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Excerpt from his speech announcing the end of major combat operations in Iraq

Delivered from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003

On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush made a historic speech in which he announced that major combat operations in Iraq were over after forty-three days of fighting. The president chose to make the announcement in a dramatic fashion from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. The ship had been stationed in the Persian Gulf earlier, but it was sailing off the coast of California at the time of the speech. Bush was flown to the ship in the copilot's seat of a U.S. Navy S-3B Viking jet. He wore a flight suit that indicated his military rank as commander in chief. The bridge of the ship was decorated with a large banner reading "Mission Accomplished."

In his "aircraft carrier" speech, Bush...