(Login Dick Gaines) Forum Owner from IP address 71.1.245.84
**********************************
Via E-Mail...
"Mission Accomplished"
Date: Wed, 2 May 2007 10:56:16 -0400.
I thought you might like to hear the rest of the story that the media misinformed the nation about on what "Mission Accomplished" was all about.
My name is Paul Updike and I served aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during the Iraq War. I would like to comment specifically about the controversy that surrounds the displaying of the "Mission Accomplished" banner during the time of the President's visit aboard my ship. It is my sincere hope that I will be able to clear up what appears to be a great misunderstanding about the true meaning behind the banner.
The "Mission Accomplished" banner was created to celebrate the return of the USS Abraham Lincoln to her home port in Everett, WA after an extended 11 month cruise. We were happy and proud to return to our families after such a long time away. The average cruise length for a naval vessel at that time was normally around 6 months. Our mission during Operation Iraqi freedom was accomplished with overwhelming success and thus this banner was created and proudly displayed to represent the USS Abraham Lincoln's individual accomplishments during the war. It certainly did not mean that the American mission as a whole had been accomplished in Iraq.
The media stationed aboard our vessel clearly understood the truth behind the banner yet fed the public a twisted version of this truth. I honestly believe that those opposed to the war saw an opportunity to spin the truth about the banner in order to attack the President. As an officer aboard the ship at that time, I found it to be hurtful and insulting that the media would use our specific accomplishments as a platform to attack our Commander-in-Chief. The President's visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln was a great honor to those of us serving aboard her at the time. It is shameful and reprehensible to see the tremendous spin that has been placed on this great event. I was proud to serve my country and I will always support my Commander-in-Chief. God bless America.
Yours very respectfully,
Paul Updike
PS. If necessary, I have provided this link to validate my identity:
Just a courious question or two about Paul's letter. First, why didn't Mr. Bush set things right about the incident? Seems to me he rode the publisitiy for all it was worth and exploited the event while "grandstanding" all the way. Or was this another something of truth , HE didn't know? So, what is the FULL truth about it all?
Joe Babb
Friday, May 18, 2007 (01:05:53 pm CDT)
LT Updike has it right. After 26 years of military service I have had personal involvement in numerous events covered in the press. In many cases the story is written to present a false impression the author wants to make and the truth getting in the way is only heard when brave people speak up and are given a forum to do so. BZ to LT Updike.
Captain Al Ferber USN Ret
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 (09:05:49 am CDT)
To: Lt. JG Paul Updike, I want to start by saying that I do not usually respond to much of anything on the web. After reading your letter about the "Mission Accomplished" banner, I felt I had to respond. THANK YOU for giving the American public the "TRUTH". As usual, the media has put their own spin on the matter and injected their own personal agenda. I just wish they would deliver the facts, and only the facts, as they occur, without the 'blarny'. Again, from one VERY PROUD AMERICAN TO ANOTHER, THANK YOU FOR THE TRUTH. AND THANK YOU, TO ALL OF OUR BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN, WHO ARE SERVING THE GREATEST NATION ON THE PLANET, WITH THE MOST PRECIOUS THING THEY HAVE, THEIR LIVES.
Respectfully,
Tania Lee Mary Dye, Jacksonville, Fl.
Tania Lee Dye
Thursday, May 03, 2007 (10:05:19 pm CDT)
White House pressed on 'mission accomplished' sign
June 7 2007, 7:19 AM
************************************
White House pressed on 'mission accomplished' sign
Navy suggested it, White House made it, both sides say
From Dana Bash
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) --What was once viewed as a premier presidential photo op continues to dog President Bush six months after he landed on an aircraft carrier to declare "one victory" in the war on terrorism and an end to major combat operations in Iraq.
Attention turned Tuesday to a giant "Mission Accomplished" sign that stood behind Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln when he gave the speech May 1.
The president told reporters the sign was put up by the Navy, not the White House.
"I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff -- they weren't that ingenious, by the way," the president said Tuesday.
Now his statements are being parsed even further.
Navy and administration sources said that though the banner was the Navy's idea, the White House actually made it.
Bush offered the explanation after being asked whether his speech declaring an end to major combat in Iraq under the "Mission Accomplished" banner was premature, given that U.S. casualties in Iraq since then have surpassed those before it.
During the speech in May, Bush said, "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September 11, 2001, and still goes on."
The speech and events surrounding it were widely publicized and served as the symbolic end to the war in Iraq.
At the time, it appeared that every detail of the day's events had been carefully planned, including the president's arrival in the co-pilot's seat of a Navy S-3B Viking after making two flybys of the carrier.
The exterior of the four-seat S-3B Viking was marked with "Navy 1" and "George W. Bush Commander in Chief."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan told CNN that in preparing for the speech, Navy officials on the carrier told Bush aides they wanted a "Mission Accomplished" banner, and the White House agreed to create it.
"We took care of the production of it," McClellan said. "We have people to do those things. But the Navy actually put it up."
The banner has been used by critics of the Bush administration as evidence of bravado and an unclear sense of how dangerous the postwar conflict in Iraq would be.
Assigning responsibility elsewhere, especially to the military, is not a typical move for the Bush administration and raised suspicions among critics.
Cmdr. Conrad Chun, a Navy spokesman, defended the president's assertion.
"The banner was a Navy idea, the ship's idea," Chun said.
"The banner signified the successful completion of the ship's deployment," he said, noting the Abraham Lincoln was deployed 290 days, longer than any other nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in history.
At the time of the event, Democrats worried President Bush would use his speech and the dramatic landing for political gain.
On Tuesday, Democratic presidential candidates, hoping to make it a political liability for Bush, accused him of trying to shift blame for the stagecraft to the Navy.
"Landing on an aircraft carrier and saying 'mission accomplished' didn't end a war, and standing in the Rose Garden and stating that 'Iraq is a dangerous place' does nothing to make American troops safer," Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said in a written statement Tuesday.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean also issued a critical statement.
"Today, we heard him try to walk away from the USS Abraham Lincoln 'end of major combat operations' announcement, absurdly claiming that the White House was not responsible for the 'Mission Accomplished' banner that decorated the flight deck," Dean said.
