Interesting back story behind the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner. Things are not always as they appear.

Learned something new today from David Henderson at Econlog that is not about economics.

He relayed a first person account of the back story of the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner that formed the back drop to Pres Bush's speech aboard the aircraft carrier he landed on.

Turns out the message was not so much about Iraq as a whole but more about the specific sentiments of the crew of the ship. Context is everything:

The banner saying "Mission Accomplished" on the deck of the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln when George W. Bush landed there. Almost everyone likes to make fun of Bush for that. But there's a back story that I learned from one of my students who happened to be an officer on that ship at the time. The White House had contacted the ship's captain and asked what message they wanted on a banner. The captain opened the decision up to the officers in the ward room and they, wanting to celebrate finally getting back to home port, chose "Mission Accomplished." ---Econlog

This will not change anyone's mind about the incident or circumstances, nor should it, but it is kinda nice to know the details of significant events and how small seemingly insignificant decisions can haunt forever.