Quotes.

This is coolbert:

Given the current situation in Iraq, consider this article by Hugh Fitzgerald of the web site JihadWatch.

A florilegium of quotes.

"flor·i·le·gi·um n. A collection of excerpts from written texts, especially works of literature. "

From the Iraq war, the liberation/occupation of Iraq, and the aftermath of the war:

#1. General Tommy Franks to the Iraqi people - - 2003:

"To the People of . . . Baghdad . . . our armies have not come into your Cities and Lands as conquerors or enemies but as liberators. Since the days of Hulaku your citizens have been subject to the tyranny of strangers . . . It is the wish not only of my President and [our] peoples, but it is also the wish of the great nations with whom [we are] in alliance that you should prosper ...But you, the people of Baghdad, ... are not to understand that it is the wish of the American Government to impose upon you alien institutions. It is the hope of the American Government that the aspirations of your philosophers and writers shall be realised again . . . People of Baghdad. ... I am commanded to invite you, through your . . . Elders and Representatives to participate in the management of your civil affairs in collaboration with the Political representatives of the United States who accompany the American Army so that you may unite with your kinsmen in the North, East, South and West in realising the aspirations of your race."

#2. Condeleeza Rice - - 2004:

“In the light of the events of the last two months there's no getting out of the conclusion that we have made an immense failure here [Iraq]. The system must have been far more at fault than anything that I or anyone else suspected. It will have to be fundamentally changed and what that may mean exactly I don't know. I suppose we have underestimated the fact that this country is really an inchoate mass of tribes which can't as yet be reduced to any system . . . we have tried to govern - and failed. I personally thought we tried to govern too much, but I hoped that things would hold out . . . and that the transition from . . . to native rule might be made peacefully, in which case much of what we have done might have been made use of. Now I fear that that will be impossible.”

#3. Condeleeza Rice - - 2005:

“We as outsiders can't differentiate between Sunni and Shi'ah, but leave it to them and they'll get over the difficulty by some kind of hanky panky . . . I don't for a moment doubt that the final authority must be in the hands of the Sunnis, in spite of their numerical inferiority; otherwise you will have a mujtahid-run, theocratic state, which is the very devil.”

#4. King Abdullah of Jordan - - 2006:

"Regrettably, I can say there is no Iraqi people yet, but only deluded human groups void of any national idea. Iraqis are not only disunited but evil-motivated, anarchy prone and always ready to prey on their government."

Of course, you devoted readers will realize, those of you who are attuned to world affairs, that these are NOT THE QUOTES OF TOMMY FRANKS, CONDELEEZA RICE, AND KING ABDULLAH.

ARE QUOTES OF PERSONS INVOLVED IN A MUCH PRIOR IRAQI ESCAPADE. The British occupation of Mesopotamia [Iraq] in the aftermath of World War One [WW1].

Read the original quotes in the proper context here.

Thanks to Hugh Fitzgerald.

coolbert.