A Tale of Two 5/1's
(Above - May 1, 2011. President Obama, Vice-President Biden, Deputy National Security Advisor Dennis McDonough, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, White House Chief of Staff William Daley, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and other officials watch the mission unfold in Abbattabod, Pakistan.) The reality of the situation drips from the photograph, the expressions in the room showing the gravitas of competence in the face of difficulty and risk. Count the smiles in the room.
Contrast the faces in the May 1, 2011 photo with that of the May 1, 2003 photo of George W Bush declaring "Mission Accomplished" while Iraq's condition continued to deteriorate, Afghanistan remained a total mess, and Osama Bin Ladin remained very much alive.
May 1, 2003 - Mission Accomplished without the accomplishments
May 1, 2011 - Mission Accomplished without the smiles
posted by x4mr at 7:15 PM
3 Comments:
Sadly, a strong case could be made, given all the civil liberties we have allowed to be taken from us since 9/11, that Bin Ladin should be the one hanging the "Mission Accomplished" banner.
Indeed, Sirocco. Osama Bin Ladin said that his goal was to bankrupt the United States. He can't take credit for the Bush tax cuts, the unfunded prescription drug bill, or the 2008 finance meltdown, but he was probably most pleased with the Bush administration's hubris on display in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all of the American lives and dollars we squandered.
Then there's Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, waterboarding, suspension of habeas corpus, illegal wiretapping.
Good post, x4mr. The contrast between the faces in that photo and those we have of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the like could not be more striking.
It makes perfect sense that x4mr would hone in on that photo, which will probably go down as a defining moment in US history. It is a terrific picture.
Bush was an arrogant, bungling imbecile who swaggered about in incompetence. Even now the Bushies are clamoring to get some credit. Whatever, guys.
The fact is that after boasting "dead or alive" and producing no results for year after year, Bush retracted his interest in Bin Ladin and claimed his capture/death was no longer important.
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