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Is the War Really. Really Over?More lives have been lost since Bush declared war to be "over" than were lost during the war
With the attack Saturday that claimed the lives of two more American soldiers in the northen Iraq town of Mosul, the post-war conflict has now claimed more lives than the war itself. One hundred fourteen soldiers lost their lives during the actual war while 122 have died since President Bush proudly claimed "Mission Accomplished" on the aircraft carrier on May 1 of this year. >The continuing attacks on U.S. soldiers, which number about 25 per day on average, have caused many to ask whether the war is truly over, as the President announced six months ago. Paul Bremer, the administrator overseeing the Iraqi reconstruction, has said he believes Saddam Hussein is still alive and living in Iraq and possibly even coordinating the attacks on U.S. positions in the country. At a recent news conference, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan defended the President's claim that the war had officially ended.
When asked why May 1 was chosen as the "end" of the war, McClellan replied, "because the country needed to move on to something different and not dwell on a war half a world away." Others have taken issue with the President's announcement that the war was over, particularly Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean. "We're losing a soldier a day over there, the enemy is still organized enough to stage attacks on our troops, and the country is in disarray," said Dean at a fundraising speech in Denver, "it doesn't sound like Saddam Hussein got the message that the war was over." McClellan calls Dean's comments misguided and uninformed. "What Governor Dean doesn't realize is that when we announced the end of the war on the Abraham Lincoln on May 1, we also took out large ads in the local Iraqi newspapers announcing the end of the war and thanking the people of Iraq for their patience while we deposed their leader," explained McClellan. "If Saddam Hussein or any of his followers read the papers, I'm sure they got the message that we had called the war over." Operation Overtime, meanwhile, heads into its seventh month, with no end in sight. |
"The war ended on May 1. Actually, it ended on April 30th and the announcement was made on May 1," said McClellan. "What we're seeing now is a little like rowdy fans fighting after the game ends and their team lost. In fact, the President liked that analogy so much, he's decided to rename our post-war involvement Operation Overtime."