The President Lands on the USS Abraham Lincoln--PHOTOS HERE

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

President

Bush (news - web sites) lands in a U.S. Navy (news - web sites) S-3B Viking on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, in this image from video, Thursday, May 1, 2003, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. The S-3B Viking is dubbed Navy One because of its presidential passenger. (AP Photo/APTN)

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

[Blood of Tyrants]

[dennisw]

Looking good and making the USofA look great! The Pres and the all crew! May God bless our fighting forces, our defense forces and our Commander in Chief.

[texasbluebell]

[sarasota]

He's the man!

[aruanan]

Quite a bit different from an El Camino with a carpet in the back, huh?

[Digger]

They all learned from you, Ronnie Reagan.

[Utah Girl]

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

SAN DIEGO (May 1) - President Bush has landed on board a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Pacific, where he will mark the end of major military operations in a prime-time television address.

President Bush wants to call the war in Iraq a success and give Americans some sense of finality now that U.S. warplanes are no longer dropping bombs on Baghdad and military ground operations are limited mostly to skirmishes and policing.

Six weeks ago, Bush appeared on television to inform the nation that the war had begun with a mission targeting Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein.

On the same day that Bush was prepared to proclaim fighting over in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was made a similar declaration for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Bush also is to proclaim that the speedy military operation has improved the security of the United States and liberated the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein's brutal reign, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. While ushering out the combat phase, Bush's remarks will herald the official beginning of Iraq's reconstruction, he said.

''This is a marked and important moment because ... the Iraqi people now have freedom. The threat to the United States has been removed,'' Fleischer said.

Still, the president will carefully phrase his words so that he does not actually declare either victory or an end to war.

Such declarations could trigger international provisions requiring the speedy release of prisoners of war, limiting efforts to go after deposed Iraqi leaders and designating the United States as an occupying power.

Another factor is the situation on the ground. U.S. troops have fired on and killed anti-U.S. protesters in recent days, for instance, after saying they were fired on first from among the crowds. ''Threats do, indeed, remain,'' Fleischer said.

Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction that were Bush's rationale for war - but which have not been found - are another tricky topic. White House officials were cryptic about how, or if, the president would handle it - or the unknown whereabouts of Saddam.

Fleischer also would not predict when the war would be declared legally over.

In a sign of the political significance of the address, set for 9 p.m. EDT, Bush rehearsed the speech Wednesday in the White House theater.

Providing the backdrop for the carefully staged event are the more than 5,000 sailors and Marines who are still aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and will be only hours away from seeing their families for the first time in nearly 10 months. The ship, bound for its home port of Everett, Wash., is to reach San Diego Friday.

A total of 16,500 sorties were launched from the Lincoln deck as part of three separate Pentagon missions - the operation to patrol the southern no-fly zone in Iraq, the military's efforts in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. No aircraft or Navy personnel were lost in the sorties.

In paying his tribute, Bush was to portray the Iraq war as just one piece of the continuing war on terror. He also was to broadly outline his vision of a new kind of warfare, a senior administration official said.

Bush flew from the White House to California on Air Force One. Then, after exchanging his suit and tie for a flight suit and getting briefed on ejection procedures, he was ferried to the ship, still hundreds of miles off the California coast, by a tiny Navy plane.

The S-3B ''Viking'' - dubbed Navy One because of its presidential passenger - has room only for Bush, riding in the front seat next to the pilot, and two or three more passengers.

The president was in for an exciting - but not risky -landing, according to administration officials. As the plane hits the Lincoln at about 150 mph, cables stretched across the deck are to catch it and wrench it to a stop in only a couple seconds.

''Never can tell what's going to kick in,'' the president, a former pilot, joked to reporters before an Oval Office meeting Wednesday with the president of Colombia. ''Let me just say, stay clear of the landing pattern.''

Rear Adm. John Kelly, commander of the Lincoln battle group, said Thursday on CBS' ''The Early Show'' that the pilot slated to land Bush on the carrier ''has flown through extraordinary pressure in support of combat operations for months now. I am very confident that he'll do a great job.''

White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said Thursday on NBC's ''Today'' that flying the jet to the carrier ''is actually safer than a helicopter because you have the ability to eject. In a helicopter, if something goes wrong, you're stuck.''

Once aboard, Bush was touring the 1,100-foot ship's operations center, watching fighter jets take off from the deck and meeting with F-18 pilots and with Capt. Kendall L. Card. He was dining with about 150 enlisted sailors after the speech.

The president was spending the night in captain's quarters. After breakfast in the morning, he was to leave ahead of the carrier's arrival into port so his presence would not delay troops' reunion with loved ones.

His return to land would be far less thrilling, but by more familiar means - the Marine One helicopter that is one of his standard modes of transport.

[habs4ever]

A man's man, vs any other pretender the Dems can throw up.I bet Slick will be torqued beyond belief when he sees those pics ;-)

[texasbluebell]

He's the top Top Gun!

[Blood of Tyrants]

LOL! Everyone must have been issued new shirts and float coats just for the president. Usually those shirts abd coats are so grungy that you can barely tell what color they are! (the planes and flight deck are usually greasy and nasty)

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

The president was spending the night in captain's quarters. After breakfast in the morning, he was to leave ahead of the carrier's arrival into port so his presence would not delay troops' reunion with loved ones.

It's never about Bush, it's always about others. Bless this man.

[Publius6961]

Damn!

Now... That's a Commander-in-Chief!

[Triple]

Sorry -

Navy One

[The South Texan]

Tom Daschile and Hitlary Clinton must be one jealous *astard and *itch respectively.

[asformeandformyhouse]

so his presence would not delay troops' reunion with loved ones.

What! No three hour haircuts?

[Utah Girl]

[andy58-in-nh]

Quite a bit different from an El Camino with a carpet in the back, huh?

You've got that right. If you really want to laugh (or cry) just try to imagine Algore doing the same thing. Nah, on second thought, jet fuel causes global warming. He probably would have jogged.

[stainlessbanner]

W, I'll be your wingman anytime!