"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message

Gee Kurt, what are you doing in a Nazi thread? (-:

In article ,

You, too, Nestork. I guess now that you've fed the trolls, I have to
provide desert.

"Mission Accomplished" speech that George W. Bush gave
aboard an aircraft carrier declaring that major military operations in
Iraq were over. You couldn't miss it; he made that announcement dressed
up in a full g-suit to give you the impression that he'd just finished a
bombing sortie over Baghdad.

No, no. That was just the only thing he had in the closet that was clean
that day. (-:

Well, it turns out that announcement was made on the deck of a US
aircraft carrier only a few miles off the coast of San Diego. The
podium and news cameras were set up so that the cameras were pointed
toward the open ocean. That way, no one would see the US main land in
the back ground.

A prime example of exactly what I meant. It was made abundantly clear
at the time that he was welcoming the Lincoln back to the US from a tour
off Iraq.

"Abundantly clear?" Not a word I would use to describe a clearly contrived
photo op. It strains credulity to believe that the Whitehouse PR team
wasn't pushing very hard to make it seem the war in Iraq was "wrapping up."
Given the huge number of staffers that travel with the President it's very
hard to believe that they had nothing to do with the banner's creation or in
pointing the ship so that it looked far out at sea. It was, in fact, within
chopper range and a helicopter would have been a much more appropriate and
safer method of transportation to the carrier - unless you wanted to project
the image of a macho warrior President. It was a stupid risk to take for a
PR stunt.

The Mission accomplished banner was put up at the request of
Navy because the Lincoln had done just that and was heading home.

Jeez. Bush was the CinC. That means he *runs* the Navy. That means naval
personnel do NOTHING that's not approved by the Whitehouse, especially in
an incredibly carefully staged presidential photo-op. To believe otherwise
is just not credible. They tried to pull a fast one and got caught. Simple
as that. It happens to Democrats and Republicans alike.

Nowhere in the speech was the term Mission Accomplished ever used

That's because Rumsfeld saw the phrase when vetting an advance copy of the
speech and DEMANDED they remove the phrase. The Whitehouse staff figured
out a way to say what they (and Bush, I think, as well) wanted to say
anyway. They just resorted to a slight misdirection in the form of a HUGE
banner with the words: "Mission Accomplished." While it didn't come out of
his mouth *that* day, it was strongly implied by that huge banner.

and indeed, Bush specifically stated "We have difficult work to do in
Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain
dangerous."

Yep. That's the boring part that people would pay less attention to and
that might even be edited out for time. But the still photographs of Bush
in front of the huge banner wearing a flight suit had no "abundantly clear"
explanation attached. That was the ultimate goal of the Whitehouse because
it gave them plausible deniability, poked Rumsfeld (perhaps the most hated
Cabinet member in the Whitehouse) and projected the exactly the message they
wanted to project.

The picture below was clearly the desired result because it revealed no
"abundantly clear" indication it concerned the just the ending of a single
tour of duty of the carrier.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...complished.jpg

It was as naked a misdirect as you get in the PR business.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission...plished_speech says, with
footnotes:

The White House claimed that the banner was requested by the crew of the
ship, who did not have the facilities for producing such a banner.
Afterward, the administration and naval sources stated that the banner was
the Navy's idea, White House staff members made the banner, and it was hung
by the U.S. Navy personnel. White House spokesman Scott McClellan told CNN,
"We took care of the production of it. We have people to do those things.
But the Navy actually put it up."[8] According to John Dickerson of Time
magazine, the White House later conceded that they hung the banner but still
insists it had been done at the request of the crew members.[9]

"Later conceded" is politespeak for "admitted they were lying when they were
caught."

ANd especially telling: "Our mission continues...The War on Terror
continues, yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final
victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide."

If you believe that huge banner happened by accident I have a bridge to sell
you. Bush was not the pilot, he's not carrier-landing rated. Why would he
even BE there if the goal wasn't to project that "something" was completed?
Does it seem likely that the President would dramatically fly onto a carrier
at sea just to note their (temporary) return from sea duty? It's pretty
clear the whole photo-op including the banner came right out of the
Whitehouse. It was an obviously pre-planned and well-choreographed photo
opportunity that relied on several levels of deception.

So not only was there an abundance of propaganda, but the anti-Bush
propaganda won out. So much for making the spreading of lies harder. If
anything it would seem to make the spreading substantially easier.

Nestork was right, I'm afraid. That whole little charade was meant to
mislead from the very beginning and it was only when various news
organizations began to dig deeper did the Whitehouse backtrack and say "we
made the banner, we hung the banner, but the Navy *asked* us to do it.
After all, we're just the personal staff of the Commander-in-Chief - we do
whatever the crew of a Navy ship tells us." Uh huh.

Doesn't sound so credible when you look at it that way and when you consider
his speech a month later:

Bush did offer a "Mission Accomplished" message to the troops in
Afghanistan at Camp As Sayliyah on June 5, 2003 - about a month after the
aircraft carrier speech: "America sent you on a mission to remove a grave
threat and to liberate an oppressed people, and that mission has been
accomplished."[12]

In January 2009, Bush said that "Clearly, putting 'Mission Accomplished' on
an aircraft carrier was a mistake".[16]

The press experts at the Whitehouse knew that the whole landing would boil
down to a nice, handy and very misleading news "bite" showing Bush as the
triumphant warrior/leader in front of a huge "Mission Accomplished" banner-
that's *real* propaganda. Sorry, but your version of events sounds a little
"Rosemary Woods-ish." I find it interesting considering how convinced you
are that the press was being misleading by not including "What did he look
like?" regarding GZ's "he's black" comment. The whole "Mission
Accomplished" event was textbook example of the concept of "misleading."

--
Bobby G.

References[edit source | edit]
1.. ^ a b "Viking (S-3B)". National Museum of Naval Aviation. Archived
from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
2.. ^ Globalsecurity.org
3.. ^ Lyke, M.L. (May 2, 2003). "Commander in chief's visit sets aircraft
carrier's crew abuzz". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
4.. ^ Richard Nixon had landed aboard the USS Hornet in a helicopter for
the Apollo 11 recovery, but not in an arrested landing. Blair, Don (2004).
Splashdown! NASA and the Navy. Turner Publishing Company. p. 161. ISBN
978-1-56311-985-9. OCLC 56563004. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
5.. ^ "'Mission Accomplished' Whodunit". CBS News. October 29, 2003.
Archived from the original on June 18, 2006. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
6.. ^ Byron York on Presidential Lies on National Review Online
7.. ^ 'Mission Accomplished' Whodunit - Oct. 29, 2003
8.. ^ "White House pressed on 'mission accomplished' sign". CNN. October
27, 2003. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
9.. ^ "Bush's 'Bannergate' Shuffle". Time. November 1, 2003. Retrieved
April 21, 2010.
10.. ^ a b "Text Of Bush Speech". CBS News. May 1, 2003. Archived from the
original on May 25, 2006. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
11.. ^ DefenseLink News Transcript: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Interviews with Mr. Bob Woodward - July 6 and 7, 2006
12.. ^ Keen, Judy (June 5, 2003). "Bush to troops: Mission accomplished".
USA Today. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
13.. ^ "'Mission Accomplished' Revisited". CBS News. April 30, 2004.
Archived from the original on May 28, 2006. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
14.. ^ "Rumsfeld: Major combat over in Afghanistan". CNN. May 1, 2003.
Retrieved April 21, 2010.
15.. ^ Bush Says He Regrets Use of Iraq `Mission Accomplished' Banner,
Holly Roswenkrantz, Nov 12, 2008, Bloomberg News.
16.. ^ "Seeking a Legacy, Bush Cites Security". Time. January 12, 2009.
Retrieved April 21, 2010.
17.. ^ "Mission Not Accomplished". Time. June 10, 2003. Archived from the
original on April 20, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
18.. ^ White House Press Briefing for April 30, 2008
19.. ^ May 5, 2008 The Daily Show clip commenting on the famous banner.
As long as people can talk to one another, we can avoid war. In order
to motivate someone sufficiently to risk their lives to kill someone
else, they have to be convinced that that other person deserves to be
killed, and that doesn't happen when they can talk directly with each
other using twitter or facebook or myspace or even internet forums like
this one.
IN which alternative universe?
--
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late
to work within the system, but too early to shoot
the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe