An Iraqi Education: A firsthand report on postwar school reconstruction

Opinion Journal ^ | 01/15/04 | BILL EVERS

[Pokey78]

You come in-country on a military cargo plane, traveling from a military airfield in Kuwait. Your plane comes down steeply from the sky (to avoid Saddamist rocketeers) to the military side of the international airport in Baghdad. You're a senior adviser on education for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), recruited by the White House and the office of the secretary of defense and approved by Ambassador Paul Bremer. Your five-month mission is to help revive teaching and learning in a country on the mend from a fascist despotism. What's it like?

[Pokey78]

ping

[jla]

^

[MJY1288]

I think the progress in Iraq has been nothing short of miraculous, It's been less than a year since Baghdad fell, and the Iraqi's have a new currency, a private sector economy that's booming, Thousands of new Iraqi Police trained and on duty, a good start on an Iraqi Army, 95% of the schools are open and teaching without the Saddam Textbooks, 95% of all the Hospitals are open, electricity being delivered to more Iraqi's than ever before, and oil production above the pre war levels.

A Just and Nobel war that has liberated 24 million Iraqi's from one of the worlds most brutal Dictators that ever presided over a nation, much like the 25 million people we liberated in Afghanistan. This is what Americans are known for, we answer the cries for liberty and all we ask for in return, is enough land to bury our fallen heroes and when the job is done, we go home. No other nation has sacrificed more blood and treasure for the cause of liberty, than we have. We have spilled more blood for the freedom of others than we have for our own.

God Bless America and what we stand for

[geopyg]

Bump.

Hey Kennedy - is this the "worst foreign affair blunder" you were talkin' about?

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you, Pokey78. Great post.

Amen, Mike.

Defending the removal of Saddam Hussein is as basic and right as condemning his regime's 30+ year history of torture, rape, murder and oppression ~ of millions.
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You're a senior adviser on education for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), recruited by the White House and the office of the secretary of defense and approved by Ambassador Paul Bremer. Your five-month mission is to help revive teaching and learning in a country on the mend from a fascist despotism. What's it like?

• It's gratifying.

I personally found it a bit nerve-racking whenever I was stuck in a traffic jam. But in five months I never saw a firefight, a bleeding wound or a dead body...

Watching TV coverage of Iraq is much scarier than being there.

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Perspective, and plenty of stubborn facts (ammo).
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[blackie]

An Iraqi Education: A firsthand report on postwar school reconstruction ~ Bump!

[windchime]

Bump!

[FBD]

Good news needed, about now. bttt