Monday, May 1 marks three years since George W. Bush staged his "Mission Accomplished" aircraft landing and "delivered good news to the men and women who fought in the cause of freedom: their mission is complete and major combat operations in Iraq have ended." As of April 27, 2006 at 3:15 p.m. EST, 2,393 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. The count of US wounded is around seven times that number, and Iraqi civilian deaths are estimated to be between 34,000 and 39,000.
There are several things you can do to mark the passing of another year of an unclear and unaccomplished mission.
If you have a Web site, starting Friday morning you can link to and post two video clips found on You Tube, including:
a) A serious, silent and important video produced by News Hounds. You can also visit their site to download still images to display at the top of your blog or Web site.
b) A more humorous and satirical take on Bush's "Mission Accomplished" promise – but one that makes the point just as well – has been produced by The Young Turks.
You can cut and paste the code of either or both videos to add to your Web site.
Other action items:
a) Take part in the Politics TV contest. This online TV network is commemorating the May 1 speech by inviting people to create their own Mission Accomplished speech.
b) Check out Media Matters’ look back at the media’s fawning over Bush’s Mission Accomplished speech. Contact the Sunday news shows to tell them what you think about Bush's performance--a contact list is available on the Media Matters site.
c) Stop another war from happening. Sign the petition at www.dontattackiran.org
d) Create your own action item or discussion.
Please help us spread the word of this effort by e-mailing this page to friends and colleagues who will join us this weekend marking the third anniversary of a Mission Unaccomplished.
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Jessica Clark is a writer, editor and researcher, with more than 15 years of experience spanning commercial, educational, independent and public media production. Currently she is the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media. She also writes a monthly column for PBS’ MediaShift on new directions in public media. She is the author, with Tracy Van Slyke, of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010, New Press).
