Mission Accomplished, 4 Years on: A Commentary in Links

Remarks by President Bush announcing the end of major combat operations in Iraq Thursday evening [May 1, 2003] from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln:

Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing

Riots, Looting? Stuff Happens

and reconstructing that country.

7 of 8 major reconstruction projects in danger of failing.

US has failed to reconstruct Iraq.

In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty,

Trudy Rubin: ”Wolfowitz told me he believed that the London-based Iraqi opposition (headed by Ahmed Chalabi) would return to Baghdad and assume the reins of power . . ."

Al-Maliki Government uses Saddam-era law to block corruption probes.

and for the peace of the world . . .

The Iraq Effect: War has Increased Terrorism Seven Fold.

"Iraq civilian attacks send worldwide terror deaths soaring: US".

In the images of fallen statues, we have witnessed the arrival of a new era.

Toppling of Saddam statue faked.

For a hundred years of war, culminating in the nuclear age, military technology was designed and deployed to inflict casualties on an ever-growing scale. In defeating Nazi Germany and imperial Japan, Allied Forces destroyed entire cities, while enemy leaders who started the conflict were safe until the final days. Military power was used to end a regime by breaking a nation. Today, we have the greater power to free a nation by breaking a dangerous and aggressive regime. With new tactics and precision weapons, we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians. No device of man can remove the tragedy from war. Yet it is a great advance when the guilty have far more to fear from war than the innocent.

Study: War Blamed for 655,000 Iraqi Deaths.

In the images of celebrating Iraqis, we have also seen the ageless appeal of human freedom. Decades of lies and intimidation could not make the Iraqi people love their oppressors or desire their own enslavement. Men and women in every culture need liberty like they need food, and water, and air. Everywhere that freedom arrives, humanity rejoices. And everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

Bloody Iraq Uprising Rocks US.

We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We are pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes.

One thing is certain: the Death of Saddam was About Revenge, not Justice.

We have begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons, and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated.

David Kay: No Evidence Iraq Stockpiled WMD.

We are helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of hospitals and schools. And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by, and for the Iraqi people. The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done. And then we will leave — and we will leave behind a free Iraq . . .

How to get Out of Iraq.