Flashback: Read McCain's 'Mission Accomplished' Iraq Speech

UPDATE: John McCain said on Thursday that President Bush shouldn't be blamed for the "Mission Accomplished" banner:

Republican John McCain says President Bush should not be held responsible for the much-criticized "mission accomplished" banner five years ago, but he should be blamed for bungling the early months of the Iraq war.

Thursday was the fifth anniversary of Bush's dramatic landing on an aircraft carrier where the banner hung. The certain GOP presidential nominee said he thought the banner was a mistake at the time.

As a refresher, here is the first paragraph of Bush's speech in front of the banner: "[M]y fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

Moreover, McCain himself defended the banner in June 2003 on Fox News:

NEIL CAVUTO (host): Senator -- after a conflict means after the conflict, and many argue the conflict isn't over.

McCAIN: Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier? Look, the -- I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process, but the conflict -- the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished, and it's very appropriate.

And on May 22, 2003 -- just three weeks after Bush spoke on the aircraft carrier -- McCain offered a mission accomplished speech of his own. On the Senate floor, McCain proclaimed "massive victory" in Iraq and credited combat-readiness for "our victory" in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Here's the extended excerpt from that speech:

Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom demonstrated to the world what we saw just 12 years ago. We went to war as the most combat-ready force in the world. The value of that readiness is clear. We won a massive victory in a few weeks, and we did so with very limited loss of American and allied lives. We were able to end aggression with minimum overall loss of life, and we were even able to greatly reduce the civilian casualties of Afghani and Iraqi citizens.

In order to understand the issues involved, it is necessary to recognize just how difficult it is to achieve the kind of readiness we had during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Readiness is not solely a matter of funding operations and maintenance at the proper level. It is not only a matter of funding adequate numbers of high quality personnel, or of funding superior weapons and munitions, strategic mobility and propositioning, high operating tempos, realistic levels of training at every level of combat, or of logistics and support capabilities.

Readiness, in fact, is all of these things and more. A force beings to go hollow the moment it loses its overall mix of combat capabilities in any one critical area. Our technology edge in Afghanistan and Iraq would have been meaningless if we did not have men and women trained to use it. Having the best weapons system platforms in the world would not have given us our victory if we had not had the right command and control facilities, maintenance capabilities, and munitions.

Comments

[MinneapolisBob]

Typical bush MO: He has never taken responsibility for anything which he has done with a negative result. Which by the way, is pretty much everything he has done. The blame is always someone else's fault.

Again, McCain showing his true colors. His loyalty is not to the American people, it's to his party.
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VOTE! The Supreme Court is in the balance. Keep our freedoms, liberties and rights.

[awcbuddy8]

I assume you want jsutices who will follow the Constituti­on...a piece of paper not to supportive of current liberal policies.

[Lisette]

McCain -- for those of us opposed to war,
to have Military experience
is NOT a bragging point!

[awcbuddy8]

Well then it sucks to be you.

[partyofone]

Oh good. Let's see how long and how far McCain goes in defending George Bush. Very unwise to even start it. Bush is a disaster of a president by any value or measure.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

Check out the current issue of The Atlantic Monthly, where one of Bush's triumvirate of speech writers tells us that the "Mission Accomplished" phrase was in active play BEFORE the U.S. Navy erected the banner. Bush was in it up to his cojones, and, of course, McBush is wrong, again....

[BushBites]

McCain's still in love with the man with the Codpiece.

[chronic5]

Yep, and Bush has got to be responsible for his own codpiece, let's hope. Can we agree that he can probably dress himself and made that choice to enhance his manhood on his own?

[mickyx65it]

Oh, well, what else could McBush say about war? Look, McFuckingBomb. Let me give you some news. There is no reconstruction. There is war, war, and war. The war you want for 100 years.

[MtDavid]

But did you listen to the words!!!
"Major hostilities are over.." Bush was incurious. That means stupid.
He was duped by rats (neo-cons and Karl) who bailed ship.
To apologize for this idiot is almost as bad as being the idiot.
I can't believe racism of some Americans could cause them to vote
for yet another idiot (McCain) for become president.
If they do, Americans will get what they deserve. As Forest's Mom
said, "Stupid is as stupid does."

[landoffools]

Ahh!!

McFraud's lipstick marks on Georgies ass !!

How Cute !!

[bikerdude]

And a few more:
"We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy like Clinton or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern. They want a guy who's president. Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple. We're not like the Brits."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 5/1/03

"Do you all remember Scott Ritter, you know, the former chief U.N. weapons inspector who played chief stooge for Saddam Hussein? Well, Mr. Ritter actually told a French radio network that -- quote, 'The United States is going to leave Baghdad with its tail between its legs, defeated.' Sorry, Scott. I think you've been chasing the wrong tail, again.

"Maybe disgraced commentators and politicians alike, like Daschle, Jimmy Carter, Dennis Kucinich, and all those others, will step forward tonight and show the content of their character by simply admitting what we know already: that their wartime predictions were arrogant, they were misguided and they were dead wrong. Maybe, just maybe, these self-anointed critics will learn from their mistakes. But I doubt it. After all, we don't call them 'elitists' for nothing."
(MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, 4/10/03)

[dct1999]

Thanks for the quotes.

Aren't these the same people who keep telling us that McCain is a straight talking maverick? Damn, how soon before war in Iran?

[GreeksBearingGifts]

Truth is stranger than fiction, ain't it?

[radiojunkie]

I used to like Olberman, thought he told the truth. I just read where he says that Barry McCaffery is an "agent of truth." What a freaking tool!

[bikerdude]

Here are some more quotes about "Mission Accomplished" from the "day"

"Now that the combat phase of the war in Iraq is officially over, what begins is a debate throughout the entire U.S. government over America's unrivaled power and how best to use it."
(CBS reporter Joie Chen, 5/4/03)

"Tommy Franks and the coalition forces have demonstrated the old axiom that boldness on the battlefield produces swift and relatively bloodless victory. The three-week swing through Iraq has utterly shattered skeptics' complaints­."
(Fox News Channel's Tony Snow, 4/13/03)

"The only people who think this wasn't a victory are Upper Westside liberals, and a few people here in Washington­."
(Charles Krauthammer, Inside Washington, WUSA-TV, 4/19/03)

"We had controversial wars that divided the country. This war united the country and brought the military back."
(Newsweek's Howard Fineman--MSNBC, 5/7/03)

"We're all neo-cons now."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 4/9/03)

"The war was the hard part. The hard part was putting together a coalition, getting 300,000 troops over there and all their equipment and winning. And it gets easier. I mean, setting up a democracy is hard, but it is not as hard as winning a war."
(Fox News Channel's Fred Barnes, 4/10/03)

[PaceSetter]

So where does the buck stop with these two guys? I mean, really - he showed up "flying" a fighter plane, "landed" on the ship with his prepared speech in hand, er, on the teleprompter, but said to himself, "Georgie, ol' boy, you may be the decider, you sure didn't decide to approve that hu-f*cking-mungous Mission Accomplished Banner. Them boys down at Kinkos dun embarassed you again, but shoot, the whole damed world is watchin' so ya might as well go ahead with it anyways, but damed if them Kinkos guys is gonna have a job tomorrow, that's fer sure."

He did say himself, that day: "In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty and for the peace of the world. Our nation and our coalition are proud of this accomplishment, yet it is you, the members of the United States military, who achieved it. Your courage, your willingness to face danger for your country and for each other made this day possible."

When Baghdad fell and Bush delivered his “mission accomplished” speech May 1, 2003, approval of his handling of Iraq exceeded 70 percent. Today 71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush his handling his job as president.

Don't you 'Merica haters know, every time a US ship comes home from war, it flies the traditional "Hu-F*cking-Mungous Mission Accomplished Banner"? (H.F.M.M.A­.B.) *sheesh*

[95flhtcu]

LOL! Now THAT'S F***in' funny!

[bikerdude]

In case we forget, here's what Tweety Matthews said in the day:

"Why don't the damn Democrats give the president his day? He won today. He did well today."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 4/9/03)

"What's he going to talk about a year from now, the fact that the war went too well and it's over? I mean, don't these things sort of lose their--Isn't there a fresh date on some of these debate points?"
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, speaking about Howard Dean--4/9/03)

[Virago55]

Well hell, why start now?

[NochlessMonster]

Funny.... no matter how they try to spin it..... no matter what they say now, and despite the vigorous re-writing of history...­.. I saw the speech, and watched as he strutted across the deck in his play costume of the day.... I remember what he said.... and EXACTLY what was meant by the banner....­......

Happy Anniversary Mr. President.­..... You must be proud....

[lucky54]

What's wrong with Sindy McSlame eyes??? She looks stoned to me all the time .... actually, I can understand, this is probably the only way to be able to wake up every morning next to a dead man.