Cord Byrd: “it is the poet T.S. Eliot who reminds us, as if we needed to be reminded, that ``April is the cruelest month.'' How…”

“it is the poet T.S. Eliot who reminds us, as if we needed to be reminded, that ``April is the cruelest month.'' How prescient his words ring this April 2004, as we reflect upon the deepening crisis and the steadily mounting death toll in Iraq. This April, this month in which millions of Americans marked the holiest season of the Judeo-Christian calendar, has been an unholy nightmare for American military forces and American policy in Iraq. April 2004, 11 months after the President proclaimed the end of major combat operations in Iraq, has proved to be the deadliest month for American forces in Iraq since the onset of the war more than a year ago. Major combat operations may have ended--let me repeat that: major combat operations may have ended--as President Bush asserted nearly 1 year ago, but major combat casualties have not. The ``Mission Accomplished'' banner under which President Bush spoke so confidently on May 1, 2003, has come back to haunt us and to taunt us many times over. In the weeks and months leading up to the war, Americans were assured by President Bush and his cadre of top advisers--most particularly Vice President Richard Cheney--that we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq, our path to victory strewn with cheers and flowers.…”