Saddam still dead; add another "milestone" to the list …

I, along with Jonathan Weiler and a few others have been keeping track of the many turning points proclaimed by the preznit since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Today, Bush said: "Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself"

That was, by my reckoning, the sixteenth "turning point" or "milestone" (along with one chance to "turn the tide" and a "watershed event") in the last three and a half years.

Less than two months ago, when Saddam was found guilty, Bush called the verdict "a milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law."

On June 8:

Bush said the killing of Zarqawi was a severe blow to al Qaeda and offered a chance for the Iraqi government to "turn the tide" in the struggle against the insurgency.

On May 22, after Iraq's new cabinet was formed:

"The main reason I've come today is to talk to you about a watershed event that took place this weekend in Iraq. . . . We have now reached a turning point in the struggle between freedom and terror."