotes trym, ac wille furðor gan)
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To: doug from upland
For you wise guys, Conrad Chun is not called Connie Chun. At least not by anyone who wants to keep his rank. :)

Admirals may get away with it.

13 posted on 05/01/2007 2:47:24 PM PDT by magslinger (Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors. And miss. R.A.Heinlein)
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To: samadams2000

This crew is out to lunch.


14 posted on 05/01/2007 2:48:05 PM PDT by HitmanLV ("If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do suck seed." - Jerry 'Curly' Howard)
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To: doug from upland

I knew that a while ago, went on some lib blogs and hit’em with it and theyjust spew the same crap over and over.

Until we win the media battle and the battle for our classrooms idiot liberals can continue to spew lies about the truth in this story, and many others, and the vulnerable (young kids and uninformed adults) will take their lies as gospel.

RUN FRED RUN!!!!!

(can I take credit for starting it all?? read below)

I’ve got the perfect dark horse candidate.
Posted on 02/27/2006 2:17:26 PM PST by mark in iowa

Can we draft Fred Thompson for President in ‘08? I think he would be unbeatable! He is a great debater and a staunch conservative. Baisically the polar opposite of George W. If any of you could draft someone outside the current crop of candidates, who would it be?


15 posted on 05/01/2007 2:50:07 PM PDT by mark in iowa
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To: doug from upland

Democrats Calling our Troops liars again.. They say it was Bush’s sign... I say GOP reps need to confront them with their type of spin...i.e., there they go calling our military liars.


16 posted on 05/01/2007 2:50:13 PM PDT by tomnbeverly (Leaving Iraq to defend itself against Al-qaeda is like asking a fetus to protect against abortion.)
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To: HitmanLV

Tht’s because the slimy lying Democrap owned LiberSlut
MSM aided the thieving coward traitor DimoSocialist pig
bests, intio turning what was a welcome home
celebration for the first ship returning to it’s
home port from the battle, into a great big
political lie against the President iof the United
States and the Rep[ublican Admin..totally despicable,
and totally in character for the DimoPervert Slime
Machine.


17 posted on 05/01/2007 2:50:15 PM PDT by NickatNite2003 (From the Man from Hope" to the wife who snarls "Abandon All Hope!")
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To: SittinYonder
Even if his comments were technically accurate, the execution of this "war" has been a national disgrace. If I had told you in May of 2003 that the U.S. would be losing 80-100 soldiers per month four f#%&ing years after "the end of major combat operations" in Iraq, you would have called me insane.

And if I had shown you a glimpse of the future and convinced you that this was true, then we'd probably have had 80%+ of the people here on FR calling for the president's impeachment.

18 posted on 05/01/2007 2:51:03 PM PDT by Alberta's Child
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To: doug from upland

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:SB00YnsO0MYJ:newsbusters.org/node/12344+banners+on+us+ships+returning&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us

Del Dolemonte Says:
April 26, 2007 - 22:43
Strangely enough, a certain AM political radio talk show host predicted exactly that this would happen, right down to the exact day that it would happen. But I digress...

As it happens, I was in Hawaii (where I grew up in the 1960s right after Statehood) for 2 weeks in 2003. The aircraft carrier Bush landed on stopped there on its way home. As the local Hawaiian TV stations reported, the crew of said aircraft carrier had already erected a “Mission Accomplished” banner, which had nothing to do with Bush and Iraq.

In fact, it was meant as a banner for the ship’s successful return from their deployment. My late father was executive officer on a US military ship in the 1950s and 1960s, and he told me (and proved with the pictures he took while on duty) that the ships would always make and display such banners when returning to port after their missions, no matter what the missions were. In his case, the ship he was on was stationed as a weather ship in the North Atlantic.

It’s also interesting to note that Bill Clinton did 5 photo-op visits on US aircraft carriers while he was pResident. That’s 5 times more than the current President, and more than any other President in history.

Considering the fact that Mr. Clinton was the first pResident in almost 50 years who never saw military service (FDR was the last), that’s pretty funny!

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq49-1.htm

Presidential visits to US Navy ships:

William J. Clinton (1992-2001)

Carrier Carl Vinson (1993; 1995)
Carrier George Washington (1994)
Carrier Independence (1996)
Carrier Harry S. Truman (1998)
Guided Missile Cruiser (AEGIS) Hue City (2000)

George W. Bush (2001- ) Carrier Abraham Lincoln (2003)

Want more? The 1994 Clinton visit to the USS GW included these tidbits:

“President Clinton used the aircraft carrier George Washington to ferry himself, various high-ranking officials, 40 White House aides, and 23 members of the Press Corps across the English Channel. He made remarks on the ship June 5, and the next day he and his entourage went ashore for the ceremonies in France (images of which were later used in campaign commercials). Along with them went dozens of towels and bathrobes lifted from the ship’s stores. The Navy investigated and presented the White House a bill for $562. On June 16, 1994, the White House Office of Scheduling and Advance issued a memo to the staff asking that those who took the items please remit payment. No checks were forthcoming, so a member of the office paid the entire bill just to kill the issue. “

Want more?

“(Democrat) President Franklin Roosevelt also took the Cruiser U.S.S. Houston to the Galapagos Islands for a fishing trip. “

“Mission Accomplished”, indeed!


19 posted on 05/01/2007 2:51:19 PM PDT by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: doug from upland

To paraphrase Ann Coulter, you can never, ever let the liberals get away initially with a lie, no matter how small, petty or seemingly insignificant. They build an entire edifice on the foundation of a single mistruth, and then cling to it and defend it like a castle.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Or a good political smearing.

Or a criminal investigation.

Or, it seems, an impeachment.

Lord Help Us All.


20 posted on 05/01/2007 2:51:32 PM PDT by rlmorel (Liberals: If the Truth would help them, they would use it.)
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