Democracy, F**k Yeah!

Facing down the historical revisionists, Glenn Reynolds rounds-up pre-invasion quotes from President Bush about his plan and intention to bring democracy to Iraq.

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Tinfoil hat-types still insisting the invasion wasn't about Iraqis are willfully lying or infected with political amnesia. Instapundit didn't include the Bush speech I've always thought most telling, in Cincinnati on October 7, 2002 (more than five months before the invasion):

The lives of Iraqi citizens would improve dramatically if Saddam Hussein were no longer in power, just as the lives of Afghanistan's citizens improved after the Taliban. The dictator of Iraq is a student of Stalin, using murder as a tool of terror and control, within his own cabinet, within his own army, and even within his own family.

On Saddam Hussein's orders, opponents have been decapitated, wives and mothers of political opponents have been systematically raped as a method of intimidation, and political prisoners have been forced to watch their own children being tortured.

America believes that all people are entitled to hope and human rights, to the non-negotiable demands of human dignity. People everywhere prefer freedom to slavery; prosperity to squalor; self-government to the rule of terror and torture. America is a friend to the people of Iraq. Our demands are directed only at the regime that enslaves them and threatens us. When these demands are met, the first and greatest benefit will come to Iraqi men, women and children. The oppression of Kurds, Assyrians, Turkomans, Shi'a, Sunnis and others will be lifted. The long captivity of Iraq will end, and an era of new hope will begin.

Iraq is a land rich in culture, resources, and talent. Freed from the weight of oppression, Iraq's people will be able to share in the progress and prosperity of our time. If military action is necessary, the United States and our allies will help the Iraqi people rebuild their economy, and create the institutions of liberty in a unified Iraq at peace with its neighbors.

Proving again that simplicity often is the most persuasive, Instapundit reader Chris Breisch reminds: "In case no one remembers, the name of the operation wasn’t 'Operation Let’s Go Kick Some Butt and Get Some WMDs,' it was 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'."