Posted on 04/30/2003 3:44:28 PM PDT by finnman69
With sailors, marines and a flight deck full of fighter jets on a US aircraft carrier as his backdrop, President George W. Bush will on Thursday night declare the triumph of US forces in Iraq. With sailors, marines and a flight deck full of fighter jets on a US aircraft carrier as his backdrop, President George W. Bush will on Thursday night declare the triumph of US forces in Iraq.With sailors, marines and a flight deck full of fighter jets on a US aircraft carrier as his backdrop, President George W. Bush will on Thursday night declare the triumph of US forces in Iraq.
But Mr Bush will choose his words carefully to avoid making a straightforward victory declaration, and will not announce the end of the war. Instead, he will say that the main combat operations in Iraq are over.
Under the Geneva Convention, a victorious army must release prisoners of war and cease operations aimed at enemy leaders once war is declared to be over.
The Bush administration does not want to burden the US-led forces in Iraq with the legal responsibilities of an occupying power, which would be triggered by a statement from the president marking the end of the war.
But the White House is also keen to give the American people a sense of closure after the Iraq war, and to reap political riches from the success of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as Mr Bush trains his energies on the domestic agenda and his 2004 re-election campaign.
The jumpsuit and jet-fighter backdrop chosen to mark the end of hostilities offers a dramatic contrast to Mr Bush's solemn and formulaic statement at the outset of the conflict on March 19. For that occasion he addressed the nation from behind the so-called Resolute desk - carved from the timbers of the abandoned British warship HMS Resolute.
On Thursday evening, Mr Bush, who is known to enjoy sporting the US military bomber jacket that is the prerogative of the commander-in-chief, is expected to land on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in a Viking jet.
The S-3B Viking, which which will carry Mr Bush to the aircraft carrier recently returned after nine months at sea, normally serves as a reconnaissance scout and attack aircraft that hunts enemy submarines.
The four-seater jet will need to make a cable-arrested landing.
The dramatic staging of Mr Bush's close of combat remarks are due to be televised live on the main US television networks at the request of the White House.
"The ship will be hundreds of miles from shore when the president arrives," Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, said on Wenesday. "It will be steaming the entire time. The speech will be given on the moving aircraft carrier literally bringing the sailors and marines home to their families and loved ones."
Mr Fleischer noted that Mr Bush could not be expected to announce the end of the war when US forces continued to encounter pockets of Iraqi resistance.
Mr Bush has spoken to General Tommy Franks, who told him that "major combat operations have ended and that the next phase has begun, which is the reconstruction of Iraq", Mr Fleischer said.
Over the past three weeks, a series of increasingly senior US officials ranging from Major General Stanley McChrystal to Colin Powell, secretary of state, and Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, have lined up to announce the end of the hostilities phase.
But the White House press office is determined to present Mr Bush - who served in the Texas Air National Guard during the war in Vietnam - as a president deeply embedded in the US military.
I am a little out of my area, but I do know they land at full throttle. Its probably in the neighborhood of 150-175 knots, but thats just a guess.,/p>
I can't recall a President ever riding in a Naval Aircraft. (or an Army one, for that matter.)
Navy 1
Actually, the bosun mate of the watch would ring 8 bells (ding-ding times 4) and pass the word "United States, Arriving" (United States is his short title). After he got off the plane, he would pass through a line 8 side boys with another bosun mate piping him aboard.
Ike passing through side boys.
I doubt it will be Air Force One when it's a Navy aircraft. When he's in a Marine chopper, it become Marine One, when he's in an Air Force plane, be the "Presidential" 747 or not, it's Air Force One, so I'm pretty sure that S-3 will become Navy One. Maybe they' stencil something under the cockpit to indicate a successfull Presidential ferry mission. :) Hmm, what would be appropriate? Maybe a small version of the Presidential Seal? Maybe a Large version just for the mission? That would be good.
F-102 Delta Dagger. He flew them just before, basically up until, his unit converted to the F-106. Just like these.
Those are even from his unit of the Texas Air National Guard.
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