Meacham is trying to use one of the deepest thinkers of our time, Victor Davis Hanson, to make Bush appear shallow. For example, the line,
"Landing on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit and standing before a banner reading "Mission Accomplished" when men and women are still under fire at the front is not preparing people for the unexpected; it is spinning them in defiance of history.Who's spinning here? The U.S. military achieved tremendous success by overthrowing a tyrannical and dangerous regime. That mission was accomplished. The sign didn't say, "Vision Accomplished", it said "Mission Accomplished", which it was.
When war is necessary, it's necessary. It was necessary, and we're winning. Now shut up, Meacham, until it's over.
Thank you for your point! Bush is criticized for claiming "Mission Accomplished," while the fighting was still going on, and more American soldiers have died since that speech on the Lincoln. This is a typical tactic of the left -- putting words in Bush's mouth, and then criticizing him for it. It's like the criticism Bush gets for taking down Saddam when Iraq wasn't an "imminent threat" to the U.S. Bush never used the "imminent threat" justification for war against Saddam, arguing the exact opposite -- that if we wait for Iraq to become an imminent threat, we've waited too long.
As you correctly point out, the mission of the war in Iraq was to topple the Saddam regime. "Mission accomplished!" The new mission is win the peace, and to build a stable Iraq. That mission continues.