And speaking of the "Mission Accomplished" banner, here's one neoconservative who thought it meant the war was over.

Relax, Celebrate Victory

By Richard Perle
Posted: Friday, May 2, 2003
ARTICLES : USA Today : Publication Date: May 2, 2003

From start to finish, President Bush has led the United States and its coalition partners to the most important military victory since World War II. And like the allied victory over the axis powers, the liberation of Iraq is more than the end of a brutal dictatorship: It is the foundation for a decent, humane government that will represent all the people of Iraq.

This was a war worth fighting. It ended quickly with few civilian casualties and with little damage to Iraq's cities, towns or infrastructure. It ended without the Arab world rising up against us, as the war's critics feared, without the quagmire they predicted, without the heavy losses in house-to-house fighting they warned us to expect. It was conducted with immense skill and selfless courage by men and women who will remain until Iraqis are safe, and who will return home as heroes. [ Richard Perle, American Enterprise Institute site]