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!
I'll admit that I didn't think it would go this way. But failure? Puleeze. The only way this war is a failure is if we follow your path and give the enemy the win.
Ah...that's why the people who've lived there all there lives (and must know so much less about Iraq than you) voted in a constitution that establishes a single Iraqi state. Gotcha.
I don't know who these "al-Qaeda guys" are in Iraq, so I have no idea what they'll do if they stay there. If they leave, then their "next step" (if they even have a plan) would probably be to topple the Saudi royal family.
Sure...they would never take advantage of American weakness. They've never done it before...
re: There is no longer a reason to be in Iraq.
I guess yours is a fair statement if you are prepared to see 2 million dead and an Islamic state in Iraq imposed by Iran. Of course, you will also see the fall of Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the radicals. And then, the best of all. Nuclear-armed Pakistan will fall to the radicals and they finally have their nukes. Israel will ultimately be faced with having to launch nuclear weapons. So, I guess you are right. There is no reason to be there any longer.
This administration is only a more obvious example of a republican party failure to manage the debate.
With the exception of RR, I can remember no time since WW2 that the dem's have NOT controlled the form and the texture of political issues.
When you allow your opponent to define terms and issues, then refuse to stoop to their level and answer in kind - you've already lost.
The fact that the other side isn't at all above outright lies, and seems to enjoy a free pass when breaking laws, only makes it worse.
Who ever knows how a war is going to go? War is armed chaos. We won the major armed conflict and are now fighting an asymmetrical battle as we have never before seen. Around the world, this clash of radical Islam vs. humanity is going to go on for a very long time.
Doug, do you have a direct link to the article?
Captain “Connie” Chun
AKA: “The Chun-meister”, or best known as the Navy Goat (since he dressed as one)while he attended the Naval Academy.
Ummm, I am the direct link. I wrote it for FR after speaking with Capt. Chun.
Who is “the enemy” here?
Oh, OK. Great work Doug!
The enemy is al Qaeda and other radical Islamic groups. Iraq is the front in that war.
Pssst, I linked it to the 2nd Fleet because that is where I reached Chun. And, by linking it there, perhaps it stayed in News/Activism instead of getting lost in some other section, like bloggers and personal. :)
Then what was that whole episode with the U.S. trying to construct a wall through the middle of Baghdad all about?
I'd also point out that the Iraqi constitution in question enshrines Islam as the official state religion, which raises two points: 1) it pretty much guaranteed that the country could never be unified (i.e., the Shi'ite-Sunni conflict was inevitably going to raise its ugly head); and 2) there's no way in hell the U.S. public would ever have supported this stupid war in the first place if it had known back in 2002 that the U.S. government would p!ss away 3,000+ lives on a bizarre campaign to establish an Islamic state in the Middle East.
Actually, not to detract from your Pajamas Media type reporting, which is excellent and I love seeing stuff like this, but this is the story that I understood was the truth back when the traitor Dems were making such a big deal about the banner. Actually, I pieced it together from reading the various reports and statements on FR. But, you’re right, the terrorist-aiding major media intentionally misreported the story in order to do damage to President Bush as well as the WoT. Thank you for bringing this up again on the 4-year anniversay of this event. The treasonous media is, again, making hay over this and it is good to see the truth being further revealed and discussed here. Oh, and your son deserves gratitude for his service to our nation. I see that the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree in your case.
Oddly enough (or maybe this is the plan after all), having 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq prevents the U.S. from implementing the one measure that would be most effective and most politically feasible — i.e., turning Iraq into a vast wasteland whose only function is to provide oil for normal people.
If Iraq is the front in this war, then anything short of destroying the place would seem to be nothing more than a futile gesture.
The straight truth from a NAvy PAO.
Right.
I also knew of the story then. Now seemed like an appropriate time to go to the source and try to shine the light on some truth.
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