HEARTS AND MINDS

The Proclamation of Baghdad made exactly 86 years before Gulf War II

"Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. ... you people of Baghdad whose commercial prosperity and whose safety from oppression and invasion must ever be a matter of the closest concern."

The above proclamation [excerpt] was issued to the inhabitants of Baghdad on March 19, 1917, by Lieut. General Sir Stanley Maude, shortly after the occupation of the city by British forces.