Well you've done your part for the insurgents today... by adding to the
uninformed chorus calling the war a fiasco and the President a liar. I
thank you and so do the military families.
Here is a little information that may help build some self esteem in all
those trying to pull the rug out from under our soldiers in Iraq.
-------------------
Did you know that 47 countries have re-established their embassies in
Iraq?
Did you know that the Iraqi current government employs 1.2 million Iraqi
people?
Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are
under rehabilitation, 263 schools are now under construction and 38 new
schools have been built in Iraq?
Did you know that Iraq's higher educational structure consists of 20
Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all
currently operating?
Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in
January 2005 for the re-established Fulbright program?
Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational?! They have 5- 100-foot
patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a navel infantry regiment.
Did you know that Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational
squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport
aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night,
and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 bell jet rangers?
Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando
Battalion?
Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained
and equipped police officers?
Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over
3500 new officers each 8 weeks?
Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in
Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83
railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69
electrical facilities.
Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received
the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?
Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary
school by mid October?
Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and
phone use has gone up 158%?
Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consist of 75 radio
stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?
Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?
Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a
recent televised debate recently?
OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW!
WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW?-OUR MEDIA WOULDN'T TELL US!
Instead of reflecting our love for our country, we get photos of flag
burning incidents at Abu Ghraib and people throwing snowballs at
presidential motorcades.
The lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq serves two purposes. It is
intended to undermine the world's perception of the United States thus
minimizing consequent support, and it is intended to discourage American
citizens.
All of the above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense
website.
Larry Miller
-----Original Message-----
From: Profox [mailto:profox (AT) dbxtech D.O.T com]
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 11:31 AM
To: ProFox Email List
Subject: Re: [OT] America is losing the victory in Europe
> That's the problem many of us have with parallels to Vietnam.
>
> Similarly, there are so many divergencies between what's happening in
> Iraq and the ME and what happened in Vietnam. Yet, there are those who
> insist it's "just like Vietnam" or "worse". In fact, it's just
> different, and by no means clearly "worse" than that debacle.
>
> The only parallel that holds is the fact there is an active internal,
> radical left-wing opposition working to undermine American success.
>
> Well at least give credit where it's due: The prediction from the doom
> and gloomers about how we'd have tens of thousands of American body
> bags just trying to take Baghdad was "more off" than Cheney's
> prediction of a "cake walk". Similarly, I think every reasonable
> person recognizes the post-war planning was way off, including the
> Administration, though they are reluctant to say that in so many words
> (as every administration is)---partly I think because they
> overestimated the work required to topple the regime (there would be a
> lot more dead Sunni's and Baathists if they hadn't basically run for
> the hills when we rolled in).
>
> Yes, the post-combat phase is difficult, but to ignore the successes
> just to make one's predictions sound dire and paint the current
> progress as minimal is IMHO just as wrong, if not worse, than trying
> to look at the bright side (and there are lots of developments to be
> optimistic about), shall we say, and rally the public and the troops
> and politicians to the point where an exist strategy is both feasible
> and immanent.
>
> I mean, does Kerry (for instance) really expect Bush to go on TV and
> compete with him in that dour, pessimistic, and frankly smug
> negativism he's built his career mastering?
If you don't respect history and learn from past mistakes
you're doomed to repeat it. I think there are parrallels to
Vietnam.
(A) We shouldn't have gone into either of them in the
first place.
(B) We invaded on spurious information in both cases.
(C) In Vietnam we attempted to pacify rather than fight
a total war, which would have meant, invading and
destroying Hanoi and the entire North Vietnamese
infrastructure. In Iraq we went in with too few troops
which would allowed us to go house to house if need
be to nip the lawlessness and insurgency up front.
(D) Too many decisions are made in Washington. The
"boots" on the ground basically have to make do with
what the Administration allows.
(E) We're backing a weak government, which requires
a long term stay, just like Vietnam.
Whatever positives there are would go away in a heart
beat if we don't keep troops there for a very, very long
time and continue to expend billions of dollars propping
the whole illusion up.
Meanwhile, this whole fiasco has weakend us both
militarily and financially while China is building up
in both areas to make a run on us sometime in the
near future I would guess.
Jim Eddins
©2005 Larry Miller |
