On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush appeared aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln under a huge banner reading “Mission Accomplished,” and told the public that “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”

Since then, more than 3,200 members of the Armed Services have lost their lives.

It started as a war against weapons of mass destruction. Then it was a war to dispose of Saddam Hussein. Then it was the “war on terror.” Whatever our great leader decides to call it next, it has cost this nation thousands of young lives and roughly $400 billion. That works out to $240 million per day.

That kind of money would have gone a long way toward helping senior citizens with medical expenses.

It seems to me that President Bush’s biggest accomplishment is that he, single-handedly, has ensured that a Republican would not be occupying the White House after Jan. 20, 2009.

John T. Deschenes, Lewiston