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http> Here is a report from Bagdad that will never be reported in any liberal media outlet. If we remain steadfast we can be a winner in Iraq as GWB states. Shared hope in action From the Commentary section BAGHDAD.    Iraq is filled with irony. Progress is real, but uneven. Mashed potatoes with lumps. There is no creamy, reassuring consistency yet.     Security is noticeably better, but not everywhere. In southern Baghdad, Marines have taken casualties handing out food. Nameless, faceless cowards recently chucked two grenades at a convoy delivering humanitarian aid.     Confidence is higher and taking many forms. Progress on...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 October 2, 2004Release Number: 04-10-04 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LOGISTICS TRAINING CENTER OPENS LSA ANACONDA, BALAD, Iraq -- A new logistical training facility that will provide Soldiers and units all the technical assistance they need to use the Army’s automated logistic systems in theater, opened here Oct. 1. The Automated Logistics AssistanceTeam training facility provides classroom training and over-the-shoulder tailored training. Having the ALAT in Iraq saves units time and money and provides immediate assistance to deployed Soldiers. Without the team...

Iraqis, Coalition Working Out Fallujah Solution, Myers Says By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2004 -- The situation in Fallujah "cannot remain the status quo," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told National Public Radio in a Sept. 28 interview. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said on the "Talk of the Nation" program that coalition forces are working with the Iraqi interim government to find solutions for Fallujah, Ramadi and other areas in Iraq's Baathist Triangle, now dominated by insurgents. Any solution in Iraq must have a political aspect to be permanent, Myers...

Iraq's Border Enforcement Department Graduates First Cadet Class American Forces Press Service AMMAN, Jordan, Sept. 29, 2004 -- Iraq graduated its first class of cadets from the Department of Border Enforcement training course here Sept. 27. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who heads Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, attended the event along with Col. Alaa al Ubaydi from Iraq's DBE, and the director of the border enforcement training facility in Jordan, Kathy Friebald. In his remarks Petraeus challenged graduating cadets to take what they have learned back to Iraq with them and use it to set the...

An editorial writer gets in the habit of reading the text of speeches--and books, newspapers and magazines--with a highlighter. Heck, after years of reading and highlighting and highlighting and reading, taking care to mark only the best or worst lines, we're not sure we can read without one. So the other day, when the text of the Iraqi prime minister's speech to Congress last week moved on the Internet, we dutifully printed out a copy, instinctively picked up the Sanford Major Accent Highlighter and read. By the end of the six-page text of Iyad Allawi's speech, there were a lot...

Iraqis Making 'Tremendous Progress' in Delivering Essential Services By Kathleen T. RhemAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2004 – Iraqis were kept in "intellectual isolation" for more than 30 years, but now they're making up for lost time, according to one man who worked with Iraqis to rebuild their health-care system. Bob Goodwin spent 11 months in Iraq as chief of staff of a group working with the country's Ministry of Health. Up until U.S. and coalition forces deposed Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraqi health-care workers were "stuck back in 1978 with their procedures," he said. The most...

War in Iraq Moving in the Right Direction, Says CENTCOM Leader By Samantha QuigleyAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2004 – As January elections loom in Iraq, Army Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, said today the country is headed in the right direction. "We are in fact moving in the direction that will allow Iraq to emerge as a democratic and representational state. I think that our military activities there have moved it ahead in a positive manner," Abizaid told host Tim Russert on "Meet the Press." "It's a tough fight, it's a hard fight....

Like a lot of people who work in big cities, Lance Varney puts in long hours, goes to a lot of meetings and spends a lot of time stuck in traffic. Unlike most people, Varney does his work in a war zone. A major in the 1st Cavalry Division, Varney spends his days navigating the streets of Baghdad as part of the U.S. military's efforts to rebuild the city. And while Varney, the son of Florence residents Ben and Linda Stovall, doesn't make light of the dangers, he says Iraq isn't the scene of unrelenting chaos and destruction people might...

President Praises Iraqi Progress By Gene HarperAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2004 – President Bush today promised continued progress toward a stable and self-governing Iraq so that "American troops can come home with the honor they have earned." In his weekly radio address, Bush said he was honored that Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi visited here this week. "In less than three months, Prime Minister Allawi and his government have accomplished a great deal, despite persistent violence in parts of Iraq," Bush noted. "The enemies of freedom are using suicide bombings, beheadings, and other horrific acts to...

William Shawcross spent last week crisscrossing Iraq with Gen Sir Mike Jackson. He saw some terrible scenes but also grounds for hopeThe suicide car bombers who have inflicted the recent terrible mass murders on Iraq are usually single young men. Lieutenant Dave Robison, a Texan doing guard duty at the heavily fortified entrance to the International Zone in Baghdad last week, told me: "We can sometimes spot them because they have purified themselves by shaving their beard and hair and their car is obviously very heavily loaded — often packed with artillery shells as well as high explosive." So to...

Graduation Ceremony Brig. Gen. Abdul Qadr, deputy chief of staff, operations, Iraqi Joint Headquarters presents a certificate of completion to an Iraqi National Guard recruit during a graduation ceremony Sept. 16 in Tikrit, Iraq. A class of 358 recruits went through a three-week course focused on basic soldiering skills such as rifle marksmanship, map reading, drill and ceremony and first aid. Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq photo by U.S. Navy Chief Journalist Joe Kane   opfopfopfopfopfopfopfopfopfo   Iraqi National Guard Graduates New Round of Recruits358 Troops Complete Training Developed by 1st Infantry Division By U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Joe Kane...

My friends from the coalition fear not from the coming bad news on the Iraq War! I'm posting this long compilation of VALUABLE info since I saw some LARGE plot anti-war is on the verge to come out and unease your hearts: it is true that security is still a problem and the last days have been particularly agressive... but then I ask you when does the 'cat' yells more? when it is dying! The insurgents are geting more and more desperate as the Iraqi Population's suport for its government and the coalition/iraqi troops grows! The number of iraqi forces...

Soldiers from the 133rd Engineer Battalion are working on a series of projects in the rural village of Hamzan in northern Iraq. The National Guard Soldiers from Belfast, Maine, replaced the village’s small mud schoolhouse with a concrete structure. The new school has three classrooms with plumbing and electricity. As part of an initiative to train former Peshmerga fighters to learn construction skills, the engineers worked with nine former fighters to train them in masonry and carpentry skills during the construction of the school. In addition to rebuilding the village school, the engineers brought in a 20,000-liter water tank and...

Democracy Comes to Wynot, IraqVillage Residents Elect City Council Representatives   By U.S. Army Sgt. W. Wayne Marlow / 196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment WYNOT, Iraq, Sept. 15, 2004 — Ahmed Mutlok Oda creases his ballot slowly, seemingly worried he will fold it wrong. He starts to place it in the cardboard-and-tape ballot box, then pulls it back, unsure if he’s doing it right.He looks to an interpreter for the 1st Infantry Division, who tells Oda he’s doing it correctly. Reassured, Oda drops the ballot in.If Oda seems unnecessarily timid, consider that no one in Wynot has ever voted...

THINGS ARE BETTER THAN THEY SHOW ON TV; I KNOW, I WAS THERE. I JUST GOT BACK FROM SPENDING 11 MONTHS IN IRAQ AND SAW ITS BEAUTY, PROGRESS, AND HOPE.

Progress Continues in Restoring Iraqi Electricity By Mitch FrazierSpecial to American Forces Press Service BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 7, 2004 - Rusted access panels rattle as a rehabilitated electricity generator in a northern suburb here belched hot exhaust into the Iraq sky for the first time in years. A revamped 17-megawatt generator came on line north of Baghdad on Sept. 6, producing enough electricity to fuel 51,000 Iraqi homes. Courtesy photo(Click photo for screen-resolution image); high-resolution image available. The revamped 17-megawatt generator came on line in the early morning Sept. 6, producing enough electricity to fuel 51,000 Iraqi homes. "This...

TO: All KBR employees FROM: Andy Lane, president and CEO, KBR SUBJECT: Update on our work in Iraq & Our Unsung Heroes Last week I visited our KBR teams on the ground in Iraq and Kuwait, and I'd like to take this opportunity to update you on the issues we face in the Middle East. The U.S. military casualties in the war are approaching 1,000. As a civilian company, we have paid an extremely high price in human terms. We've experienced the devastating loss of 45 of our colleagues who have died in the Iraq war, 121 have been wounded,...

On this Labor Day week-end here in Iraq, football was in the air. Early this morning soldiers were watching ESPN on satellite TV and listening to their favorite team on the radio via the internet. Amazing how we can be 7,000 miles away enjoying live broadcasts from back home. To celebrate Labor Day here we will have a Task Force run, some social gatherings, drink some near-beer (non-alcoholic beer), some might swim in our backyard pools and some might even sing a little karaoke. And if we had some shot-guns we’d be shooting some of the biggest doves you’ll ever...

http://www.defendamerica.mil/iraq/rebuilding.html   August 2004 Marine Contribution Puts Iraqi School on Right Track Iraqi Border Forces Take on Heavy Training Civil Affairs Group Rebuilds Lives Daily Coalition Supplies An Najaf Police Soldiers Deliver Supplies to Iraqi Judges Diyala Irrigation Canal Project is Good News Computer Donation Provides Hands-On Learning Marines Outfit Rasheed Police Station Soldiers Detain 10 Suspects In Drive-By Shooting Court Sentences Man on Weapons Charge Brotherhood of Firefighters Lives in Baghdad Iraqi Air Force Begins Operations Iraqi Naval Forces Continue Training Medical Battalion Cuts Ribbon on New Clinic First New Generator Comes On Line in Iraq Anaconda Soldiers...

OPIC PRESS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEThursday, August 19, 2004For further information, contact:Lawrence Spinelli (202) 336-8690Timothy Harwood (202) 336-8744U.S. SMALL BUSINESS USES OPIC LOAN TO ESTABLISH FIRST BEVERAGE MANUFACTORY IN AFGHANISTAN WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A U.S. small business will use financing from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to establish the first locally manufactured beverage facility in Afghanistan, helping the country both meet a strong demand for clean drinking water and continue its economic reconstruction.OPIC will provide a $9.2 million loan to ABI Group Ltd., a U.S. small business comprised of Afghan-American businessmen, to construct and operate a beverage manufacturing, packaging...