'Mission Accomplished' One Year Later

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of President Bush's flight-suit landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln to announce "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. So far, 726 Americans have died in Iraq according to the Pentagon with more than three-quarters of the deaths occurring since the president's declaration last spring. Public support for the war has plummeted as the American public rightly fears a protracted and costly occupation of Iraq and rising hatred and distrust of U.S. intentions across the globe.

• The Bush administration has failed to plan for any aspect of post-war Iraq. The complete failure to plan has produced a dangerous cycle: rising violence takes away from reconstruction efforts; Iraqi anxiety grows as living conditions worsen and security clampdowns increase; and more American soldiers die as new insurgents emerge. As a recent Gallup poll shows, 71 percent of Iraqis now view Americans as "occupiers" rather than "liberators."
• With 61 days until the transfer of power in Iraq, the Bush administration has no plan for political transition. The administration has yet to announce who or what will take over in Iraq on June 30. After repeatedly spurning U.N. efforts, the Bush administration has finally recognized that it must rely on U.N. Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi to help solve the situation.
• President Bush's unilateral war means Americans foot the bill. President Bush blew all of the good will extended to America after 9/11 by going to war unilaterally in Iraq. His continued diplomatic failures have forced Americans to shoulder almost all of the costs and burdens of the occupation – estimated to cost taxpayers more than $200 billion by the summer – as more of the world community turns against the policies of the Bush administration.

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