In November 2003 George W. Bush laid out his plan for Iraq.  I wonder how many people have ever read the text of this speech to the United States Chamber of Commerce.  In retrospect, it is stunningly prophetic.  It is impossible to read this and reconcile the insane accusations by the liberal left that Bush lied to lead us into an unnecessary war.  Their eyes and ears were too clogged up with vile hatred to consider the possibility that Bush was right:

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031106-2.html

In Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council are also working together to build a democracy — and after three decades of tyranny, this work is not easy. The former dictator ruled by terror and treachery, and left deeply ingrained habits of fear and distrust. Remnants of his regime, joined by foreign terrorists, continue their battle against order and against civilization. Our coalition is responding to recent attacks with precision raids, guided by intelligence provided by the Iraqis, themselves. And we’re working closely with Iraqi citizens as they prepare a constitution, as they move toward free elections and take increasing responsibility for their own affairs. As in the defense of Greece in 1947, and later in the Berlin Airlift, the strength and will of free peoples are now being tested before a watching world. And we will meet this test.

Bush warned us that we had been ignoring the core problem for decades.  He warned us that if we continued to make the same mistakes we would be doomed to the same results.  Bush proposed a dramatically different approach:

This is a massive and difficult undertaking — it is worth our effort, it is worth our sacrifice, because we know the stakes. The failure of Iraqi democracy would embolden terrorists around the world, increase dangers to the American people, and extinguish the hopes of millions in the region.

His leadership was rewarded by scorn in the main stream media and outright opposition by the Democratic Party. By 2005, many in congress had developed amnesia and pretended they have been tricked into invading Iraq.  The war was taking too long and Democrats wanted to quit, without regard to the consequences. Watch your TV tonight. The consequences are all too obvious.   Bush reminded them of what was at stake:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/20/bush.speech/

Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom.” through U.S. efforts, “we have lit a fire … it warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.”

“the unfinished work of American freedom,” showing the world what liberty really means, and changing to meet “the needs of our time.”

David Gergen got it:

[It’s] historically significant because I think he’s revealed to us today his strategy to win the war on terrorism is far more ambitious than we ever imagined,” Gergen said. “It’s not simply going after Iraq and getting rid of Saddam [Hussein], nor is it simply going after al Qaeda. It is rather to expand and extend liberty across much of the world.

“No other American president has ever committed himself in an inaugural as fully as this to that kind of aggressive, foreign policy.”

I often hear people in the liberal left express longing for real leadership. I just laugh.  We had such a leader but they never even noticed.  Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.  Read, once again, the words of George W. Bush in 2003.  Remind me of why this is all his fault.

The failure of Iraqi democracy would embolden terrorists around the world, increase dangers to the American people, and extinguish the hopes of millions in the region.

What a shame.

TDM