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Bushes political Advisor Regrets Mission Accomplished Banner

The Associated Press
Updated: 7:27 p.m. ET April 16, 2004President Bush's top political adviser said this week that he regretted the use of a "Mission Accomplished" banner as a backdrop for the president's landing on an aircraft carrier last May to mark the end of major combat operations in Iraq.

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"I wish the banner was not up there," White House political strategist Karl Rove said Thursday at an editorial board meeting with The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. "I'll acknowledge the fact that it has become one of those convenient symbols."

Rove echoed Bush's contention that the phrase referred to the carrier crew's completing their 10-month mission, not the military's completing its mission in Iraq.

The banner, which has been a source of controversy for the Bush administration, has been mocked many times over the failed search for weapons of mass destruction and the continuing violence in Iraq.

Bush said in October that the White House had nothing to do with the banner; a spokesman later clarified that the ship's crew asked for the sign and that the White House staff had it made by a private vendor. It was not clear who paid for the sign.

Rove also predicted that "we're going to win Ohio comfortably" in the race against Bush's Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

The Bush campaign is "building the greatest grass-roots apparatus that Ohio has ever seen," Rove said. The state's 20 electoral votes could determine the election.

"I don't mean that it's going to be close," Rove said. "What I mean is, it's going to be where everybody is going to be paying a lot of time and attention. I think we're going to win Ohio comfortably, but I do think that Democrats are going to contest it strongly."

Posted by: Happy J
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Posted in: News on April 17, 2004 @ 12:00 AM

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