Democrats jump on fifth anniversary of 'Mission Accomplished'

Both Democratic presidential hopefuls marked today's five-year anniversary of President Bush's declaration of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq by issuing statements that criticized the administration and that highlighted their vows to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home.

"Five years after George Bush declared 'mission accomplished' and John McCain told the American people that 'the end is very much in sight' in Iraq, we have lost thousands of lives, spent half a trillion dollars, and we're no safer," Barack Obama said in his statement. "It's time to turn the page on Washington's false promises and failed judgments on foreign policy, so that we can finally ease the enormous burdens on our troops and their families, and end a war that should've never been authorized. I am the only candidate in this race who opposed the war in Iraq when Washington was falling in line with George Bush, and as president I will end this war."

Clinton, who says she regrets her 2002 vote to authorize the war, said, "The fifth anniversary of President Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' speech comes the same week as a chief architect of the Bush administration’s war in Iraq conceded, 'We were clueless on counterinsurgency.' That statement confirms what we have all known: the planning and strategy was flawed. Our troops deserved and deserve better."

"All Americans honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States in Iraq. We are grateful for the tremendous burden they have carried. Our troops have done their job," Clinton's statement continued. "The path forward is to use American diplomacy and our allies to allow US forces to come home, and turn responsibility back to Iraq and its people. That is the plan I have laid out to the American people as a senator and as a candidate, and that is the plan that I will carry out as president."

Antiwar groups, meanwhile, noted that the aircraft carrier where Bush flew off the California coast to make the declaration -- the USS Abraham Lincoln -- is now back in the Persian Gulf.