What is really going on in Iraq ?

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What is really going on in Iraq ?

Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 12:20 PM
Subject: Denison, Iowa - Soldier's Iraq Report

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 in Iraq.

Much that is happening in Iraq is noteworthy:

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.
100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed
compared to 35% before the war.
Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
Students are taught field sanitation and
hand washing techniques to
prevent the spread of germs.

Over 1500 schools have been renovated and
rid of the weapons that were stored there
so education can occur.
School attendance is up 80% from levels
before the war.
Girls are allowed to attend school for the
first time ever in Iraq.
Text books that don't mention
Saddam are in the schools
for the first time in 30 years.

The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so
grain can be off loaded from ships faster.
The country had its first 2 billion barrel
export of oil in August.
The country now receives 2 times the
electrical power it did before the war.
Over 400,000 people have telephones
for the first time ever.

Elections are taking place in
every major city and city councils
are in place.
An interim constitution has been signed.

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.

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.

Please e-mail this to a friend and let them know
there are good things happening in Iraq.

Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard
234th Signal Battalion
 
I didn't know that girls aren't allowed to go to school when saddam was running the country...dang he sure was sexist.

So I'm glad to hear that the Iraqi citizens are starting to feel happier than ever and all, right?

Terror still isn't over yet because laden hasn't been captured yet...well he was ALMOST captured but *sigh* still on the run like a scared rabbit lol
 
Yeah, it's amazing about them for
NOT allowing Iraq girls to go any school before...

Anyway, I believe that everyone should
listen closely to these U.S. soldiers who
were/are already there ... better than
anyone else (especially Non-US people)....
 
Y said:
Yeah, it's amazing about them for
NOT allowing Iraq girls to go any school before...

Anyway, I believe that everyone should
listen closely to these U.S. soldiers who
were/are already there ... better than
anyone else (especially Non-US people)....
Click to expand...
:werd:
 
and they do all those with our money :shock: to install clean water system, powers, etc.etc...
 
VamPyroX said:
I believe this is a hoax.
Click to expand...

I saw Time magazine that said before takeover Iraq. No women allow to be in Olympic until after US control Iraq and allow women enter for Olympic once again since 30 years.

It's REAL
 
illustrator said:
I saw Time magazine that said before takeover Iraq. No women allow to be in Olympic until after US control Iraq and allow women enter for Olympic once again since 30 years.

It's REAL
Click to expand...
I'm talking about the letter. I think it's a bullshit letter. If it was real, it would have been published on the web.
 
it seems it is true.. since this article is from November 2003 after saddam lost power..
it explains that the hosiptal is better, women's life is better, etc..

here's a link
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/d...5229namfuaks0.5619165&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html


however.. i googled for more info.. the current info about iraq now.. you can buy a book at amazon.com or at wal-mart.com for their current status of life.
 
Interesting.. I just checked to see
if this is a hoax or not.. There is
a red mark "TRUE" ! They said that
"GOOD NEWS does NOT sell"... Look at one
of these similiar examples here:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/rydbom.asp

Copied here:


06-23-2003
Sitrep: Iraq

Editor's Note: This is an open letter from U.S. Army Maj. Eric Rydbom in Iraq to the First Lutheran Church of Richmond Beach in Shoreline, Wash. Rydbom is Deputy Division Engineer of the 4th Infantry Division.

It has been a while since I have written to my friends at First Lutheran Church about what's really going on here in Iraq. The news you watch on TV is exaggerated, sensationalized and selective. Good news doesn't sell.

The stuff you don't hear about on CNN?

Let's start with electrical power production in Iraq. The day after the war was declared over, there was nearly 0 power being generated in Iraq. Just 45 days later, in a partnership between the Army, the Iraqi people and some private companies, there are now 3200 megawatts (Mw) of power being produced daily, 1/3 of the total national potential of 8000 Mw. Downed power lines (big stuff, 400 Kilovolt (Kv) and 132 Kv) are being repaired and are about 70 percent complete.

Then there is water purification. In central Iraq between Baghdad and Mosul, home of the 4th Infantry Division, water treatment was spotty at best. The facilities existed, but the controls were never implemented. Simple chemicals like Chlorine for purification and Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) for sediment settling (the Tigris River is about as clear as the Mississippi River) were in very short supply or not used at all. When chlorine was used, it was metered by the scientific method of guessing.

So some people got pool water to drink and some people got water with lots of little things floating around in it. We are slowly but surely solving that. Contracts for repairs to facilities that are only 50 percent or less operational are being let, chemicals are being delivered, although we don't have the metering problem solved yet ( ... but again, it's only been 45 days).

How about oil and fuel? Well the war was all about oil wasn't it? You bet it was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people! They have no other income, they produce nothing else. Oil is 95 percent of the Iraqi GNP. For this nation to survive, it must sell oil.

The Refinery at Bayji is [operating] at 75 percent of capacity producing gasoline. The crude pipeline between Kirkuk (Oil Central) and Bayji will be repaired by tomorrow (2 June). LPG, what all Iraqis use to cook and heat with, is at 103 percent of normal production and we, the U.S. Army, are ensuring it is being distributed fairly to all Iraqis.

You have to remember that only three months ago, all these things were used by the Saddam regime as weapons against the population to keep them in line. If your town misbehaved, gasoline shipments stopped, LPG pipelines and trucks stopped, water was turned off, power was turned off.

Now, until exports start, every drop of gasoline produced goes to the Iraqi people. Crude oil is being stored and the country is at 75 percent capacity right now. They need to export or stop pumping soon, so thank the U.N. for the delay.

All LPG goes to the Iraqi people everywhere. Water is being purified as best it can be, but at least its running all the time to everyone.

Are we still getting shot at? Yep.

Are American soldiers still dying? Yep, about one a day from my outfit, the 4th Infantry Division, most in accidents, but dead is dead.

If we are doing all this for the Iraqis, why are they shooting at us?

The general Iraqi population isn't shooting at us. There are still bad guys who won't let go of the old regime. They are Ba'ath party members (Read Nazi Party, but not as nice) who have known nothing but and supported nothing but the regime all of their lives. These are the thugs for the regime who caused many to disappear in the night. They have no other skills. At least the Nazis [in Germany] had jobs and a semblance of a national infrastructure that they could go back to after the war, as plumbers, managers, engineers, etc. These people have no skills but terror. They are simply applying their skills ... and we are applying ours.

There is no Christian way to say this, but they must be eliminated and we are doing so with all the efficiency we can muster. Our troops are shot at literally everyday by small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs). We respond. One hundred percent of the time, the Ba''ath party guys come out with the short end of the stick.

The most amazing thing to me is that they don't realize that if they stopped shooting at us, we would focus on fixing things more quickly and then leave back to the land of the Big PX. The more they shoot at us, the longer we will have to stay.

Lastly, all of you please realize that 90 percent of the damage you see on TV was caused by Iraqis, not by us and not by the war. Sure, we took out a few bridges from military necessity, we took out a few power and phone lines to disrupt communications, sure we drilled a few palaces and government headquarters buildings with 2000 lb. laser guided bombs (I work 100 yards from where two hit the Tikrit Palace), [but] he had plenty to spare.

But, any damage you see to schools, hospitals, power generation facilities, refineries, pipelines, was all caused either by the Iraqi Army in its death throes or from much of the Iraqi civilians looting the places.

Could we have prevented it? Nope.

We can and do now, but 45 days ago, the average soldier was fighting for his own survival and trying to get to his objectives as fast as possible. He was lucky to know what town he was in much less be informed enough to know who owned what or have the power to stop 1,000 people from looting and burning a building by himself.

The United States and our allies, especially Great Britain, are doing a very noble thing here. We stuck our necks out on the world's chopping block to free an entire people from the grip of a horrible terror that was beyond belief.

I've already talked the weapons of mass destruction thing to death - bottom line, who cares? This country was one big conventional weapons ammo dump anyway. We have probably destroyed more weapons and ammo in the last 30 days than the U.S. Army has ever fired in the last 30 years (remember, this is a country the size of Texas), so drop the WMD argument as the reason we came here. If we find it great if we don't, so what?

I'm living in a "guest palace" on a 500-acre palace compound with 20 palaces with like facilities built in half a dozen towns all over Iraq that were built for one man. Drive down the street and out into the countryside five miles away like I have and see all the families of 10 or more, all living in mud huts and herding the two dozen sheep on which their very existence depends ..then tell me why you think we are here.

WMD is an important issue. We have to find them wherever they may be (in Syria?), but that is not our real motivator. Don't let it be yours either.

Respectfully,

ERIC RYDBOM MAJOR, ENGINEER
Deputy Division Engineer
4th Infantry Division
 
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Yeah something like that...proably when President Kerry runs for an re-electric (only if he gets to be president at the end of 2004, that is)
 
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