Mayday! Mayday!

MANIFESTO

From Tim Grieve this morning:

On May 1, 2003, George W. Bush stood in front of a "Misson Accomplished" banner on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

On May 1, 2007, the president will receive legislation from Congress setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. He will veto it.

On May 1, 2007, representatives of the largest bloc of Sunnis in Iraq's parliament are threatening to withdraw their ministers from Iraq's cabinet. They say they have "lost hope" that the Shiite-dominated government will treat them fairly.

On May 1, 2007, the Washington Post reports that the number of terrorism incidents in Iraq shot up 91 percent between 2005 and 2006.

On May 1, 2007, gunmen killed 14 Iraqis on a highway outside of Baghdad.

On May 1, 2007, the U.S. cost of the Iraq war will soon exceed $550 billion, enough to pay for college educations for nearly half of the kids in U.S. high schools today.

On May 1, 2007, we close the books on a month in which 104 U.S. soldiers were killed. Approximately 140 U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq before the president declared that "major combat operations" were over. Approximately 3,211 have been killed since then.

Happy anniversary.