Bush Claims War in Iraq ‘Inspiring Democratic Reformers’

Without mentioning the issue of weapons of mass destruction that was the original justification for the war, Bush argued that the occupation had made America safer and was inspiring change across the Middle East.

Bush marked the second anniversary of the war in his weekly radio address and said: "Today, women can vote in Afghanistan, Palestinians are breaking the old patterns of violence, and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese are rising up to demand their sovereignty and democratic rights," and added, "These are landmark events in the history of freedom. Only the fire of liberty can purge the ideologies of murder by offering hope to those who yearn to live free." After claims that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction were discredited, Bush claimed that saving the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein and presenting a model for democracy to the Middle East justified the legitimacy of the war in Iraq. Referring to the January 30 elections in Iraq and a constitutional draft that will be prepared at this week’s first meeting of the transitional Iraqi National Assembly, the US President said: "Today the Iraqi people are taking charge of their own destiny." He also mentioned about the democratic moves in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Lebanon, and Palestine in addition to the elections in Iraq and assessed: "Today we are seeing hopeful signs across the broader Middle East."

On the other side, speaking to the German magazine Der Spiegel, the prime ministerial candidate of Iraqi Shiites Ibrahim Jaferi said that he aimed to implement Sheri’a law in the country. Meanwhile, seven people died in attacks that were organized in Iraq on the day before the second anniversary of the war, which started in March 20th 2003. A total of 1,680 foreign soldiers, most of whom Americans, have died in Iraq so far. The number of Iraqi civilians, who died within the last two years, is between 17,000 and 100,000.