Mr. Speaker, exactly 3 years ago yesterday, President Bush gave his speech about the military operations in Iraq and said they had become ``Mission Accomplished.''

Why was this speech important? Because in a single stroke, it revealed more about the President and his administration than all of his other speeches combined. Paying attention to the news, you will recall how on that day President Bush, adorned in a fighter pilot suit, rode shotgun in a military jet that landed on the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN aircraft carrier, and a massive banner declaring ``Mission Accomplished'' was brashly displayed in the background during his subsequent speech.

It seemed like a bold act put on by a President who wanted to be perceived as taking bold steps against our Nation's enemies. But nothing had actually been accomplished to that point. The problem is that the ``mission'' in Iraq was not accomplished 3 years ago, and it certainly hasn't been accomplished today, which makes the military jet landing and ensuing speech 3 years ago far short of bold. It was a grandly staged political stunt, pure and simple.

Let us talk about ``Mission Accomplished.'' For whom exactly is this mission accomplished? Is the mission accomplished for our troops, many of whom have returned home from Iraq forever changed as a result of the physical and mental trauma they endured during years of repeated deployment to Iraq?

One such soldier is retired Naval Hospital Corpsman Charlie Anderson who last Thursday spoke at an Iraq forum that I organized. Charlie suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and now is a regional coordinator for Iraq Veterans Against the War.

I quote him in saying, ``I was completely untrained and unprepared for what I experienced in Iraq.'' He also told us, ``In the 7 years preceding my deployment to the Middle East, I had not set foot in the desert or had any training on how to fight or survive there. I had fired my 9 millimeter service pistol exactly once.''

Is the mission accomplished for Faiza al-Araji, an Iraqi civil engineer who recently fled Baghdad, the only home she has ever known? Faiza and her family left Iraq after her son, a student, was detained for days by the Ministry of the Interior without charges being filed. After nearly a week of panicking, Faiza and her husband paid a ransom to have their son released. They were told he had been detained because he had a beard, and was therefore probably a terrorist.

The fact is, 3 years after President Bush's ``mission accomplished'' pronouncement, Iraq is still mired in chaos. Our troops are still sitting ducks. They are halfway across the world, and the United States is still tangled up in a quagmire of epic proportions.

Of the over 2,400 American soldiers who have been killed in Iraq, all but 139 were killed after the President's USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN speech. Attacks against Iraqis, U.S. and coalition troops, and critical infrastructure have increased by nearly 25 percent since then.

According to the Brookings Institute, the Iraqi insurgency has tripled in strength since 2003. It is pretty clear by now that the ``Mission Accomplished'' speech was just another example in a long pattern of the Bush administration playing up the political theater while ignoring the facts on the ground.

Whether they are talking about tax cuts for the richest 1 percent of Americans, prescription drug coverage that does not work for seniors, or the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, this administration's MO is to avoid revealing bad news at all cost, even if it means toying with the truth. It is like all of the bad stories are cut out of the newspaper before they are brought into the White House.

Mr. Speaker, let us accomplish something that will help secure America and Iraq for the future and save thousands of innocent lives in the process. Let us accomplish an end to the pain and suffering felt by the hundreds of thousands, and let's end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home now.