On May 1, President Bush took to the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln to announce the formal close of Operation Iraqi Freedom's combat operations.
On the heels of a dominant coalition rout of Saddam loyalists and the ensuing fall of Baghdad in mid-April, the celebratory event marked a triumphant conclusion to a U.S. invasion that had proceeded smoothly and rapidly.
As Fall term begins, the situation has changed. With normalcy still not returned to Iraq, Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction elusive, American soldiers dying at a rate of over one per day, and ballooning war costs coming to the forefront of national debate, Bush's approval ratings have reached, at 50 percent, a historic low.
"It's hard not to see that many of the criticisms that people raised in the run-up to the war have now, in fact, come to pass," said Ronald Edsforth, a visiting professor of History who is teaching American Foreign Relations since 1945 this fall.
Far from the decks of May's aircraft carrier, Bush's most notable September speech will probably be the one he delivered to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday in an attempt to garner international aid and shore up domestic support for his aggressive foreign policy.
Aftermath of Invasion
Following Bush's formal announcement of the end of combat operations, the conflict entered a phase marked by sporadic attacks on U.S. troops by Saddam loyalists and Islamic fundamentalists.
From car bombings to sniper shootings, the casualties continued to pile up, eventually leading military officials such as General John Abizaid to acknowledge in early July that the coalition was facing organized guerilla resistance.
In fact, this phase of the operation has proven to be the bloodiest for American troops. 139 U.S. soldiers died in the initial stages of the invasion and occupation, while 166 have died since Bush's May 1 declaration.
Additionally, the coalition has had difficulty restoring basic services to Iraq's population. Almost six months after the fall of Baghdad, electricity in the capital city remains sporadic.
"I did not see Bush's speech," said Kamal Taha, a university student in Baghdad, to the Associated Press following the president's Tuesday address. "The electricity was off because of damage done by the United States during the war. Bush should fix the damage so we would be able to listen to his speeches."
Saboteurs, such as those that bombed the main water pipeline leading into Baghdad in early August, have kept U.S. officials from returning basic services to pre-invasion levels.
"If they could, by the end of this year, return life to a semblance of normality-- then they have the basis to turn over more power," Edsforth said.
Perhaps most damaging to the rebuilding effort was the Aug. 7 truck bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 and injuring 164. Among the dead was Sergio Viera de Mello, the U.N.'s top envoy in the reconstruction effort. The attack has weakened support for increased international involvement in Iraq.
Administration officials are quick to note that not all the news is bad. While power remains spotty in the capital, the electrical infrastructure in some areas outside of Baghdad has actually improved.
Additionally, the Iraqi Governing Council, made up of 25 delegates selected by the American civilian leadership in Iraq, began holding meetings on July 13 and has been recognized by many Arab nations.
In fact, the council has begun pressuring the world community for a quicker transfer of power to Iraqi sovereignty.
Feisal Istrabadi, an Iraqi-American lawyer and aide to council member Adnan Pachachi told USA Today on Tuesday, "There is a very high degree of agreement on the Governing Council that there can be no gap in Iraqi sovereignity."
Address to the U.N.
As public war fatigue grows in the states, the administration has begun to look to the United Nations and foreign governments to pick up some of the slack in rebuilding Iraq.
Bush's Tuesday speech, met with a relatively cool reception, underscored the difficulties facing the effort in the effort the U.S. and Britain's decision to go ahead with war in Iraq after it became clear that the votes for U.N. authorization were not there.
In his speech, Bush reiterated his moral vision of the war on terrorism..
"There is no neutral ground," Bush said, "All the governments that support terror are complicit in a war against civilization.
The speech was short on specifics, stopping short of any direct requests or proposals to cede U.S. control on the condition of increased U.N. involvement.
Bush's was wedged between those of French President Jacques Chirac and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, both of whom used the forum to criticize the United States' policy of preemption.
Brazilian President Lula de Silva, the leftist who came to power nine months ago, articulated the world community's attitude towards the Bush administration most clearly.
"We must not shy away from our collective responsibilities. A war can perhaps be won single-handedly, but peace -- lasting peace -- cannot be secured without the support of all," Lula de Silva said.
Edsforth agreed. "I think we have to renew our commitment to the U.N.," he said, adding that Bush's speech probably did more harm than good.
