President Bush proclaimed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on
May 1, 2003:

Admiral Kelly, Captain Card (ph), officers and sailors of the USS Abraham
Lincoln, my fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In
the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

http://www.milparts.net/bush-on-uss-lincoln.html

--------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Soldier Killed by Roadside Bomb

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 15, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Chief U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer met with
Iraq's Governing Council on Saturday to present Washington's latest policy
proposals aimed at restoring Iraq's sovereignty within six or seven months.
A roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier, the 400th to die since the war began
in March.

Bremer met in Baghdad Friday with Jalal Talabani, the head of the Iraqi
Governing Council, to discuss Washington's new policy proposals regarding a
return of Iraqi sovereignty, said Mahmoud Othman, a member of the body.
Advertisement

Othman did not specify what the proposals were, but said Bremer, who has
just returned from talks with Bush administration officials, was meeting
with the full council on Saturday, he said.

Senior administration officials told The Associated Press that the proposed
changes include forming a new government before a constitution is written,
thus effectively granting Iraq sovereignty by the middle of 2004.
Previously, the Bush administration has insisted that a new charter be
written and adopted before general elections are held, a process that was
likely to last at least another year.

If the reported scenario is accurate, it appears the Bush administration has
abandoned its own formula for transferring sovereignty and accepted one
whose broad outlines coincide with council demands. The administration's
goal appears to be to shift security responsibility to the Iraqis to reduce
U.S. casualties before next year's presidential election in the United
States.

A spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, a political group led by
council member Ahmad Chalabi, said a better way of moving forward would be
to give the U.S.-picked council sovereign powers and leave intact the
Cabinet it appointed in September.

``We are calling for a provisional government as a temporary solution for a
limited period of time,'' spokesman Entifadh Qanbar said. He added that
Chalabi, a moderate Shiite with close Pentagon links, supported the drafting
of a new constitution by delegates sent to a national convention by
provincial caucuses made up of prominent tribal leaders, academics, legal
experts and leaders of civil society.

The insurgency, initially centered in the so-called Sunni Triangle of
central Iraq, now appears to be spreading to the north and south of the
country.

On Saturday, a roadside bomb exploded next to a patrol in Baghdad's northern
Ad Hamiah neighborhood killing a U.S. soldier and injuring two others, a
statement said. The wounded were evacuated to a military hospital in central
Baghdad, it said.

The dead soldier was the 400th U.S. serviceman to die in Iraq since
hostilities started March 20. The British military has reported 52 deaths so
far in Iraq. Sixteen Italian service members also have died, along with one
soldier each from Denmark, Spain, Ukraine and Poland.

Troops from the 101st Airborne Division arrested eight people suspected of
conducting attacks against coalition forces and of belonging to the Fedayeen
Saddam paramilitary group, the military said Saturday. One more Iraqi wanted
for attacks on U.S. forces turned himself in, the military said.

Separately, the Coalition for Iraqi National Unity turned in to U.S. troops
one surface to air missile, 11 anti-tank missiles, 38 RPG boosters and four
RPG rounds.

ABC News reported that Washington's new proposals also call for provincial
leaders to meet in the spring to choose delegates for an assembly, which
would elect a transitional government by next summer. The United States
would hand over power to this body.

The U.S. administration agreed to a plan by the Iraqi leadership to speed up
the transfer of power, and give Iraqis control over their own wealth and
political affairs while maintaining the presence of coalition forces, the
New York Times said.

Meanwhile, attacks against coalition troops and their allies continued to
claim more victims.

In the northern city of Mosul, Khalid Victor, a translator working for the
municipal administration and his son were killed Saturday when gunmen opened
fire at their car, officials said.

``It's obvious that they are targeting all Iraqis working with Americans,''
said a city official who declined to give his name.

In Australia, Defense Minister Robert Hill said the U.S.-led coalition may
have underestimated the desire of fighters loyal to deposed leader Saddam
Hussein to fight back in postwar Iraq, media reports said Saturday.

``With the benefit of hindsight, and of course in a country awash with arms,
it now seems much more logical ... that they would attempt to fight back,''
he was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.

http://nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html

--
"From the brief time that we did spend occupying Iraqi territory
after the war, I am certain that had we taken all of Iraq, we would
have been like the dinosaur in the tar pit - we would still be there,
and we, not the United Nations, would be bearing the costs of
the occupation. This is a burden I am sure the beleaguered
American taxpayer would not have been happy to take on."

- Norman Schwarzkopf, from his 1993 autobiography, "It Doesn't
Take a Hero."