Mission Accomplished?

Last night George W. Bush vetoed a spending bill for the Iraq War that would have set benchmarks and timetables for the withdrawal of American service personnel from Iraq. (The House sustained the veto today, forcing Congress and the President to negotiate a new bill.) The veto occurred four years to the day after he declared major combat in Iraq over and declared that the American mission to remove Saddam Hussein as a threat to the Middle East had been achieved. And, friends, it had been, for Saddam was out of power, on the run, and unable to do dastardly things like invade a neighboring country or launch a missile into Tel Aviv.

But wait. Bush forgot to tell us about the other objective he had in mind - to stabilize Iraq and make it a peaceful, docile country.

It is therefore nothing short of high irony that the Democratic Congress handed Bush a bill on the fourth anniversary of his "Mission Accomplished" speech on that aircraft carrier and he felt to compelled to veto it on the basis of the argument that our work is not yet done.

Even more appalling is the Republican congressional minority's blindsided, lunkheaded appraisal of Bush's unwavering policies. Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma claims that progress in Iraq is being made in pacifying the civil strife there. Remember, he's also the guy who thinks global warming is a hoax.

I know Bush realizes that the war is four years old and we're all four years older. Does he even notice that over three thousand Americans won't be getting older as a result of their deaths in Iraq? :-(