Moving Goal Posts

ThinkProgress has a great post up regarding the constant change on our mission in Iraq. It is a long post, so I won't reproduce it in full, but I recommend checking it out. In short, they take Bush quotes to point out that the mission in Iraq has gone from:

1. The pre-War mission was to rid Iraq of WMD
2. After the war began, the mission expanded
3. Then the mission was complete
4. But then it continued again
5. Then the mission was to develop a free Iraq
6. And to train the Iraqi troops
7. Then it shifted to advancing democracy
8. And protecting America from terrorists
9. Then the mission was providing security for the Iraqi population
10. Now?? Undefined
    

Ten separate missions in 5 years, and now it is not entirely clear just what the hell we are supposed to be doing over there.

I am left wondering, however, after reading this post, why did it take a dirty hippie blogger to point this out? Couldn't someone in the press look through what this Administration has said, and maybe ask some pointed questions about why the mission keeps changing? This isn't rocket science.

Lastly, this is a pretty clear example of what the Democrats have to fight through with regards to the press. Democratic leaders have been saying since 2003 that the mission in Iraq was not entirely clear and that President Bush kept changing the goal posts. Yet, we have had nothing from the media pointing out, just like this post did, that the mission has never been certain.