What slogan would have been better for a battleship that was being decommissioned after a long, storied, successful run of service?
Speaking of lies.
The USS Abraham Lincoln is a carrier, not a battleship. It was not decommissioned and is still in service.
That said, I think the banner was entirely appropriate in referring to the mission of the ship.
Bush did not use the term in his speech to refer to the American mission in Iraq being completed.
The banner was a political misstep, but it wasn’t a “lie.”