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A Banner Day For The Bush Library

The Bush Library faces a crucial decision:

As former president George W. Bush broke ground Tuesday in Dallas for his presidential library, officials weighed whether or not to display one item that few know is being held in storage there: the "Mission Accomplished" banner.

The banner was the backdrop aboard the USS Lincoln during Bush's televised speech May 1, 2003, to proclaim the end of major combat in Iraq. It caused controversy in the months that followed when violence in Iraq spiraled.

The banner now sits in storage and will become part of the library's collection. A decision on how or whether to display the red-white-and-blue banner hasn't been made, said Alan Lowe, director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

I think the decision most in keeping with the administration's principles would be to hide away the banner, deny it exists, and accuse people who claim it does exist of smearing patriotic librarians.