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A reminder.....the tirle of this thread is:
<B> In Hindsight: Was Bush's May 1, 2003 "Mission Accomplished" Speech Appropriate?</B>

Bush's response, (linked in a news story in post #1) is:
Here is an example of the type of response I envisioned for this thread;
Comparisons to other Presidents and world leaders faced with similar situations:

<a href="http://www.urbanagrace.org/in_the_smoke_of_war.htm">IN THE SMOKE OF WAR, WHERE IS GOD?</a><i>
When there is war, leaders of nations and factions are fond of solemnly claiming the presence of God on their particular side. Our current president is a very religious man. And he has stated that in this war with Iraq, he is doing the will of God. He has no doubts, no reservations, nor even the pretense of humility.[3] We have to go back to Abraham Lincoln, in this country, to find a wartime president whose soul was healthy enough to make room for those inner struggles that occur when practical necessities collide with principles. Lincoln’s soul was courageous enough to bear those things that keep bad company with each other: hard realities, lofty ideals, and those frequent pangs of guilt that haunt all who try to do the right thing in the midst of unsolvable complexities. Lincoln once said, “In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be wrong, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.</i>[4]

[3] “While interviewing President Bush for his just-published book Plan of Attack, Bob Woodward mentioned what British Prime Minister Tony Blair had said about receiving angry letters from families who had lost loved ones in Iraq: “Don’t believe anyone who tells you when they receive letters like that they don’t suffer any doubt.” Upon hearing this, Woodward reports, the president stiffened and, with hardly a moment’s hesitation, said, “I haven’t suffered any doubt.” Woodward asked: “Not at all?” Bush said: “No. And I’m able to convey that to the people,” (even those who lost sons or daughters in Iraq). (editorial in The Christian Century, May 18, 2004, pg. 5.)

[4] Abraham Lincoln, September 2, 1862(?) “God Wills This Contest,” from the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Rutgers University Press, 1953-55.

Now that Bush has received the 9-11 commission report that found no
verifiable complicity in the plot to attack the U.S. on 9-11, on the part of
Saddam Hussein, or any signifigant cooperation between Saddam's Iraq and
al-Queda, and the reports of the findings of his own post invasion weapon's<br> inspectors with regards to the existance of signifigant stockpiles of WMD's
or of programs to imminently produce such waepons, and knowing that
900 more American troops would die in Iraq, and that Iraq would be in the
dangerous, unstable and financially costly condition that it is in today,
Bush would repeat his carrier landing, in that flightsuit, and again
appear under that "mission accomplished" banner, and make the same
speach. We already know that, given what Bush now knows, he would
invade Iraq again. Bush is doubt free and resolute. Is he exhibiting rational,<br> accurate, and reliable attitudes and behavior, considering the power and <br>authority that he is in possession of ?