Iraq

[ceo_pte]

Every news item about a US or British soldier killed or wounded in Iraq hurts every American and brings painful grief to military families. But broadcasters never seem to have time in the TV newscasts to report on any of the positive accomplishments of the American and British-led coalition since the fall of Baghdad in March 2003. Here are some highlights of positive developments.

42 of the Baath Party leaders in the (54 card) deck of cards have been captured or killed including Saddam Hussein.
A country of 24 million people has been liberated from a murderous regime and they now enjoy more economic, political, and religious freedom than at any time in 40 years. Iraq is no longer a safe haven for terrorists such as Abu Nidal who lived there as recently as 2001.

In addition, former Scripps-Howard editor Dan K. Thomasson points out these items in his Jan. 12, 2004 column. I am quoting in part here from the Thomasson column:

"- Nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning and are fully independent.
- By early last fall, the country's power generation was exceeding the prewar average.
- All 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools. Coalition forces have rehabbed 1,500 schools and are running well ahead of schedule in this operation. Teachers, by the way, are earning 12 to 25 times their former salaries.
- All 240 hospitals and more than 1,200 clinics are open, and doctors' salaries far surpass what they were under Saddam. Also pharmaceutical distribution has gone from nothing to 12,000 tons. The coalition has helped administer millions of vaccinations to Iraqi children.
- A program has cleared more than half of the 27,000 kilometers of Iraq's weed-choked canals, which now irrigate tens of thousands of Iraqi farms. The project, according to the list, has provided jobs for as many as 100,000 Iraqi men and women.
- Most of the prewar telephone services and the potable water production have been restored.
- Some 95 percent of all prewar bank customers now have service and there is a flood of first time customers. Iraqi banks actually are making loans to finance business and for the first time in 15 years Iraq has a single, unified currency.
These are some of the more tangible aspects of the post war occupation, if that is the proper term, on the list. There is ever so much more needed and progress isn't easily come by.
The intangibles include a spirit of freedom in Iraq that hasn't existed in decades - freedom to practice religion without fear of reprisals (majority Shiites particularly are beneficiaries); freedom to disagree or to oppose politically without fear of imprisonment or murder; freedom to conduct elections and business and participate in international events; freedom to select the type of education one's children receive, and on and on.
On the military side of the equation, there are an estimated 60,00 Iraqis now helping to provide security despite setbacks in the training process and desertions.
This is not meant to diminish the volatility of the situation or to make this picture rosier than it is. The continuing threat to the lives of the coalition forces, both military and civilian, and to innocent Iraqi citizens who often are the victims of their overzealous countrymen makes the task daunting."
End quote from Thomasson column.
There are many things yet to be done and a long way to go to build a peaceful and free democratic nation in Iraq. But the accomplishments of the US and British-led coalition are not insignificant. By many measures, far more progress has been made in Iraq in 10 months that was made in either post-war Japan or post-war Germany in several years in the last half of the 1940s. All of this is good news from Iraq you probably have never read or heard about on TV news outlets.

[huntr1]

Don't worry, most of the U.S. will never hear about this. The media would rather scream about every soldier that dies or is wounded. While I mourn their passing, I am thankful for the work they are doing. I am glad we went in and took out Saddam. But never fear, no matter how much better off the Iraqi's are, the Iranian cleric installed govt. will still hate us when we leave.

[SmallTown]

Originally posted by ceo_pte
Every news item about a US or British soldier killed or wounded in Iraq hurts every American and brings painful grief to military families. But broadcasters never seem to have time in the TV newscasts to report on any of the positive accomplishments of the American and British-led coalition since the fall of Baghdad in March 2003.

Yea, I never saw a thing on the news about the saddam capture. All of my knowledge of the event came from reading posts on here

[Tonio]

Originally posted by huntr1
The media would rather scream about every soldier that dies or is wounded.

I think media outlets do that mostly because they assume that information directly affects readers and viewers. Most of us probably know at least one person who has a family member serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. The effect of that type of coverage is that the media ends up ignoring the larger picture.