Posted on 10/19/2003 7:55:05 AM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...t
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...nearly all of Iraq’s 400 courts are functioning.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts—exceeding the pre-war average. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, by October 1, Coalition forces had rehabbed over 1,500 schools - 500 more than their target. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...doctors’ salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccination doses to Iraq’s children. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000 kilometers of weed-choked canals. They now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...we have restored over three-quarters of pre-war telephone services and over two-thirds of the potable water production. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... there are 4,900 full-service connections. We expect 50,000 by January first.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...95 percent of all pre-war bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...the central bank is fully independent.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... Iraq has one of the world’s most growth-oriented investment and banking laws.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... Iraq (has) a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...satellite dishes are legal.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for “minders” and other government spies.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... there is no Ministry of Information.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...there are more than 170 newspapers.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... you can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... foreign journalists and everyone else are free to come and go.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...a nation that had not one single element—legislative, judicial or executive-- of a representative government, does.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...in Baghdad alone residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad’s first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city council elected its new chairman.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq’s history, run the day-to-day business of government.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...the Iraqi government regularly participates in international events. Since July the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the Arab League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference Summit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is reopening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1... for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala thousands of Shiites celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large and small, as part of (a) strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq.
Coalition Provisional Authority Administrator Press Conference 9 October 2003-----
CPA's plans also include a 4-step reconstruction plan to get the basic infrastructure into shape to allow the Iraqis to get their oil to market and electricity, etc., into their homes. CPA's post-major combat stabilization plans are part of #7 and #8 of the original 8 objectives of Gen. Franks's plan, which the Coalition is still completing, with some expected adjustments as needed.
Why the Iraqi people can't just get back on their feet and take over? Over 30 years of being terrorized by a mass-murdering monster left them a bit hesitant. Saddam's still around. Last time we left, he destroyed whole villages.
The Iraqi people are risking their lives and the lives of their families to help us stabilize and rebuild their own country.
Courageous people.
Yep.
Yes, it does make a difference. I copied the quote (which, of course, didn't include the word OPERATIONS), from one of this morning's usual mainstream negativity-hyping articles.
Of course not. I also would never claim they were capable of walking before they are able.
Just like I would not claim Iraq - or any country - is truly free while it is dependend on another, as Iraq is on us. The reality is, Iraq is NOT yet free, while it is dependent on the US.
I heard on Fox News either Tony Snow or Brit Hume - I forget which - say something like allowing the naturally democratic tendencies of Iraqis to take root (I forget the exact words, but that was the gist). Sorry, but they don't have naturally democratic tendencies; were governance allowed to take its natural course in Iraq, they would undoubtedly end up with a Saddam-type dictatorship. The US will not - and would not - allow that to happen; so Iraq is not yet truly free, is it?
Yes, we have accomplished some amazing things over there, and not enough attention or merit is given. But let's not fool ourselves. Blithely tossing about terms like "Iraq is now free" is mindless bubblegum sloganeering. What can be said, is that we have made life immeasurably better for Iraqis, and someday, they will be free. With our help.
Just like my child will someday walk and run. With my help.
Tell Mike we'll keep fighting domestic enemies for them on the homefront.
Koppel: I have to take issue with that statement. Americans have long believed the Internet as a form of press. The fact that this was posted on the internet therefore contradicts that there is a bias in the press.
They have many enemies within and without. They are most afraid of our leaving before they have independent elections and can stand against their neighbors. Please at least read the link to the atrocities Saddam committed on these people.
Six months is a very short time. They hope to hold elections by next year. The CPA is not a "Nanny" - far from it. They're forcing fast reform.
It's mostly copied from the CPA report. Please use it if you can, and you'd rather.
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