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      A large replica of the"Mission Accomplished" banner on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington, DC May 1, 2008

      Twenty Years After George W. Bush's Infamous 'Mission Accomplished' Claim

      The disgraced former president's rhetorical victory lap that came before protracted bloodshed deserves all of its notoriety 20 years later.

      Norman Solomon
      May 01, 2023

      Twenty years ago, President George W. Bush landed in a twin-engine Navy jet on an aircraft carrier, strode across the deck in a bulky flight suit and proceeded to give a televised victory speech under a huge red-white-and-blue banner announcing “Mission Accomplished.” For Bush, the optics on May 1, 2003 could hardly have been more triumphant. From the USS Abraham Lincoln, he delivered a stirring coda, proclaiming that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended” just six weeks after the United States led the invasion of that country.

      But Bush’s jubilant claim unraveled as combat escalated between Iraqi insurgents and occupying forces. During the next nine years, the official death toll among U.S. troops went from under 200 to more than 4,400, while the deaths of Iraqi people surged into the hundreds of thousands. The physical wounds were even more numerous, the emotional injuries incalculable.

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      iraq war
      Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush

      Russian War Crimes in Ukraine 20 Years After US Criminal Invasion of Iraq

      How can there be real accountability for war crimes when international law is replaced by an undefined "rules-based order"?

      Phyllis Bennis
      Mar 23, 2023

      This week marked the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. The war left at least 800,000 to 1.1 million Iraqis dead, and certainly many more injured, maimed, and permanently displaced.

      The invasion and subsequent military occupation destroyed Iraq's once-modern infrastructure and much of its environment while shredding the country's social fabric. The war gave rise to religious and ethnic divides, created unfathomable levels of corruption, left a legacy of sectarian militias and terrorist organizations including ISIS. War crimes by the U.S. military and private contractors, even beyond the initial crime of aggression, exploded from Abu Ghraib to Fallujah to Nisour Square and beyond.

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      US Marine in Afghanistan

      War Is the Ultimate Failure

      War is immoral, illegal, and just downright impractical. War doesn't work.

      Rev. John Dear
      Mar 20, 2023

      On Saturday, March 18, 2023—marking the 20th anniversary of the U.S. war on Iraq—22 demonstrations against U.S. warmaking were held across the nation, including Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco. In Los Angeles, hundreds gathered to protest outside the CNN building in Hollywood. What follows are the remarks made by longtime peace activist and author, Rev. John Dear:

      Today, in the name of the God of peace, we say to the United States: we are sick and tired of your endless wars, your military spending, your nuclear weapons, your global domination, your violence, your imperialism and fascism and corporate greed and permanent warfare. We remember the U.S. war on Iraq, and how we killed millions of sisters and brothers there for a great lie, to steal their oil and sell weapons and help the one percent get richer. We remember the U.S. war on Afghanistan, and how we killed and injured countless innocent civilians for a great lie so we could get their oil and sow chaos in the world and sell weapons. With thousands of people in over twenty demonstrations across the nation we say today, enough is enough! No more endless wars!

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