Casualties of underestimation

On May 1, 2003 President George W. Bush donned a flight suit, boarded a Lockheed S-3 Viking aircraft, landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, posed for photo­graphs, and became the first sitting president to arrive on an aircraft carrier by plane.
The theatrics were prelude to a televised address about the Iraq war.
Bush stood at a podium behind a banner that read: Mission Accomplished.   Bush said, “My fellow Americans major combat operations in Iraq have ended.  In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our Allies have prevailed.”
The world watched and the enemy listened.
Bush’s remarks were made six weeks after the US led invasion of Iraq and American casualties stood at 139 dead and 542 wounded.