Letter From Iraq ?

I received this in an email today from a very dear friend of mine.

I have no idea if this is true or not, I can only hope that it is.



This is a letter from a friend's ex husbands partner at his medic job. He is
in Iraq

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.

* 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 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

This has been around a while and even appeared on this site.

Here's the rebuttal:
www.orwelliantimes.com...

Also at snopes:
Snopes

The ATS thread:
What's really going on in Iraq...

[Edited on 13-5-2004 by AceOfBase]

It's fake, a propaganda piece, and not a very accurate one at that.

www.orwelliantimes.com...

The article debunks almost every claim, using reference material from the UN, Unicef, etc.

Here's an example.


"Girls are allowed to attend school.


True, but not because of the invasion. Girls were allowed to attend school during Saddam's rule. Between 1997-2000 82% as many girls attended primary school as did boys. 62% as many girls attended high school as did boys, during the same period.

"

thanks guys, I appreciate your help wit this.

I was very reluctant to post it, but thought that someone here would know if it was real or not.


Just one thought, are all those stats given false too ? Could any of them be true, we have to be doing something good over there ?

Yes, I'm sure there ARE some good things being done in Iraq. Despite my usual poison, I don't believe that all Americans are sick psychos. Just many of the Americans in your government.

I'm sure there are many, many US soldiers actually HELPING to rebuild Iraq and help Iraqis, but I think that this was all a huge collosal mistake and the only way to fix the problem is for the US to pull out and let the UN or the Arab League take over and try to establish some peace.

As long as there is a US military presence in Iraq there will be no peace, no freedom , and no respite.

There are some good things being done in Iraq.
You can read some of them here:

The new Iraq



Weekly staus reports here:
cpa.gov...

[Edited on 13-5-2004 by AceOfBase]

Um, except that I don't believe anything that comes out of the mouths of those who are actually in charge of the Occupation.

Call me cynical, but they're going to purely spin the positive elements, and they're going to lie and lie and lie.


But I sure as heck love that second link.

Brings you to a page that says:

For security reasons, there are no security reports. "

...which is PURE COMEDIC GOLD.





[Edited on 13-5-2004 by Jakomo]

Originally posted by Jakomo
Um, except that I don't believe anything that comes out of the mouths of those who are actually in charge of the Occupation.

The weekly reports seem legit to me.
They don't seem to be fudging figures.
On the electric graph, they don't show any areas getting electricity for 24 hours a day.
Many areas are getting 16 hours or greater though.

Yeah, who needs access to electricity 24 hours a day anyway?

Oh, I guess people with refrigerators, and maybe air conditioners. And hospitals.

Looks to me like most fo the country gets between 9 and 15 hours of electricity a day.

Seeing as how there's a 6 hour delta in there, a fair amount of Iraqis are actually only getting less than half a day of electricity. I wonder if it's night-time access or day-time.

How long has it been? More than a year?

Hearts and minds.

Originally posted by Jakomo
Looks to me like most fo the country gets between 9 and 15 hours of electricity a day.

In terms of area, yes.
I think most of the population is located in the green areas though.

Hey yeah, I didn't even think of the actual population distribution.

Re-reading this report, there really isn't that much meat to it. The hard numbers are reserved for reporting the electricity and cell phone subscribers (? is this funded by Verizon that there is like 3 pages of cellphone info?).

I do have an observation though. How is it that in a report on "Essential Services" there is no mention at all of water? No sewage treatment, no reports on the accessibility of the population to clean water. I find that a little strange, especially in a country that so hot and, uh, deserty.

"This is a letter from a friend's ex husbands partner at his medic job. He is
in Iraq "



Welcome to the world of patriotic spam.