Good News From Iraq

Fairpress.org ^ | October 12, 2003 | Ragtime Cowgirl;Bert

[bert]

Here's some good news you may have missed in your daily wire reports.........

*******

During last week's sixth month anniversary of the liberation of Baghdad, those on the "front lines" of victory and stabilization shared progress reports, and the meaning of freedom:

Fairpress: Washington D.C., Oct. 10, 2003 -- "Ask the White House"

After 6 months in Iraq as Senior Advisor to Ambassador Bremer, Dan Senor entertained and informed interested visitors to the White House website last week.

On progress and press coverage:

"Since I spent most of my time in Iraq, I don’t see all the U.S. coverage, but I can tell you what is going on on the ground and you can decide if it is being fairly reported. Here’s what’s going on on the ground: "Hospitals are open. Schools are open. Children are back at school. Iraqis are taking more and more responsibility for their security. There is a flourishing free press with over 160 Iraqi newspapers that have started up since liberation. There is a thriving small business free market with satellite dish stores, white good sales (refrigerators and appliances) on every street corner in downtown Baghdad."

"95 percent of the country is at peace and returning to normal daily life. There is a tiny area of the country where remnants of the former regime and foreign terrorists are organizing against us. That is because they do not have a stake in a new free Iraq."

----------

"The Iraqi Minister of Justice just a few weeks ago announced the establishment of an independent judiciary in Iraq...Iraqi judges for the first time in 35 years will be free from political interference, control and manipulation. This is historic. It is the only independent judiciary of its kind in the region and this is one of the key pillars of a free, democratic society in addition to pillars like freedom of speech and freedom of religion -- both of which are also protected in the new Iraq."

More:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/20031010.html

----------

Amb. Bremer held a press conference in Baghdad on the sixth month anniversary, to report on the tremendous progress made by the Coalition and the Iraqi people:

Fairpress: Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 9, 2003 -- L. Paul Bremer Coalition Provisional Authority Administrator Opening Remarks Press Conference:

"The Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large and small, as part of our strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq. That plan has four elements: Create a Secure Environment. Begin Restoration of Essential Services. Begin to Transform the Economy. Begin the Transformation to Democracy." ----

A few of those 13,000 successes in Iraq: Over 40,000 police now on duty. The first new graduates of the first Iraqi battalion - now helping our troops catch mutual enemies. 400 functioning Iraqi courts. The first independent Iraqi judiciary in over a generation. Power generation "exceeding pre-war coverage," 4, 518 megawatts on Oct. 6. Nearly all Iraqi schools renovated and reopened. More than 240 hospitals and 1200 clinics now open. Over 22 million vaccinations given to Iraq's children. (Saddam cut public health spending during the 90's by over 90 percent, bringing starvation and disease to the people along with the torture and oppression). Tens of thousands of farms are once more being irrigated after Coalition projects cleared over 14,000 of the more than 27,000 kilometers of weed-choked irrigation canals - projects providing jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqis. Businesses are opening and growing in all major cities and towns. Satellite dishes are no longer illegal and are for sale all over Iraq. Foreign journalists don't have to pay government Ministry of Information minders and spies and are free to come and go. Iraq now has more than 170 newspapers. The Iraqi people now have representative government. Residents have chosen 88 advisory councils in Baghdad alone. Iraq's new professional organizations - chamber of commerce, business, schools, are electing leaders. The new Iraqi government is gaining acceptance internationally and has been represented in over 24 international meetings with the UN, the Arab League, World Bank, and others. Iraq's new Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced last week that Iraq is reopening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world.

Amb. Bremer concludes:

" In six short months we have accomplished a lot."...."We are also aware that the progress we have made is only a beginning. A quarter century of negligence, cronyism and war mongering have devastated this country. Such profound damage cannot be repaired overnight." "Bringing Iraq up to minimum self-sufficiency will require the full $20 billion the President has asked of Congress in his supplemental budget request."

"We are fighting terrorism here and we will continue to fight it until it no longer threatens the hopes of Iraqis, the hopes of the world."

More:

http://www.cpa-iraq.org/transcripts/20031009_Oct-09Bremerpresscon.htm

------------

Finally, after a productive week in Colorado Springs discussing NATO's future role in the war on terrorism with foreign defense ministers, and welcoming recently freed Eastern block nations - soon to be NATO members - SOD Rumsfeld traveled to California to talk about freedom:

Fairpress: Simi Valley, CA., October 10, 2003: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum: Secretary of Defense Delivers Ronald Reagan Public Policy Briefing

"Consider some of the countries that are contributing troops in Iraq today: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine. They all have forces in Iraq assisting the coalition...

"Why are so many of these nations, many small, most not very wealthy, sending their forces, their young men and women put at risk halfway around the world to help bring freedom to the Iraqi people? I suspect it's because so many of them have just recovered their own freedom, and they're eager, they're proud to help the Iraqi people recover theirs. God bless them all....

"They demonstrate that the seeds of freedom, when planted, can do more than simply take root where they're sown. They can have the power to spread freedom across the globe to other countries."

____

SOD Rumsfeld then shared a letter written by Ronald Reagan in 1981 in response to then Soviet leader Brezhnev on America's fitting role as leader of the free world:

"Brezhnev had sent him a letter accusing the United States of destabilizing the world with its territorial ambitions and imperialistic designs. President Reagan replied, quote, "There's not only no evidence to support such a charge; there's solid evidence that the United States, when it could have dominated the world, at no risk to itself, made no effort whatsoever to do so.

"When World War II ended, the United States had the only undamaged industrial power in the world," he wrote. "Its military was at its peak, and we alone had the ultimate weapon, the nuclear bomb, and the unquestioned ability to deliver it anywhere in the world. If we had sought world domination, who could have opposed us?"

"He went on to say, "But the United States followed a different course, one unique in the history of all mankind. We used our power and wealth to rebuild the war-ravaged economies of the world, including those nations that had been our enemies," unquote.

"Think of what he wrote and the power of the truth he spoke. Because of those efforts after World War II, freedom did take root in Japan, in Germany and Italy and indeed across Europe. And the liberated nations of Europe then joined with the United States to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Together we stood up to the forces of communist tyranny, and by the end of the 20th century, liberty had sped -- spread across the entire continent of Europe and beyond."

"When President Bush spoke here, he pointed out that in 1941 there were only about a dozen democracies on the face of the Earth, and by the close of the 20th century, there were more than 120. Today many of those recently liberated nations are now at the forefront of the effort to help Iraq and Afghan peoples recover their freedom and maintain them. And if we are steadfast, free societies can take root in those countries and we will have still new allies in the battle for freedom and moderation in the Middle East."

More:

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20031010-secdef0752.html

-------------------

The international wire services have decided that mostly bad news from Iraq is to be reported. Death and dying will bring down a President. Truth must be hidden to win the war against right wing policies.

Fairpress brings you the good news for delivery to an American public starving for the truth. There are sources out there and some of them will be brought forward and shared.

For more Good News, and there is a lot more, please visit our list at WWW.fairpress.org/goodnews

Ben A Harris Fairpress.org

[bert]

Cogito, ergo FReepum

We are pleased to provide a weekly selection of Good News that is under reported or completely overlooked by those who are politicizing the war in a desperate attempt to destroy a Presidency.

The Good news was provided to more than 1,000 news papers and talk radio hosts.

CCRM is a Free Republic Network affiliate working to reduce media bias.

For a comprehensive overview of Freeper thoughts on Liberal Media bias, check out our website by clicking on graphic, or HERE: We call it Fairpress.org.

This thread is evidence that liberal bias is still with us. Come join our team and engage in the battle against the Liberal Media.

[Support Free Republic]

I'M BACK!!!

SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC

Donate Here By Secure Server

Or mail checks to
FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794

or you can use

PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com

STOP BY A BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD (It's in the Breaking News sidebar!)

[Salem]

Unrelated ping, but still critical. With the help of the world or not (and especially a grossly biased media at all levels), America is still making an impact for good in the world, and this because President George W. Bush is at the helm.

No, it hasn't been a perfect campaign, but in light of the complicated geo-politics and precarious times, still effective. In the years ahead, we need to make every effort within our personal shpheres of influence, locally, statewide, and nationally, to make sure he stays at the helm.


If you'd like to be on or off this
Christian Supporters of Israel ping list,
please FR mail me. ~
    
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~

[P-Marlowe]

There are probably more gang murders every week in Los Angeles than deaths attributable to terrorists in Bagdhad every week. If the press concentrated on the out of control crime in America as much as it does on the problems in Bagdhad, then most people in the US would not even know we had troops there.

[thinktwice]

Iraqi judges for the first time in 35 years will be free from political interference, control and manipulation.

That is better than the American way -- Way to go, Bush!

We need it -- now -- in America.

[Mixer]

Bump

[visualops]

bump


ping for TheStickman: facts and figures etc

[Defender2]

Thanks for posting this, bert!!!!:-) BUMP!!!!

[Consort]

Yes, it appears to be much more dangerous in the Liberal Blue Enclaves on the Blue/Red electoral map than it is in Iraq, overall.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Good post Bert. If the press did nothing but report crime, the situation here in the US might be perceived to be worse than that in Iraq!

I look forward to the day when the great majority will have no use for days-old, "analysed" news.

[P-Marlowe]

When we were marching to Bagdhad all the news networks were filled with images of how well things were going, but now that we have acheived victory I have yet to see a single news story showing how our troops are winning the peace and showing how grateful the Iraqi people are and how much they appreciate our troops. Nothing. I see it here on the daily picture threads, but you'd think at least one news network would do a positive story. Not even Fox.

I suppose good news is bad for ratings. My guess is that the only reason the networks wanted to cover the march to Bagdhad was because they figured there were going to be thousands of Americans killed in the process. They would gleefully report that kind of news.

[LayoutGuru2]

Excellent, thanks for the post...

[EGPWS]

Ben A Harris Fairpress.org

Gee, I am SHOCKED that I haven't heard news of this nature from the alphabet news feeds!

It is amazing to me that as the "liberal party" is motivated in going down the road of extinction, the liberal press is holding their hand while doing so.

[at bay]

Here's another story I found touching, of the Iraqi's new freedom. For the first time in 35 years the Iraqi national orchestra played a concert, according to a congressman just returning. The orchestra played the naional anthem and the entire audience stood and wept. They wept because for the first time in most of their lives they are free. They wept for joy. The nightmare is over. Thugacrocy replaced by democracy.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Tens of thousands of farms are once more being irrigated ...Coalition projects cleared over 14,000..kilometers of weed-choked irrigation canals - projects providing jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqis.

One of the 13,000 or so projects completed by the Coalition in the past 6 months (while taking out terrorists and other bad guys). Ammo for this week's Congressional debate.

Plus, SOD Rumsfeld reads a letter from Pres. Reagan - to Brezhnev, after the Soviet leader accused the United States of "destabilizing the world with its territorial ambitions and imperialistic designs."

~~~~~

For Freepers with the tenacity and patience to still be on my ping list, please see bert's #1. You may be able to help bert, an experienced news Freeper, reach a wider audience with GOOD news, with CCRM's Fairpress.org.

CCRM is a Free Republic Network affiliate working to reduce media bias.

Thank you!

 Thanks, Tonkin!

If you want on or off my Pro-Coalition ping list, please Freepmail me. Warning: it is a high volume ping list on good days. (Most days are good days).

[EternalVigilance]

"Why are so many of these nations, many small, most not very wealthy, sending their forces, their young men and women put at risk halfway around the world to help bring freedom to the Iraqi people? I suspect it's because so many of them have just recovered their own freedom, and they're eager, they're proud to help the Iraqi people recover theirs. God bless them all....

"They demonstrate that the seeds of freedom, when planted, can do more than simply take root where they're sown. They can have the power to spread freedom across the globe to other countries."

Absolutely wonderful!

Yes, God bless them, and Don Rumsfeld too.

[EternalVigilance]

Please, please, please, put me on the ping list!!

[bert]

Doesn't RTCG do a great job!

She sorts through the good stuff and comes up with the great stuff.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Welcome, EV! If the pings get to be too much, I post most of the links to my homepage - updated daily.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you {blush}.