Mission Accomplished: 4 years later

Every night as part of his sign-off, Keith Olbermann gives a count of the number of days since Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech.

Today he can give a rounder number: 4 years.

And while the president vetoes the funding bill which would set benchmarks for withdrawal from this ghastly mess, and interestingly timed reports of the death of yet another al Qaeda muckety-muck, Juan Cole gives a thorough Fisking (in links) of Bush's speech and how it compares to the present grim reality.

A quick survey of the topics gives a feel for just how well we're doing:

• -Riots, Looting? Stuff Happens
• -7 of 8 major reconstruction projects in danger of failing.
• -US has failed to reconstruct Iraq.
• -Trudy Rubin: ”Wolfowitz told me he believed that the London-based Iraqi opposition (headed by Ahmed Chalabi) would return to Baghdad and assume the reins of power . . ."
• -Al-Maliki Government uses Saddam-era law to block corruption probes.
• -The Iraq Effect: War has Increased Terrorism Seven Fold.
• -"Iraq civilian attacks send worldwide terror deaths soaring: US".
• -Toppling of Saddam statue faked.
• -Study: War Blamed for 655,000 Iraqi Deaths.
• -Bloody Iraq Uprising Rocks US.
• -One thing is certain: the Death of Saddam was About Revenge, not Justice.
• -David Kay: No Evidence Iraq Stockpiled WMD.

Prof. Cole's post must be read in full to appreciate the tragic irony of that speech, and to follow the links if you want to read further.

Happy anniversary y'all.