Mission accomplished

[[Image:McCain_mission_accomplished.png|thumb|right|165px|Senator John McCain using the phrase "mission accomplished" in a June 2003 interview.]]
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"'''Mission accomplished'''" is a military phrase associated with completing a mission.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4icZAAAAIAAJ&q=%22mission+accomplished%22+military&dq=%22mission+accomplished%22+military&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlvaDk97zaAhXQT98KHd3OACQ4HhDoAQhTMAg "mission accomplished: command given to cause cessation of fire when the firing mission is completed".] Military terms, abbreviations, and symbols. United States. Dept. of the Army, 1953.</ref> It was used controversially by the [[US Armed Forces|American military]] and [[Republican]] politicians in reference to the [[United States]]' at-the-time-unfinished [[War in Iraq|entanglement]] in [[Iraq]].

==John McCain==
The phrase was used by [[Senator]] [[John McCain]] in a June 2003 interview with [[Neil Cavuto]].

{{cquote|NEIL CAVUTO: … Senator — after a conflict means after the conflict, and many argue the conflict isn't over.

JOHN MCCAIN: Well, then why was there a banner that said 'mission accomplished' on the aircraft carrier? … the conflict — the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished…<ref>June 11, 2003, on [[Fox News]]'s ''Your Words With Neil Cavuto''.  [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSIrSNf0m7Q Video on YouTube.]</ref>}}

McCain again used the phrase in December 2003, but in reference to the effect which the recent capture of [[Saddam Hussein]] would have on the Iraq War, saying "This is a mission accomplished."<ref>December 14, on ABC's ''This Week'', quoted at [http://www.mccainsource.com/security?id=0003 McCain Source] (link broken, site now blanked).</ref>

John McCain denounced the phrase on May 1, 2008, saying:

{{cquote|I don't know if you could ever say, quote 'mission accomplished,' as much as you could say 'Americans are out of harm's way.' And that's the key to America's concern — casualties.<ref>May 1, 2008, at a town hall meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, quoted at [https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24418639 MSNBC.]</ref>}}

==Bush administration==
The phrase had earlier been seen on a sign displayed on the USS ''Abraham Lincoln'' (sorry, Abe) during a televised address by United States President [[George W. Bush]] on May 1, 2003, when he stated that major combat operations in Iraq had "ended."

[[Conservative]]s try to defend Bush by saying this had nothing to do with Dubya, and everything to do with the Lincoln Carrier Battle Group, which did accomplish its mission. And for months, the Bush administration denied that it was responsible for the banner, ''blaming the aircraft carrier crew itself'' for putting it up.

Since then, White House officials have acknowledged it was their idea. "We put it up. We made the sign," former [[White House]] spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "But I think it accurately summed up where we were at the time, mission accomplished...the mission was to topple Saddam Hussein."<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mission-accomplished-revisited/ 'Mission Accomplished' Revisited] by Joel Roberts (April 30, 2004, 3:19 PM) ''CBS''.</ref>

==Mission ''actually'' accomplished (?)==
Bush signed an order to have all troops removed from Iraq by the end of 2011, which President [[Barack Obama]] dutifully carried out, much to the [[irony|dismay of his detractors]].  Whether or not the original goals of a military intervention in Iraq were realized is still to be determined.

==References==
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[[Category:2008 US Presidential Election]]
[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:Political strategery]]
[[Category:United States politics]]

Categories: 2008 US Presidential Election, Military, Political strategery, United States politics