Some Good News from Iraq & an Opinion

Just thought I'd pass this on. Warning: This post contains political opinion, take it for what it's worth.

I don't like the fact that we are losing soldiers, my brothers in arms, in Iraq still. However, if we pull out of Iraq before the job is done, all those lives are wasted. They made that sacrifice for nothing. Even if Sadam had no WMD's or terrorists links, we are still making Iraq a better place everyday.

For historical context, how long did we occupy Germany and Japan after WWII? How is their culture and economy today?

Here is the information as quoted from an email I recieved:
"This is good news that "hasn't been fit" to print or report on TV. It
is
much easier to point out the errors a man makes when he makes the
tough
decisions, rarely is the positive as aggressively pursued.

Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, 2003.

a) the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on
active
duty.
b) over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens
c) nearly all of Iraq 's 400 courts are functioning.
d) the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.
e) on Monday 6 Oct, power generation hit 4,518 megawatts = exceeding
the
prewar average.
f) all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are
open,
as are nearly all primary and secondary schools.
g) by 1 Oct, Coalition forces had rehab-Ed over 1,500 schools - 500
more
than scheduled.
h) teachers earn 12 to 25 times their former salaries.
i) all 240 hospitals and more than 1,200 clinics are open.
j) doctors salaries are at least 8x what they were under Saddam.
k) pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to
700
tons in May, to a current total of 12,000 tons.
l) the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccinations to
Iraq's children.
m) a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 km of Iraq's 27,000 km
of
weed-chokedcanals which now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This
project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women.
n) we have restored over 75% of prewar telephone services and over 67%
of
the potable water production.
o) there are 4,900 full-service telephone connections. We expect
50,000 by
year-end.
p) 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.
q) 95% of all prewar bank customers have service and first-time
customers
are opening accounts daily.
r) Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses.
s) the central bank is fully independent.
t) Iraq has one of the world's most growth-oriented investment and
banking
laws.
u) Iraq has a single, unified currency for the 1st time in 15 years.
v) satellite TV dishes are legal.
w) foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and
extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for "minders" and
other
government spies.
x) there is no Ministry of Information.
y) there are more than 170 newspapers.
z) you can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street
corner.

aa) foreign journalists (and everyone else) are free to come and go.
ab) a nation that had not one single element-legislative, judicial or
executive of a representative government, now does.
ac) 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.
ad) today in Iraq , chambers of commerce, business, school and
professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the
country.
ae) 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body
in
Iraq's history, run the day-to-day business of government.
af) 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.
ag) Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't.
ah) for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala thousands of Shiites
celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam.
ai) the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects,
large
and small, as part of a strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq
.
aj) 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.
ak) children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents
disagree
with the government.
al) political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed,
maimed, or
are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam.
am) millions of longsuffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual
terror.
an) Saudis will hold municipal elections.
ao) Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents.
ap) Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms.
aq) 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.
ar) Saddam is gone.
as) Iraq is free.
at) President Bush has not faltered or failed.
au) Yet, little or none of this information has been published by the
Press
corps that prides itself on bringing you all the news that's
important.

It took the US over 4 months to clear away the twin tower debris, and
substantially longer to even decide what to put up in it's place, let
alone
attempt to start building something else...

Now, take into account that almost every Democrat leader in the House
and
Senate has fought President Bush on every aspect of his handling of
this
country's war and the post-war reconstruction, and that they continue
to
claim on a daily basis on national TV that this conflict has been a
failure.

Taking everything into consideration, even the unfortunate loss of our
brothers and sisters in this conflict, do you think anyone else in the
world could have accomplished as much as the United States and the
Bush
administration in so short a period of time...?

These are things worth writing about. Get the word out.

Above all, be proud that you are a part of this historical precedent.

God bless you all.
Semper Fidelis,
Lt Col Scot S.
Seitz

Greenville,SC"