It was five years ago today that President George W. Bush flew onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, stood in front of a “Mission Accomplished” Banner and proclaimed “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”

Didn’t work out that way.

Bush has admitted the banner backfired. The president indicated it actually referred to the carrier’s crew completing its 10-month mission. Not many were buying it.
And it will be remembered today.

Protests are planned across the state. One will be held in Media, outside the office of U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-7, who defeated longtime incumbent Curt Weldon in part because of the Democrat’s opposition to the Iraq war. The event will be held at noon at 600 N. Jackson St.

It has not been a good month in Iraq. At least 49 U.S. troops lost their lives.
The six years we have been engaged there is topped only by the Vietnam War, the war in Afghanistan and the Revolutionary War in the length of time U.S. troops have been in action.

Earlier this month, the president gave another speech in which he indicated that “while this war is difficult, it is not endless.”

It’s apparently not “accomplished” yet, either.