“Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. Your wealth has been stripped of you by unjust men … The government of Iraq , and the future of your country, will soon belong to you. … We will end a brutal regime … so that Iraqis can live in security.”

General F. S. Maude, commander of the British forces, to the people of Mesopotamia , 1917

“First, we will demonstrate to the people of Iraq and the world that the United States and the coalition aspire to liberate, not to occupy,”

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, in a statement to the UN Security Council, March 27 2003