Flashback to 2004: "Mr President, Iraq is sovereign&quo

[cem]

The Guardian, 29 June 2004



caption: [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair and [U.S. President] George Bush shaking hands [during the NATO summit in Istanbul] after the president received a note, right, from [U.S. National Security Advisor] Condoleezza Rice confirming the Iraq handover


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Flashback to 2004: "Mr President, Iraq is sovereign"



Propaganda alert

compiled by Cem Ertür

28 June 2014






excerpts from: The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom in Istanbul

[joint press conference by US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the first day of the NATO summit in Istanbul, 28 June 2004]

The American Presidency Project website, 28 June 2004




President Bush: Good afternoon. Earlier today, 15 months after the liberation of Iraq, and 2 days ahead of schedule, the world witnessed the arrival of a free and sovereign Iraqi Government. Iraqi officials informed us that they are ready to assume power, and Prime Minister Allawi believes that making this transition now is best for his country. After decades of brutal rule by a terror regime, the Iraqi people have their country back.

This is a day of great hope for Iraqis and a day that terrorist enemies hoped never to see. The terrorists are doing all they can to stop the rise of a free Iraq. But their bombs and attacks have not prevented Iraqi sovereignty, and they will not prevent Iraqi democracy. Iraqi sovereignty is a tribute to the will of the Iraqi people and the courage of Iraqi leaders. This day also marks a proud moral achievement for members of our coalition. We pledged to end a dangerous regime, to free the oppressed, and to restore sovereignty. We have kept our word. [...]

In Iraq, we're serving the cause of liberty, and liberty is always worth fighting for. In Iraq, we're serving the cause of peace by promoting progress and hope in the Middle East as the alternative to stagnation and hatred and violence for export. In Iraq, we're serving the cause of our own security, striking the terrorists where we find them, instead of waiting for them to strike us at home. [...]


Prime Minister Blair: Thank you, Mr. President. Today is, obviously, an important staging post on the journey of the people of Iraq towards a new future, one in which democracy replaces dictatorship, in which freedom replaces repression, and of which all the people of Iraq can look forward to the possibility and the hope of an Iraq that genuinely guarantees a future for people from whatever part of Iraq they come. I think it's just worth reflecting for a moment on what we now have before us, because today, of course, is extremely important. It's the transfer of real and full sovereignty to the people and the Government of Iraq. [...]

[The terrorists'] objective is not just to destabilize Iraq, to produce chaos, to produce bloodshed, to try and prevent democracy. The strategy of these terrorists is to try and prevent Iraq becoming a symbol of hope not just for the Iraqi people but, actually, for that region and the wider world. And that is why, in a very real sense, because Al Qaida and other terrorist groups are actually there in Iraq now, what is happening in Iraq, the battle in Iraq, the battle for Iraq and its future, if you like, is, in a genuine sense, the frontline of the battle against terrorism and the new security threat that we face.

And so our job's got to be, again as an international community, to give them help. And that's why it's important that NATO helps with the training of the Iraqi security forces. [...] And for NATO, after the end of the cold war, after all the changes that have happened, I think it has its role today. It is to support that process of transition and change, the world over




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excerpt from: Remarks by the President on the Situation in Iraq

[press conference by U.S. President Barack Obama, The White House, 19 June 2014]

The White House website, 19 June 2014



"It is in our national security interests not to see an all-out civil war inside of Iraq, not just for humanitarian reasons, but because that ultimately can be destabilizing throughout the region. And in addition to having strong allies there that we are committed to protecting, obviously issues like energy and global energy markets continues to be important.

We also have an interest in making sure that we don’t have a safe haven that continues to grow for ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] and other extremist jihadist groups who could use that as a base of operations for planning and targeting ourselves, our personnel overseas, and eventually the homeland. And if they accumulate more money, they accumulate more ammunition, more military capability, larger numbers, that poses great dangers not just to allies of ours like Jordan, which is very close by, but it also poses a great danger potentially to Europe and ultimately the United States.

We have already seen inside of Syria that -- or groups like ISIL that right now are fighting with other extremist groups, or an Assad regime that was non-responsive to a Sunni majority there, that that has attracted more and more jihadists or would-be jihadists, some of them from Europe. They then start traveling back to Europe, and that, over time, can create a cadre of terrorists that could harm us.

So we have humanitarian interests in preventing bloodshed. We have strategic interests in stability in the region. We have counterterrorism interests. All those have to be addressed."



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Related propaganda:


Remarks by the President and First Lady on the End of the War in Iraq

by President Barack Obama, The White House website, 14 December 2011


Remarks in Fayetteville, North Carolina: "The World Beyond Iraq"

by Senator Barack Obama, The American Presidency Project website, 19 March 2008


Remarks in Clinton, Iowa: "Turning the Page in Iraq"

by Senator Barack Obama, The American Presidency Project website, 12 September 2007


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Alternative media:


US-Sponsored Terrorism in Iraq and “Constructive Chaos” in the Middle East

Selected articles

by Julie Lévesque, Global Research, 19 June 2014


Flashback: President Assad: US seeks war on Iraq in order to redraw the map of Middle East

propaganda alert by Cem Ertür, Indybay, 20 June 2014


Flashback to 2003: "Major combat in Iraq is over, U.S. warns rogue Syria"

propaganda alert by Cem Ertür, Indybay, 16 April 2014


NATO In The Persian Gulf

From Third World War To the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative

by Rick Rozoff, Global Research, 7 February 2009


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