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My screen name should be 'freepmagnet'...
Lately every Republican person I have ever met has been sending me emails about the wonderful things we are doing in Iraq. The latest (forwrd of a message from a Halliburton exec), and my response:
wtmusic:
Interesting memo from a friend of mine, showing the other side of the war. I do think there is some truth in here, that we do not hear much about what is going right. It doesn't sell papers.
Bob
----Original Message-----
From: Seitz LtCol Scot S
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 8:40 AM
To: 1MAW MWSS171 All Personnel
Cc: Fenstermacher Col Stephen M; Kirkpatrick LtCol Stephen F; Chase LtCol
Eric T
Subject: ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Marines and Sailors,
As we approach the end of the year I think it is important to share a few thoughts about what you've accomplished directly, in some cases, and indirectly in many others. I am speaking about what the Bush Administration and each of you has contributed by wearing the uniform, because the fact that you wear the uniform contributes 100% to the
capability of the nation to send a few onto the field to execute national policy. As you read about these achievements you are a part of, I would call your attention to two things:
1. This is good news that hasn't been fit or been significant enough to print or report on TV.
2. It is much easier to point out the errors a man makes when he makes the wrong tough decisions, rarely is the positive as aggressively pursued.
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 depending on your definition of the word to their fellow citizens.
... nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning.
... the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent of the ability to escape our influence.
... on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts-exceeding the prewar average . Never mind we destroyed it in the first place.
... 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 their sons, however, are still dead.
... 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 vaccinations to Iraq's children to help offset the half million US-led sanctions killed.
... 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 so we're still not net-zero, after nearly a year.
... 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. The wheels of cars in gasoline lines still are not turning.
... 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. They can listen, but broadcasts must be approved.
... foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and
extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for "minders" and other government spies. The Ministry of Information has been renamed 'Coalition Radio'.
... there is no Ministry of Information. See above.
... there are more than 170 newspapers toeing the coalition line.
... you can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner.
... foreign journalists (and everyone else) are free to come and go if you're willing to pony up a $10,000 State Department fine.
... a nation that had not one single element - legislative, judicial or executive - of a representative government, now does and it ain't doin' 'em a damn bit of good.
... 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 see above .
... today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country blah blah blah.
... 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 Queasy 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 coalition opponents are imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed, or are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam.
... millions of longsuffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual terror.
... Saudis will hold municipal elections and it's all because of us!
... 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 excuse me while I vomit on my keypad...that's better.
... 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 that damn liberal press.
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 Note: always bring up Nazis--good selling point--CO.
It took the US over four months to clear away the twin tower debris, let alone attempt to build something else in its place.
Now, take into account that Congress 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 try to look beyond any accuracy.
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 destroyed 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. Write to someone you think may be able to peddle influence with our Congress or the press to tell the story.
Above all, be proud that you are a part of this historical precedent.
God Bless you all. Have a great Holiday.
Semper Fidelis,
CO
Michael Peirsol
Engineering Manager / Deputy Director of Facilities
mike.peirsol@halliburton.com
Mike,
I had your congratulatory email forwarded to me by a friend. I wanted to add some significant achievements that you left out:
1) 497 (and counting) American soldiers have died;
2) The US has killed an estimated 35,000 Iraqis, 9,000 of them civilians. Many were killed defending their homeland from a foreign invasion (like you would);
3) The US has alienated 80% of the countries of the world;
4) The US has broken the United Nations Charter, Article 51 which pledges no member nation shall attack another unless itself under 'armed attack';
5) The US has renewed commitment to terrorism abroad;
6) Iraqi political opponents (to the US) are still imprisoned;
7) President Bush has lied repeatedly to the nation and the world regarding the justification for going to war;
8) The US has pledged nearly $162 billion, plunging the nation into debt;
9) Halliburton has allegedly overcharged Iraqis $69 million for gasoline;
10) The US has set the stage for a bloody civil war after its promised departure in June.
Capturing Saddam, building schools, and clearing canals are all wonderful accomplishments. But the justification for this war was to disarm an unarmed dictator, while in Sudan over 2 million have died in internal conflict over the last ten years without the US lifting a finger to help.
Laws exist for a reason, and apparently President Bush feels to do what's "right" he is allowed to break them. It's not true in the US, and it's not true in the world.
wtmusic
BringHonorBack.org
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