Bush passes buck to carrier’s sailors

Herald readers may wonder how you could publish a front-page article on the crew of the USS Lincoln (“6 months later, Lincoln’s crew reflects on war,” Monday) without noting that President Bush has blamed the ship’s sailors for the “Mission Accomplished” banner that framed his infamous May 1 photo op.

During an Oct. 28 White House press conference, Bush insisted that “The ‘Mission Accomplished’ sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished. I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff – they weren’t that ingenious, by the way.”

This president has now suggested not only that the increasingly frequent deaths of American troops are indicators of our success in Iraq, but that it’s actually the sailors on the Lincoln who stage-managed his breathtakingly political Top Gun moment.

Since 9-11, this administration has stopped at nothing to politicize the American military, our flag and patriotism itself, even going so far as to question the patriotic commitment of a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran who happened to be a Democratic senator from Georgia.

George W. Bush refuses to accept responsibility for his exploitation of a Navy ship and its crew. By failing to mention his buck-passing, your Sunday feature only compounded the president’s disrespect for the men and women of the USS Lincoln.KEVIN PRICE

Edmonds