Posted on 12/15/2003 7:22:08 PM PST by luv2ndamend
By a Colonel in the US Army
Folks, here are just a few of the things that have been happening in Iraq. I have several long time friends, both Army Colonels, who between the two of them (one supports the troops the other supports Mr. Bremer, the CPA) know what is going on. They are the only folks other than the USAID (State Department) that can do any contracting in Iraq. The Officer who will be responsible for the $18Billion just voted for is a very good long-time friend. I have visited with both of them recently. Forget most of what you have read in the papers:
...the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty.
...over 60 000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.
...nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning.
...the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.
...on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts — exceeding the pre-war average
...all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools.
...by October 1, Coalition forces had rehabbed over 1,500 schools — 500 more than their target.
...teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries.
...all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.
...doctors' salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam.
... pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing, to 700 tons in May, and to a current total of 12,000 tons.
...the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccination doses to Iraq's children.
...a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000 kilometers of weed-choked canals. They now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women.
...we have restored over three-quarters of pre-war telephone services and over two-thirds of the potable water production.
...the wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and towns.
...95 percent of all pre-war bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily.
...Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses.
...the central bank is fully independent.
... Iraq has one of the world's most growth-oriented investment and banking laws.
... Iraq has a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years.
...satellite dishes are legal and one can buy them on what seems like every corner.
...foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for "minders" and other government spies.
... there is no Ministry of Information.
...there are more than 170 newspapers, printing what they choose to print.
...a nation that had not one single elementof a representative government — legislative, judicial or executive — does.
...in Baghdad alone residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad's first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city council elected its new chairman.
...in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country.
...25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq's history, run the day-to-day business of government.
...the Iraqi government regularly participates in international events. Since July the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the Arab League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference Summit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is reopening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world.
...Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't.
... for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala, thousands of Shiites celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam.
...the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large and small as part of a strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq.
Uday and Qusay are dead and no longer feeding innocent Iraqis to zoo lions, raping the young daughters of local leaders to force cooperation, torturing Iraq's soccer players for losing games, or murdering critics.
...children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents disagree with the government.
...political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed, or forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam.
...millions of long-suffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual terror.
...Saudis will hold municipal elections.
...Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents.
... Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms.
...the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for the first time to an Iranian — a Muslim woman who speaks out with courage for human rights, for democracy, and for peace.
Folks, you Army is doing one hell of a job, and I for one am sick and tired of all the BS saying how badly it is being managed. And my dear friends, Mark Neuman and Tony Bell have more integrity in their little fingers than every single newspaper or politician who says otherwise. The only politicians who speak truth are the few (from both parties) who have actually been there. Ask yourselves why only Fox covers any of this?
I had to get that off my chest. I just am getting frosted over the lies. With all due respect, I'll never vote for anyone who lies about this stuff. They are impugning the integrity of men I know, and trust with my life.
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