This photograph is a textbook example of a photo opportunity, or “photo op,” a staged photograph designed to portray the viewpoint of the subject depicted in it. The message in this particular photo, summed up in the “Mission Accomplished” banner, was that the war in Iraq was over and the United States would soon be able to withdraw its forces. From that, Americans were to infer that the Bush administration’s promises of quick victory over Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the establishment of a peaceful and democratic Iraq were being fulfilled. At the time of President George W. Bush’s photo op, Iraq’s regime had been overthrown and its leadership killed or driven underground, all in less than six weeks at the cost of 140 American lives.