Some Good News In Post-War Iraq

Accuracy In Media ^ | July 1, 2003 | Robert Enayati

[walford]

While much of the media continue to attempt to discredit the recent liberation of the Iraqi people, there has been far less coverage of some of the positive accomplishments in post-war Iraq. The media have been focusing on the administration's inability, thus far, to find weapons of mass destruction, and on whether or not the Bush administration deliberately misled Congress by exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

[walford]

Many of the positive acheivements since the fall of Saddam, such as the construction of a competitive Iraqi school system have been ignored. Why?

[rudypoot]

Ping

[vbmoneyspender]

You are going to be waiting awhile for Captain Kirk to show up because he just surrendered to the Klingons on another thread.

[walford]

"surrendered to the Klingons"

I thought they took no prisoners...

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[Wright is right!]

How about posting the entire article? We are not enjoined from posting articles from AIM, just the WashComPost/LATimes and their member organizations.

Michael

[PhiKapMom]

These feel good stories out of Iraq have been ignored because of the vast left wing liberal press that would rather follow Hillary/DNC Talking Points then give credit to President Bush and our military!

Most of the feel good stories have come from Air Force News Service such as growing watermelons in Iraq, etc. Seems the lamestream media could care less about the positives and would rather focus on anything negative they can find even if they have to manufacture it.

[Prodigal Son]

LOL!

[walford]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/930021/posts?page=60#60

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/930021/posts?page=71#71

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/930021/posts?page=105#105

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/930021/posts?page=123#123


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925870/posts?page=14#14

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925870/posts?page=19#19



http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/923153/posts?page=3#3

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/923153/posts?page=6#6


I understand that excerpting is a sore subject for some Freepers. Apparently it is easier to expend several dozen keystrokes complaining about excerpting than it is to just expend one click of the mouse [or two to open in a new window].

I will continue to post excerpts because:

It lets the publisher of the site know who is looking at their material. It helps out our friends to increase the number of clicks to their sites. For non-profits, like Accuracy In Media, the more people who visit our site, the better case can be made that we are reaching an expanding audience, thus making a case for continued/increased support.

For our enemies, it is good to let the Lefties know that the tripe that they are spewing is being watched by the likes of the heart and soul of this country who populate the FR. I only hope that we can get the webmasters from the Nation of Islam, CPUSA, NOW and others knowing that what they are promulgating is being posted here and is being ‘discussed’ vigorously.

This can only be done if you click through via FR. If you can convince the admins at FR consider this to be an unreasonable policy, if what I am doing is so evil, then campaign to have me thrown off, because I will not budge on this one.

[MediaMole]

Some Good News In Post-War Iraq
By Robert Enayati
July 1, 2003

While much of the media continue to attempt to discredit the recent liberation of the Iraqi people, there has been far less coverage of some of the positive accomplishments in post-war Iraq. The media have been focusing on the administration's inability, thus far, to find weapons of mass destruction, and on whether or not the Bush administration deliberately misled Congress by exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

Shortly after Saddam's regime fell, some in the liberal media suggested that corporate friends of President Bush and Vice President Cheney were positioned to cash in. ABC's Nightline stated that the American taxpayer would be on the hook for $80-100 billion for post-war reconstruction. Steve Croft of CBS's 60 Minutes put the figure at $60 billion and suggested that much of that money would benefit corporate pals of the administration, such as Halliburton and Bechtel, two companies that have gotten plenty of government contracts through the years regardless of who was in power. There was no mention of the nearly $4 billion worth of U.S. military contracts awarded this year to a firm co-owned by the husband of Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein, including for Iraqi reconstruction.

Andrew Natsios, the administrator of USAID, the primary agency responsible for reconstruction efforts in Iraq, informed Nightline's Ted Koppel on April 24 that Congress had appropriated a total of $1.7 billion for reconstruction efforts and that he believed it wouldn't cost the U.S. taxpayer anymore than that. Koppel was incredulous. Though the interview with Natsios was pre-recorded, Nightline still inexplicably included the greatly exaggerated estimates in its opening segment. We asked them for an explanation, but they never called us back to offer one. The total cost is unknown, but, according to Natsios, the rest of the money will come primarily from Iraqi oil revenues, and partly from other countries.

Little has been written about the various kinds of projects that are being undertaken in post-war Iraq. For example, Creative Associates International (CAI) is a minority-owned company that has provided various services to populations in 68 countries. It was awarded a contract for $62 million for, according to its Web site, "the Revitalization of Iraqi Schools and Stabilization of Education (RISE) Project, which will seek to mend more than a decade of neglect to Iraq's education sector."

No schools were bombed in Iraq. This is not a case where we are fixing what we broke. On the contrary, we are supplying Iraq's children with something they never had-high quality modern and technologically advanced education. The U.S. is in the process of revitalizing every school in Iraq with new desks, textbooks, and computers. Educational reform has been reinstated to maximize school capacity. Also, it is part of CAI's charter to conduct "accelerated learning pilot projects…to address girls education."

We are also revitalizing Iraq's badly degraded airports and seaports. Stevedoring Services of America was awarded a $4.8 million contract to improve usability and accessibility of Umm Qasr Seaport. Skylink Air and Logistic Support, Inc. was awarded over $2.5 million to jumpstart Iraq's civilian airway system, upgrading it to meet advanced safety standards. These two contracts will not only be a positive improvement to Iraqi life, but will help to pave the way for better economic viability.

Other formidable and laudable contracts largely ignored by the media include $40 million to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to put an immediate end to the epidemics which have claimed the lives of one of four children under the age of five during Saddam's rule; $10 million yearly to the World Health Organization to conduct project "Jump Start" whose purpose it is to create a technologically advanced health ministry and train the physicians; $43.8 million to Abt Associates Inc. to "stabilize and strengthen health care delivery and management in Iraq."

The media should be focusing more on these projects in their coverage of Iraq to give a balanced picture of what is going on there. Unfortunately, they have tended to pick up on attacks leveled by the nine Democrats seeking the nomination to run against Bush next year, and focus on those issues.

Robert Enayati is an intern with Accuracy in Media.

[MediaMole]

The problem with excerpts is simple. Links change. What happens if someone reads this thread in a few months, tries the link and the article has been removed?

FR provides a valuable resource as an archive of news articles.

[mystery-ak]

Slap yourself...How dare you post any good news from Iraq...it's a quagmire...(sarcasm)

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

We've even had troops coming home, also unnoticed by the press:

Sailors aboard the USS Kearsarge man the rails as the ship prepares for homecoming. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class (SW) Jeffrey Truett

[CyberAnt]

And ... proving once again that Ann's book "Treason" is right on the money!!

[PhiKapMom]

I agree with you -- Treason is right on the money!

[CyberAnt]

I'm reading "Dereliction of Duty". I have "Treason" on tap - but just reading about the attitude and antics of the x42 WH - I'm confident "Treason" is right on the money!!

[walford]

"The problem with excerpts is simple. Links change. What happens if someone reads this thread in a few months, tries the link and the article has been removed?
[If you like the piece so much then go out and and save it onto your hard drive.]

FR provides a valuable resource as an archive of news articles."

I can assure you that we at AIM have articles that are available from when we started in 1969. The links are not going to change. They certainly are not going to change in the short amount of time that a posted article is going to be on the front page of FR.

What you have done is screw a non-profit out of web traffic by appointing yourself judge jury and executioner by cutting and pasting the entire article into the discussion thread. You have chosen not to address the issues that have been raised and have instead committed an act of vandalism like a petulant child.

From now on, when you see a post by me, just pass it by - you are not welcome to see it. End of discussion, MM and to all of the other excerpting whiners.

[1rudeboy]

I admire your dedication in attempting to turn us into Lucianne.com.

[Wright is right!]

"I understand that excerpting is a sore subject for some Freepers. Apparently it is easier to expend several dozen keystrokes complaining about excerpting than it is to just expend one click of the mouse [or two to open in a new window]."

I didn't check to see how long you've been here, but it apparently is not long enough to know that one of the main stated goals of FR is to provide an ARCHIVE of news and opinion articles from all over the world - an archive that will not expire when the article expires on its source server. If you except and provide only a link, when the originating server deletes the article, then we at FR no longer have a record of it.

It is this founding principle that drew the ire of the Washington ComPost and the LA Times - and the resulting legal battle resulted in a settlement that we agree to excerpt and link articles from those and their affiliated sources. At the time the settlement was entered, it was quite well-stated by the FR management (our generous hosts) that excerpting would now have to occur on articles from those sources but the original policy of posting FULL articles from OTHER sources should continue.

Your stated goals of generating click-thrus so other sites know where their traffic is coming from are not consistent with FR's stated policy of providing as complete an archive as possible. You may, of course, do anything you wish that the hosts are pleased with, but the above is the stated policy of this forum.

I appreciate your effort and applaud your participation - you appear to be a true credit to FR. I simply wanted you to know that there is a reason why excerpting is only tolerated here, not encouraged.

Michael