Trump defends ‘mission accomplished’

DONALD TRUMP yesterday defended his use of the phrase “mission accomplished” to describe the success of the Syrian bombing raids.

The US president insisted it was a “great military term” that should be used “often”.

Mr Trump was criticised for his triumphant declaration, which was previously used on a banner backdrop in a televised address by George W Bush, six weeks after the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003. It came back to haunt Mr Bush as the conflict continued for another eight years.

Years later, Mr Bush admitted: “It conveyed the wrong message.”

But Mr Trump stood by his choice of words while again condemning the US media yesterday.

He said: “The Syrian raid was so perfectly carried out, with such precision, that the only way the fake news media

‘The raid was so perfectly carried out, the only way the fake news media could demean it was by my use of “mission accomplished”’

could demean it was by my use of the term ‘mission accomplished’.

“I knew they would seize on this but felt it is such a great military term, it should be brought back. Use often!” Mr Trump’s controversial tweet on Saturday morning read: “A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine military. Could not have had a better result. Mission accomplished!”

His words were condemned by some, with Brian Schatz, a Democrat senator, saying: “I didn’t think I could be shocked by a tweet any more but ‘mission accomplished’ was so surprising I had to double-check that it was not a spoof.”

The US leader was supported by Dana White, a spokesman for the Pentagon, who said: “We met our objectives. We hit the sites, the heart of the chemical weapons programme. So it was mission accomplished.”