i think you should all read this. it's an email i got from a friend:
As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in Iraq, I wanted to
say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media. They have done a very
poor job of covering everything that has happened. *I am sorry that I have not
been able to visit all of you during my two week leave back home.
*
And just so you can rest at night knowing something is happening in Iraq that
is noteworthy, I thought I would pass this on to you.
*
This is the list of things that has happened in Iraq recently: *(Please share
it with your friends and compare it to the version that your paper is
producing):
*
· * * * *Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time
ever in Iraq.
· * * * *Over 400,000 kids have up to date immunizations.
· * * * *Over 1500 schools have been renovated and ridded of the weapons that
were stored there so education can occur.
· * * * *The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off loaded from
ships faster.
· * * * *School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.
· * * * *The country had it's first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.
· * * * *The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the war.
*
*
· * * * *100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed compared to 35%
before the war.
· * * * *Elections are taking place in every major city and city councils are
in place.
· * * * *Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
· * * * *Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.
· * * * *Over 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the country.
· * * * *Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by side
with US soldiers.
· * * * *Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever.
· * * * *Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to
prevent the spread of germs.
· * * * *An interim constitution has been signed.
· * * * *Girls are allowed to attend school for the first time ever in Iraq.
· * * * *Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the first
time in 30 years.
*
Don't believe for one second that these people do not want us there. *I have
met many, many people from Iraq that want us there and in a bad way.
*
They say they will never see the freedoms we talk about but they hope their
children will. *We are doing a good job in Iraq and I challenge anyone,
anywhere to dispute me on these facts. *So If you happen to run into John Kerry, be
sure to give him my email address and send him to Denison, Iowa. * This soldier
will set him straight. If you are like me and very disgusted with how this
period of rebuilding has been portrayed, email this to a friend and let them
know there are good things happening.
*
Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard
234th Signal Battalion
that's definitely something to think about