{"id":425,"date":"2010-09-01T13:26:20","date_gmt":"2010-09-01T11:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/?p=425"},"modified":"2015-04-19T14:17:13","modified_gmt":"2015-04-19T12:17:13","slug":"the-twenty-years-war-is-almost-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/the-twenty-years-war-is-almost-over\/","title":{"rendered":"The Twenty Years’ War is (almost) over"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victory was in the air, and it seemed the appropriate<\/span> thing to do.<\/p>\n

George W. Bush, perhaps nostalgic for the service he’d abandoned<\/span> in 1971, wore a military pilot’s uniform as he stepped out of a fighter plane onto the deck of an aircraft carrier. The ship was full of troops returning to California after they’d defeated the Iraqi army in only six weeks of fighting.<\/p>\n

The ship had nearly reached the coast after a week at sea, but it was taken back out into the ocean and turned around to create a more dramatic effect for TV. Bush stepped up to a podium and announced<\/a>: “Major combat operations<\/span> in Iraq have ended.<\/b>”<\/p>\n

It was May 2, 2003, and what Bush meant \u2014 that the invasion was over and the occupation had begun \u2014 was correct. But his critics faulted him for implying<\/span> something that wouldn’t happen for another seven years.<\/p>\n

Last night was the official deadline<\/span> for the removal of combat troops as agreed upon by the US and Iraq. In an 18-minute speech from the Oval Office, Barack Obama paraphrased<\/span> Bush by saying<\/a>, “Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended<\/b>. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility<\/span> for the security of their country.”<\/p>\n