Reply
Wed 21 Apr, 2004 01:46 pm
Quote:Subject: the truth
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 18:02:39 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Update on Iraq Efforts
(This is from a National Guardsman from Denison, Iowa - back on leave)
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.
-Text books 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
This arrived in my email Inbox yesterday from my best friend. I am at least 3 friends removed from the author, so please don't ask me for any additional sources or to provide anything to substantiate his claims. It is what it is and that's all it is. No more, no less. :wink:
The countdown starts now before "they" try to dispute it or call you names Bill...
In at least one area, this soldier is completely confused... he says: "Girls are allowed to attend school for the first time ever in Iraq."
According to
UNICEF:
Quote:
One of the victims of Iraq's legacy of wars and sanctions has been girls' attendance at school. Prior to the 1991 Gulf War, 92 per cent of girls attended school. By the start of this latest conflict, that number had dropped to just 68 per cent. This is largely because families could no longer afford to keep all their children in school, and so girls were pulled out to assist their families with household work or to look after younger siblings, while their brothers finished their schooling.
McGentrix wrote:The countdown starts now before "they" try to dispute it or call you names Bill...
Yeah... I just did. Do you want me to check on the other "facts" as well?
It's OK to just make up stuff and then we're supposed to believe it?
Yes I would. There are many questionable ideas listed.
Slow down now. I disclaimed my lack of personal knowledge of the author. And furthermore; the fact that he doesn't have all his facts straight is one of the things that made me think it was genuine... which in turn is why I chose to share it. Call me whatever you wish. I have no intention of defending the document.
I appreciate it Bill. I too have spoken with many soldiers who have returned from Iraq and they tell of similar things.
Bill,
I'm assuming that you'll welcome anyone ripping the letter to shreds. Is that a safe assumption?
Those I know personally returning home from Iraq recount the same things in the letter cited here. Saddam made Bahgdad his showplace to entertain and show off to international visitors and there were some schools that accepted girls--I'm not positive but I think all girls' schools--in Baghdad. The people of Baghdad also had electricity, running water, sewers, traffic lights, etc. Not so in many areas of the rest of the country where foreign visitors were not allowed to go.
Bill -- I wasn't picking on you. I was just surprised that even *I* could recognize at once that the line about girls never attending schools in Iraq was false. I checked it with a quick reference and was amazed at how high the percentage was prior to the "First Gulf War." That's close to the percentage in the U.S., I think. In fact, with home-schooling, our percentage may be lower.
The problem is... these things get handed around and never corrected. Americans are stupid enough about the rest of the world without making it worse. According to Mr. McGentrix, I shouldn't make an attempt to disagree with falsehoods or (I suppose) I'm being unpatriotic. Personally, I'd prefer to know the truth... THE TRUTH... rather than something somebody made up.
In fact, I would have been a WHOLE LOT more willing to accept the conflict in Iraq if we hadn't been lied to in order to get into it. If Bush had just said, "This Saddam bastard is a bastard and I'm going to take him out"... well, at least I could have respected that. I still might not have agreed with it, but maybe I would have. Who is to know, now? I happen to think Saddam was a total, unmitigatedly brutal SOB. It is amazing to me that the world put up with him for so long... knowing what we knew.
However, once somebody KNOWS that they're speaking or repeating an untruth and continues to do so... then that's where my dander rises. Especially when that somebody is a head of state.
No sweat Piffka... My "slow down" wasn't directed at you. It was in anticipation of what will likely follow.
Jer, I didn't write it, and disclaimed it for what it is. Sorting out the truth is never a bad idea. It just struck me as real, in that soldiers mind, as opposed to canned news and propaganda... and I thought folks might find it interesting.
Like McG and Foxy for instance!
Soldier's mind and "canned propaganda" are not mutually exclusive.
Foxfyre wrote:I'm not positive but I think all girls' schools--in Baghdad.
Well, I'm POSITIVE you didn't bother to read the UNICEF source I quoted, which would make you realize you're wrong.
If all that was in the letter described that which he had seen and through contacts learned I could 'possibly" believe it was composed and written by him. However, the fact that the letter is loaded with statistics that were no doubt fed to him makes me think it is government generated propaganda.
Okay, I just got off the phone with a friend back from Iraq in the last 30 days. He was deployed in a rural area and was around as a school was refurbished and restocked so the kids could start back. He had been told that girls did not attend school there but that they would now go to school. He assumed it was that way in all rural areas but couldn't say he had ever asked.
The UNICEF article cited did say that 1 out of 4 Iraqi girls in rural areas did not attend school. But I misspoke when I said no girls attended school in rural areas. Apologies.
Bill, thanks for posting the letter. I appreciate how you added the disclaimer. I believe a lot of conservatives would have just said"SEE? THERE!!"
My first glance(edit) gave me an inkling this guy was in psy-ops or the P.R. battalion what with all the stats. I know I wouldn't write my mom like that. OK, I'm suspicious...that's who I am. But I'm going to hope that it's a legit letter and that things are going good...I'm gonna hope with all my heart. And if it's a propaganda piece...then I'm naive..and .that's who I am.
Gee, there are many rural areas in Mexico that have no running water and conditions are appalling -- maybe we should invade Mexico and improve their quality of life. And they do have oil. Oh, I'm sorry, they don't have any WMD.
-Over 400,000 kids have up to date immunizations.
Gee, how nice for the kidlets of Iraq.
Do all of America's children have up to date immunizations? I doubt it.
Again, what happened to America first?
LW
Quote:Gee, there are many rural areas in Mexico that have no running water and conditions are appalling -- maybe we should invade Mexico and improve their quality of life. And they do have oil. Oh, I'm sorry, they don't have any WMD.
[/u][/b]
We an always claim they do.
I think I first saw that letter months ago.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace