Hope I did the HTML thing ok this time.
Oops..... could have done better. Sorry. I'm still learning.
Thanks for sharing your brother's encouraging update on what's happening in Iraq.
Thanks Lori. We're hearing much the same type of thing from those who are returning to SE Iowa.
Amazing that the press has missed all this.
God Bless your brother and his friends who are serving on our behalf.
Thanks to you who have sent good wishes for my brother. No, he is not the medic. He received the Email (sent to many) FROM the medic. My brother is home now, no longer at the Pentagon as active duty, but now in the reserves.
I love you fellow freepers!
400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
>>Are there doctors there to see there are no adverse reactions??? This is a very different culture, physically as well as ideaoligacally.And people HERE often have bad reactions School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war. * Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur.
>>For what kind of education? Stuff they can use, or Western culture indoctrination?
The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster.
>>Might work. But until the U.S. is out, who gets first dibs?
The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.
>>I wonder where it was exported to. And if it was priced competitively, compared to other oil-producing nations.
Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in Iraq. 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.
>>Nothing too good for their (or is it our?) troops.
Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are in place. * Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
>>Can't really argue there. But how many choices are realy on those ballots, and will anyone really care/work for santation when our troops (see above) are gone.
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.
>>Just what everyone wants. A cop at every bathroom door.
. * Girls are allowed to attend school. * Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the first time in 30 years.
>>Oh, great. 50% or more young people to indoctrinate. Do you think mentions of Hitler should be cut out of German textbooks? Or the Civil War eliminated from American education? Kids need to learn from their country's mistakes, as well as their triumphs.
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.
>>seems that's how we ARE there
hey 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.
>So where is this e-mail address? Mine is,
legendaryrambler@msn.com. My homepage, complete with guestbook, where people are free to disagree with me, is at
http://clik.to/legendaryrambler I don't mean to put all soldiers in Iraq down. But everything you mention either clearly or in possibly has a benefit for us, as well. I hope to hear from you, specifically about other sides to this story.