Here is a list of accomplishments we have in Iraq

PROGRESS IN IRAQ

Since President Bush declared an end to major combat
on May 1...

..... the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has
graduated and is on active duty.

..... over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.

..... nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning.

..... the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.

..... on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518
megawatts-exceeding the prewar average.

..... all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are
open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools.

..... by October 1, Coalition forces had rehab-ed over 1,500 schools - 500 more than scheduled.

..... teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries.

..... all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.

..... doctors salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam.

..... pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons.

..... the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million accination
doses to Iraq's children.

..... a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000 kilometers of weed-choked canals which now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women.

..... we have restored over three-quarters of prewar telephone services and over two-thirds of the potable water production.

..... there are 4,900 full-service telephone connections. We expect 50,000 by year-end.

..... the wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and towns.

..... 95 percent of all prewar bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily.

..... Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses.

..... the central bank is fully independent.

..... Iraq has one of the worlds most growth-oriented investment and banking laws.

..... Iraq has a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years.

..... satellite TV dishes are legal.

..... foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for minders and other government spies.

.... there is no Ministry of Information.

..... there are more than 170 newspapers.

.... you can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner.

..... foreign journalists (and everyone else) are free to come and go.

..... a nation that had not one single element -- legislative, judicial or executive -- of a representative government, now
does.

..... 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.

..... today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and
professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country.

..... 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq's history, run the day-to-day business of
government.

..... 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.

..... Shia religious festivals that were all but
banned, aren't.

..... for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala thousands of Shiites
celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam.

..... the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large and small, as part of a strategic plan for the
reconstruction of Iraq.

..... Uday and Qusay are dead -- and no longer feeding innocent Iraqis to the zoo lions, raping the young daughters of local leaders to force cooperation, torturing Iraq's soccer players for losing games, or murdering critics.

..... children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents disagree with the government.

..... political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed, or are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam.

..... millions of long-suffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual
terror.

..... Saudis will hold municipal elections.

..... Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents.

..... Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms.

..... the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for the first time to an Iranian -- a Muslim woman who speaks out with courage for
human rights, for democracy and for peace.

..... Saddam is gone.

..... Iraq is free.

..... President Bush has not faltered or failed.

..... Yet, little or none of this information has been published by the Press corps that prides itself on bring you all the news that's important.

Iraq under US lead control has come further in six months than Germany did in seven years or Japan did in nine years following WWII. Military deaths from fanatic Nazi's, and Japanese numbered in the thousands and continued for over three years after WWII victory was declared.

Just some facts that you never see in the news.

 

And to that, I will respond with this:


Iraq under US lead control has come further in six months than Germany did in seven years or Japan did in nine years following WWII. Military deaths from fanatic Nazi's, and Japanese numbered in the thousands and continued for over three years after WWII victory was declared.

Let's try to keep everything in perspective here.

 

To summarize your selective list of positives:

The end justifies the means....isn't that about the gist of your reason for posting that list?

 

Nope, that's not the reason. There are a lot of people that what like to know if anything positive is happening over there. I turn on the news and I see nothing. Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, even Fox News, none of them have shared any of the positive aspects of what is going on over there. I guess the old adage is true, if it bleeds, it leads.

 

I assume you keep in mind that 22+ thousand (low estimate) civilian dead Iraqis, and their families left behind. Cost to us taxpayers 200 billion plus, that is sucked out of our country. US casualties already mentioned.How many new terrorists did we create I would accuse you for plagiarism on that list, but that's your department.

BUT !!! No doubt there are positives to come out of any action:

One example for ya: the thug shoots down the old grandma to steal her purse. According to your logic..so much good comes out of it..
.... bullet purchase, reinforces local economy
....cops have a job to do, possibly request increase in personnel
....courts try the case, lawyers at work, possibly new case rulings
.... one less elderly to "suck" the social security system. less burden on the rest of us
....assuming the thug gets caught this time, we can all feel safe and thank the old woman for being there etc...

....btw, granma was found not to be completely innocent. Her hubby had died, but she was still collecting his $215 SS check. (double the victory?)

a small sample for your enjoyment

So I guess in your world you can create any list to praise GW. If you eve balance the results out..lets us know...:eek:

 

excellent post magna. you are right, for those of us that have never experienced war firsthand we can never know the true price that is paid by so many. thanks for helping us keep it in perspective.

 

One example for ya: the thug shoots down the old grandma to steal her purse. According to your logic..so much good comes out of it..
.... bullet purchase, reinforces local economy
....cops have a job to do, possibly request increase in personnel
....courts try the case, lawyers at work, possibly new case rulings
.... one less elderly to "suck" the social security system. less burden on the rest of us
....assuming the thug gets caught this time, we can all feel safe and thank the old woman for being there etc...

....btw, granma was found not to be completely innocent. Her hubby had died, but she was still collecting his $215 SS check. (double the victory?)

a small sample for your enjoyment

So I guess in your world you can create any list to praise GW. If you eve balance the results out..lets us know...:eek:

You know what's so funny about your example. I have used that same example to explain to people why liberal democrats put criminals back on the streets. It actually creates jobs for them. LOL. How funny is that.

 

maverick that is a truly impressive list. I hope more people read it. I pray for the injured and the dead and their familes and we have to hope their sacrifice was worth it. But I see the people who supported the old regime as the people who costs these men and women their loved ones. I see the choice that George Bush made as the morally correct choice and the right choice. Only God knows what would have happened if the French and the Germans and the U.N. had not been supporting that sick man but I think that a lot of deaths could have been prevented. Nevertheless and I do appreciate what Magna wrote.

 

How reassuring to hear that you "pray" for the dead and injured. Ain't it just like a neo-con to pass his responsibility for his wants and desires off on to God. That way if the misery and suffering continue, it must be God's will - how cool!