Letter from an Iraqi troop:
Quite a Bit of Good News from Iraq ? From an American on the Ground There.
As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in Iraq, I wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media. They have done a very poor job of covering everything that has happened. ?This is the list of things that has happened in Iraq recently:
(Please share it with your friends and compare it to the version that your paper is producing.)
Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations. School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war. Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur.
?The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.
Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in Iraq.
The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the war.
100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35% before the war.
?Girls are allowed to attend school.
Don?t believe for one second that these people do not want us there. I have met many, many people from Iraq that want us there, and in a bad way. They say they will never see the freedoms we talk about but they hope their children will. We are doing a good job in Iraq and I challenge anyone, anywhere to dispute me on these facts. So If you happen to run into John Kerry, be sure to give him my email address and send him to Denison, Iowa. This soldier will set him straight. If you are like me and very disgusted with how this period of rebuilding has been portrayed, email this to a friend and let them know there are good things happening.
Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard
234th Signal Battalion
Ray, God bless you and all the soldiers who are bringing freedom to the people of Iraq, and pushing back those who would bring more terrorist actions to our shores.
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'Good news' for children of western Iraq
REGIONAL - By Andrea Swinburne-Jones- In educational elections recently, Bushra Ahmed Hamid was installed as the principal at a primary school for girls in western Iraq. Bushra means ?good news? in Arabic. For this primary school-good news is exactly what is needed.
Before the war, Bushra taught Arabic to grade 6 students and also helped out with administrative duties. She told World Vision of the terrible conditions under which children were being educated.
The story was the same at each school when the international relief and development agency first visited in April. No running water, no proper toilet facilities. Children going to the local mosque or going in the streets. Large cracks zigzagging across classroom walls, paint flaking and electrical fittings missing.
World Vision has fixed a major problem for us ? we did not have proper toilet facilities. Now we have proper, clean, working toilets
For the past four months, World Vision has been working with the community to rehabilitate the 12 primary and secondary schools in this area of 25,000 people.
Plastering, painting, electrical re-wiring, installing toilets and handbasins, water tanks and drinking fountains was carried out by local contractors, bringing much needed employment to the region.
?World Vision has fixed a major problem for us ? we did not have proper toilet facilities. Now we have proper, clean, working toilets.
With the money we have saved by World Vision providing these things we have also set up a canteen. With the profit we make we put the money back into the school. We have been able to buy second-hand furniture and we plan to buy heaters for the coming Winter,? said Bushra.
School was closed for 2 months because of the war.
?This was very disruptive for the children. For example, we have a first grader who is trying to catch up learning her alphabet ? it has been very disruptive for her. Also the fear of war created disruption. Even now when planes fly overhead children are still worried.
Before the war children were doing well with their studies. However, now children are not performing well. There are some cases where children are not returning to school. Teachers have returned early to assist children prior to exams, to give extra study support. This town is small ? teachers know the families of the children, who needs extra help. Teachers are putting in the extra time to help the children,?
Bushra?s ?children?, all 159 girls at the school, are her main focus ? she knows the importance of education. How access to education can open so many doors.
"My mother made clothes and used the money to educate us. She learnt to read and write. She sewed for a living".
Bushra means ?good news? in Arabic. For this primary school-good news is exactly what is needed
All the children in the family are educated. They are teachers, principals etc. She knew the importance of education, so it makes me so sad when mothers in western Iraq don?t realise this for their girls.?
?Girls are taken out of school early. We have some very smart girls here at the school. When they are taken out of school they feel defeated. We have an obligation to teach them till the sixth grade. We encourage families to let them continue their education, however some of them see us as a bother,? she said sadly.
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Pictures from Iraq
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Subject: FW: OIF Survey report
31 March 2004
To: General John P. Abizaid, Central Command
From: Charles Moskos
Subject: Follow-Up Report on Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
This is a follow-up to the preliminary report on OIF dated 14 Dec 2003. Attached the tables of the OIF survey we conducted in December when in theater. The responses of our soldiers are much more positive than those usually reported in the media. Some highlights are given below.
1. The morale of the soldiers was higher than anticipated. In fact, junior enlisted and NCOs report almost identical morale as their WWII counterparts (table #17)! Not the officers though.
2. The survey data reinforce the interview data given in the preliminary report. Namely, reserve components had markedly lower morale than the active duty, BUT, the survey data show that RC lower morale is mainly due to the perception they are treated as second-class members of the Army (tables #3, #7, #8, #9), NOT with the mission itself (tables #1 and #2). This, in a sense, is good news because the problem is fixable. A listing of RC perceptions were covered in the preliminary report.
3. Compared to surveys conducted in earlier deployments in Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo, the OIF soldiers are more optimistic about what their mission will accomplish (table #15).
4. A significant percentage report that OIF had made them more religious and regularly attended religious services. The role of the chaplaincy is central to troop morale and one that ought be supported further (table #12).
5. An open-ended question asked for the most difficult thing of the mission (table #20). Leading complaints were separation from family and climate; no big surprises there.
Survey
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UN says Iraqi election plans "on track"
- 03-May-2004
UNITED NATIONS, May 3 (Reuters) - Preparations for key elections in Iraq are "on track," but unless security improves, free and fair polls in January for a national assembly will be impossible, a U.N. official said on Monday.
Carina Perelli, director of the U.N. Electoral Assistance Division, said a new Iraqi election commission would have seven officials and one director-general as well as commissioners in each province. Nominations are underway.
"Security aside, right now we are better than on track," said Perelli, a Uruguayan, who visited Iraq for three weeks last month to advise on the country's first free elections after decades of one-party rule by Saddam Hussein.
But she told a news conference, "Obviously if the security situation does not improve, one of the things that is clear is that the U.N. will not participate in Mickey Mouse elections. Neither will we advise any (other) institution to go into elections that would not represent the will of the people."
The United Nations, led by senior adviser Lakhdar Brahimi, is currently trying to form a caretaker government until national, regional and provincial elections take place by Jan. 31. But Brahimi has lowered expectations for the interim government, saying the "important milestone" was in January because there was "no substitute for the legitimacy that comes from free and fair elections."
Perelli said eight months of preparation are necessary for the January poll and the first phase had gone ahead of schedule. Still vague is what kind of an executive will be formed as there are no separate elections for president foreseen at this time, she said.
The United Nations and the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority has set up a dozen ballot boxes in all but five major centers around the country and a Web site (http://www.electioniraq.org) to get nominations for the election commissioners.
NOMINATIONS CLOSE BY MAY 15
The nominations will close by May 15. U.N. officials reduce the list by May 24 to 20 candidates, who have to submit a resume and answer a seven-page questionnaire. Then three international experts, whom Perelli did not name, will interview the candidates and select the commissioners.
Perelli said candidates should be nonpartisan and sign a statement that they would not participate in electioneering or join a political party while they serve as commissioners.
"The anti-political party feelings of the population is extremely high," Perelli said, pointing to a poll showing only 3 percent of the population supported the concept of political parties.
But she acknowledged political parties would struggle for control. "There is a feeling that is it now or never" and "all groups are trying to win as much as they can."
With insurgents battling coalition troops, Perelli was hopeful violence would subside because campaigns needed to be free of intimidation.
"We do not believe elections are silver bullets that can cure all ills," Perelli said. But the procedure should "not be an empty process."
She estimated the cost of the overall election process at $250 million to $260 million, already appropriated by the provisional authority. She said the cost could soar if out-of-country voting were allowed.
Despite cynicism about security problems, Perelli said she faced an "incredible eagerness" among Iraqis she encountered to participate in elections.
"What we cannot provide is the political will of the people to march towards an election, and that's what I saw in the eyes of Iraqis," Perelli said.
Link
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A Better Life
Good News -- and Better News -- from Iraq
The latest poll, conducted by Oxford Research International and sponsored by various media outfits, presents many encouraging tidbits. Here's one:
On a personal level, seven in 10 Iraqis say things overall are going well for them -- a result that might surprise outsiders imagining the worst of life in Iraq today. Fifty-six percent say their lives are better now than before the war, compared with 19 percent who say things are worse (23 percent, the same). And the level of personal optimism is extraordinary: Seventy-one percent expect their lives to improve over the next year.
On a sobering note, Iraqi unhappiness stems primarily from unemployment and inadequate electricity supplies, which receive 69% and 64% negative ratings. Both top the national-priorities list.
But if Iraqi satisfaction relates to these two issues, then the following report gives us some reason to believe that public opinion can improve further:
In a reversal of fate, ABCNEWS, BBC and Time news teams today found electricity levels are better in the north and south, but worse in and around Baghdad.
The Coalition Provisional Authority says it has more than tripled daily electrical generation. Sabotage to power lines continues to present a real problem, and the so-called Iraqi power police have been deployed to guard particularly sensitive lines.
Scheduled and unscheduled outages still make the power supply erratic. But the CPA and Bechtel Corp., a U.S.-based company that has been awarded major Iraqi reconstruction contracts, appear to have had some success in boosting the power supply.
A Better Life
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Falluja leaders say city is now safest in Iraq
- 17-May-2004
FALLUJA, Iraq, May 20 (Reuters) - A month after hundreds were killed in fierce clashes between U.S. Marines and guerrillas, Falluja's leaders said on Thursday the city is the safest in Iraq and invited U.S. contractors back to rebuild it.
"Finally we have peace in Falluja. This city is today the safest and the calmest in Iraq," Mayor Mahmoud Ibraheem Al-Juraisi told reporters, under the watchful eyes of heavily armed U.S. Marines in Humvees mounted with machineguns.
At a news conference at which confiscated rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47s were displayed, the Iraqi general entrusted by U.S. forces to control Falluja said the time for fighting was over and Americans and Iraqis should work together.
"Everybody wants peace back," said General Mohammed Latif, commander of the Falluja Brigade that includes soldiers from Saddam Hussein's old army.
"The most important thing is that Iraqis and Americans are working together and this is going to be an example for all Iraq," said Latif. "When reconstruction begins, American engineers are welcomed to come."
U.S. CRACKDOWN
U.S. forces backed by warplanes and tanks launched a crackdown on the Sunni stronghold of 300,000 after a crowd killed and mutilated four American private contractors on March 31 and dragged their bodies through the streets.
Under a ceasefire agreement, Marines lifted their siege and pulled back to the outskirts, tasking the Falluja Brigade with restoring security.
The deal put an end to clashes, but U.S. commanders have expressed growing impatience at the brigade's slow pace in stripping guerrillas of heavy weapons and arresting the killers of the contractors.
In an apparent attempt to placate American impatience, Latif said guerrillas had "voluntarily" handed over the rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47s to his 1,800-strong brigade.
"The safer people feel, the more weapons are going to be turned over," he said.
Latif heaped praise on U.S. forces for "ridding Iraq of the worst dictator on earth" but said there were no foreign fighters left in Falluja, as the Americans say.
The killers of the contractors are still at large, but Al-Juraisi held in front of reporters what he said was a copy of a religious fatwa, or edict, issued by Falluja religious leaders condemning the killings.
Major General James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said the Falluja Brigade had still to prove itself.
U.S. Marines are massed outside Falluja and have not ruled out renewing their crackdown if the brigade fails to restore order and hunt weapons. Three Marines have been killed in action this week in the volatile province that includes Falluja.
"The Falluja Brigade has to demonstrate it has control," Mattis told reporters. "This is just the beginning of things. Not the end of things."
Asked if he would send U.S. military contractors into Falluja to help with reconstruction after the city was battered by U.S. air strikes, Mattis said: "I have no need to send American contractors if you have Iraqis who can do it."
Link
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Economy on the Rise in Iraq
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
BAGHDAD ? It?s the Iraq you don?t hear about, one with falling unemployment, rising wages, lower interest rates and higher foreign investment.
While the war-torn country is still struggling politically, economically it?s taking off. Businesses are opening, shops are full of merchandise and there?s a lot of hiring and investing going on. The transition to a free-market capitalist system is underway.
Not long ago, the picture was very different, with unemployment rates at 60 to 70 percent. U.S. coalition officials brought in American contractors and began privatization across Iraq. One water treatment plant employs 350 new workers.
U.S. and foreign aid are turning Iraq into a massive public works project, and while the nation isn?t yet a model of private enterprise, the work done to date has given many Iraqis a better life.
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This is really quite a different story from those you read or hear about
in the news these days. Listen to what is being said by an Army Major who is in
Iraq and seems to have a pretty good handle on the situation.
OPEN LETTER TO FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF RICHMOND BEACH
It has been a while since I have written to my friends at First Lutheran
Church about what's really going on here in Iraq. The news you watch on
TV is exaggerated, sensationalized and selective. Good news doesn't
sell.
The stuff you don't hear about? Let's start with Electrical Power
production in Iraq. The day after the war was declared over, there was nearly 0
power being generated in Iraq. 45 days later, in a partnership between the
Army, the Iraqi people and some private companies, there are now 3200 mega
watts (Mw) of power being produced daily, 1/3 of the total national
potential of 8000 Mw. Downed power lines (big stuff, 400 Kilovolt (Kv) and 132 Kv)
are being repaired and are about 70% complete.
Then there is water purification. In central Iraq between Baghdad and
Mosul, home of the 4th Infantry Division, Water treatment was spotty at
best. The facilities existed, but the controls were never implemented. Simple
chemicals like Chlorine for purification and Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) for
sediment settling (The Tigris River is about as clear as the Mississippi
River) were in short supply or not used at all and when chlorine was used, it
was metered by the scientific method of guessing. So some people got pool
water and some people got water with lots of little things moving in it.
We are slowly but surely solving that. Contracts for repairs to
facilities that are only 50% or less operational are being let, chemicals are being
delivered, although we don't have the metering problem solved yet (It's
only been 45 days).
How about oil and fuel? Well the war was all about oil wasn't it? You
bet it was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people because they have no
other income, they produce nothing else. Oil is 95% of the Iraqi GNP. For this
nation to survive, it MUST sell oil. The Refinery at Bayji is at
75% of capacity producing gasoline. The crude pipeline between Kirkuk
(Oil Central) and Bayji will be repaired by tomorrow (2 June). LPG, what
all Iraqi's use to cook and heat with, is at 103% of normal production and
WE, the US ARMY, at least 4th ID, are insuring it is being distributed
FAIRLY to ALL Iraqi's.
You have to remember that 3 months ago, ALL these things were used as
weapons against the population to keep them in line. If your town
misbehaved, gasoline shipments stopped, LPG pipelines and trucks
stopped, water was turned off, power was turned off.
Now, until exports start, every drop of gasoline produced goes to the
Iraqi people, crude oil is being stored, the country is at 75% capacity now,
they need to export or stop pumping soon, thank the UN for the delay. ALL LPG
goes to the Iraqi people EVERYWHERE. Water is being purified as best
they can, but at least it's running all the time to everyone.
Are we still getting shot at? Yep Are American Soldiers still dying?
Yep, about 1 a day from the 4th ID, most in accidents, but dead is dead.
If we are doing all this for the Iraqi's, why are they shooting at us?
The general population isn't. There are still bad guys, who won't let go
of the old regime. They are Ba'ath party members (Read Nazi Party, but not
as nice) who know nothing but the regime. They were thugs for the regime
that caused many to disappear in the night and they have no other
skills. At least the Nazis had jobs they could go back to after the war as
plumbers, managers, engineers, etc...these people have no skills but terror. They
are simply applying their skills....and we are applying ours.
There is no Christian way to say they must be eliminated and we are
doing so with all the efficiency we can muster. Our troops are shot at
literally everyday by small arms and RPGs. We respond and 100% of the time, the
Ba'ath party guys come out with the short end of the stick. The most
amazing thing to me is that they don't realize that if they stopped
shooting at us, we would focus on fixing things and leave. The more they shoot at
us, the longer we will stay.
Lastly, Realize that 90% the damage you see on TV was caused by
IRAQI's, NOT the war. Sure we took out a few bridges from military
necessity, we took out a few power and phone lines to disrupt
communications, sure we drilled a few palaces and government
headquarters buildings with 2000lb laser guided bombs (I work 100 yards
from where two hit the Tikrit Palace), he had plenty to spare. But, ANY
damage you see to schools, hospitals, power generation facilities,
refineries, pipelines, was ALL caused either by the Iraqi Army in its
death throws or the Iraqi civilians looting the places. Could the army have
prevented it? Nope. We can and do now, but 45 days ago the average
soldier was lucky to know what town he was in much less be informed
enough to know who owned what or have the power to stop a
1,000 people from looting a building by himself.
The United States and Britian are doing a very noble thing here. We
stuck our necks out on the world chopping block to free a people. I've already
talked the weapons of mass destruction thing to death, bottom line, who
cares, this country was one big conventional weapons ammo dump
anyway. We have probably destroyed more weapons and ammo in the last 30 days
than the US Army has ever fired in the last 30 years (Remember, this is
a country the size of Texas), so drop the WMD argument as the reason we
came here, if we find it GREAT, if we don't, SO WHAT? I'm living in a
"guest palace" on a 500 acre palace compound with 20 palaces with like facilities built in
half a dozen towns all over Iraq that were built for one man. Drive down the
street and out into the countryside 5 miles away (I have) and see a family of
10 living in a mud hut herding two dozen sheep, then tell me why you
think we are here.
Respectfully, ERIC RYDBOM MAJ, ENGINEER Deputy Division Engineer
4th Infantry Division
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Letter from Iraqi Troop
Posted on Sun, Apr. 25, 2004
Without hatred in our hearts
GS12 Michael Meoli is a Navy SEAL (Sea, Air and Land special warfare team) medic who, for the last six months, has been on authorized absence from his reserve team to work as a contractor for the U.S. government in Iraq, patrolling and keeping the peace. Meoli sent the following essay and photos via e-mail to friends and relatives back home, and he gave The Inquirer permission to print them because of his belief that the "liberal media" are misreporting the progress of the war and U.S.-Iraqi relations. Note: Because of the danger of reprisals, we have withheld mention of locale and photos of Iraqis who cooperate with American forces.
Introduction: Iraq
The Iraqi people as a whole love us. You read it right: They love us. Terrorists may hate us, and radicals in different ethnic groups within Iraq may hate each other, but in general, the common Iraqi people, Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Chaldeans, Turkomans, all have one thing in common: For once, they have hope for themselves and their children, and that hope centers on one group: Americans.
We are helping train Iraqis to protect themselves with sound moral and ethical procedures. But while teaching adults is important, educating children is the key. So a lot of money is going into rebuilding schools in Iraq and getting rural children to attend for the first time in history.
The U.S. Marines have shown appropriate reactions in Fallujah since the March 31 murders of four U.S. contractors, one of whom I knew. As for the rest of us, we will respond with lethal force when our lives or those of others are threatened, or when we are impeded from carrying out a critical mission. Our ROEs (rules of engagement) may change depending on the threats we face. But we are moral and civilized and will never degenerate to the kind of barbarism seen in Fallujah.
Here are three examples of how we Americans behave when dealing with Iraqis in crisis situations. All these missions took place in March, just outside the gates of our base.
Mission 1: Force Protection/MedEvac
A taxi from Baghdad approached our front gate. Unknown to the guards, he was carrying one of our translators. He was ordered to slow down. When he didn't, he was forcefully ordered to stop and get out. In panic, he floored the gas. Appropriately, the gate guards fired eight 5.56 caliber rounds into the taxi, which veered off into a field. No one inside was seriously injured. After a search, we decided that the driver's mistake, though nearly fatal, had not been deliberate. Had the guards been bloodthirsty, they could have continued to fire until both Iraqis were dead. But they are professionals, and they followed their current ROEs.
After tending to our translator's minor wounds, I noticed the cab driver holding his chest with a clenched fist. He reported severe pressure on the left side of his chest radiating to his left shoulder and arm. His pulse was irregular. Our electrocardiogram monitor showed potentially life-threatening heart rhythms. I determined he had unstable angina, the beginning stages of a heart attack.
Because he was outside our gates, we had no legal obligation to treat him and could have let him suffer and die. But we do not have hatred in our hearts. We brought him into our compound and put him on oxygen. I administered nitroglycerin, and started an IV and gave him morphine and other appropriate drugs. And we packaged him for flight and called in an American Dust-off MedEvac Crew. I flew with him to the closest combat surgical hospital, where, for 24 hours, he received the same medical care any American soldier would have received. He was given medicine to take home and was turned over to an Iraqi ambulance when he was stable. An American civil affairs officer is helping him process his claim and get his cab repaired or replaced. One week later, he returned for his cab, and he made it very clear he doesn't hate us, either.
Mission 2: Civil Affairs
A few days ago, the son of a local shepherd reported that the family dogs had returned home but not his father. Some of the sheep had been found outside an unsecure ammunition supply point (ASP) still full of live unexploded ordnance (UXO). Fearing the worst, the son asked us to help find his father. We found the shepherd's body next to a small detonation crater. He had been trying to strip a piece of ordnance of its brass casing, for which there is a vigorous black market.
If we were barbarians with hatred in our hearts, we could have done things barbarians do to bodies, which perpetuates more hatred. But we are professionals. We carefully collected and documented his possessions and placed the remains in a body bag. We took our translator out to the family to notify them and provide grief support. At the family's request, we brought them in to see their loved one and touch and caress the one intact limb for the last time. We waited while they said Muslim prayers; some of us added silent Christian ones. Then the Army expedited the arrival of Iraqi police authorities to bury the remains before sunset, as is their tribal custom.
Mission 3: Interdiction
On March 31, the same day the four contractors were murdered and desecrated in Fallujah, I was activated to patrol with a quick-response force. We returned to the same ASP site where we found the shepherd. But this time, we had to go much farther in. The UXO were as thick as a carpet underfoot.
We'd encountered much smaller groups of looters here before, looking for ordnance and scrap metal. We can't let them sell intact ordnance; that's the kind of stuff used every day to blow someone up from here to Israel. This day we found 15 looters, then 20, then 20 more. Soon, we had more than 100. Our team had started with only eight of us contractors and three regular Army infantry soldiers. Two of the soldiers found themselves isolated with more than 50 looters. The soldiers asked for help, so we split into two three-man teams and patrolled in on foot.
At least two looters shot at us with AK-47s, which were extinguished by immediate fire. My team joined the two soldiers in the middle of the ASP. We now had 148 looters in all. Anyone still holding weapons would have been shot. But none were, and almost all had discarded the ordnance they were stealing. Now, each of us were carrying more than 250 rounds of ammunition, and we could have lined the looters up and shot every one. Or we could have forced them to walk back through a mine field or any number of unspeakably worse things done in Iraq by the previous government. But that's not the American way, not the model of behavior we wish to perpetuate here or take back home. So we kept order and discipline and carefully searched each of them. When we were sure everyone was safe and we knew exactly where the Army would meet us, we carefully marched them in columns out of the ASP. We ended up with almost 200 looters, too many for the Army to incarcerate that day. So we methodically took digital pictures of each one, including identifying marks, scars or tattoos. We recorded first names, father's names, tribal names, and birthplaces. Later, we turned them over to military intelligence officers.
That night, we saw films of the charred remains of our brothers hanging on a bridge in Fallujah amid screams of jubilation.
Pure thuggery has ruled Iraq for years.
Quite a Bit of Good News from Iraq ? From an American on the Ground There.
As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in Iraq, I wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media. They have done a very poor job of covering everything that has happened. ?This is the list of things that has happened in Iraq recently:
(Please share it with your friends and compare it to the version that your paper is producing.)
Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations. School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war. Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur.
?The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.
Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in Iraq.
The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the war.
100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35% before the war.
?Girls are allowed to attend school.
Don?t believe for one second that these people do not want us there. I have met many, many people from Iraq that want us there, and in a bad way. They say they will never see the freedoms we talk about but they hope their children will. We are doing a good job in Iraq and I challenge anyone, anywhere to dispute me on these facts. So If you happen to run into John Kerry, be sure to give him my email address and send him to Denison, Iowa. This soldier will set him straight. If you are like me and very disgusted with how this period of rebuilding has been portrayed, email this to a friend and let them know there are good things happening.
Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard
234th Signal Battalion
Ray, God bless you and all the soldiers who are bringing freedom to the people of Iraq, and pushing back those who would bring more terrorist actions to our shores.
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'Good news' for children of western Iraq
REGIONAL - By Andrea Swinburne-Jones- In educational elections recently, Bushra Ahmed Hamid was installed as the principal at a primary school for girls in western Iraq. Bushra means ?good news? in Arabic. For this primary school-good news is exactly what is needed.
Before the war, Bushra taught Arabic to grade 6 students and also helped out with administrative duties. She told World Vision of the terrible conditions under which children were being educated.
The story was the same at each school when the international relief and development agency first visited in April. No running water, no proper toilet facilities. Children going to the local mosque or going in the streets. Large cracks zigzagging across classroom walls, paint flaking and electrical fittings missing.
World Vision has fixed a major problem for us ? we did not have proper toilet facilities. Now we have proper, clean, working toilets
For the past four months, World Vision has been working with the community to rehabilitate the 12 primary and secondary schools in this area of 25,000 people.
Plastering, painting, electrical re-wiring, installing toilets and handbasins, water tanks and drinking fountains was carried out by local contractors, bringing much needed employment to the region.
?World Vision has fixed a major problem for us ? we did not have proper toilet facilities. Now we have proper, clean, working toilets.
With the money we have saved by World Vision providing these things we have also set up a canteen. With the profit we make we put the money back into the school. We have been able to buy second-hand furniture and we plan to buy heaters for the coming Winter,? said Bushra.
School was closed for 2 months because of the war.
?This was very disruptive for the children. For example, we have a first grader who is trying to catch up learning her alphabet ? it has been very disruptive for her. Also the fear of war created disruption. Even now when planes fly overhead children are still worried.
Before the war children were doing well with their studies. However, now children are not performing well. There are some cases where children are not returning to school. Teachers have returned early to assist children prior to exams, to give extra study support. This town is small ? teachers know the families of the children, who needs extra help. Teachers are putting in the extra time to help the children,?
Bushra?s ?children?, all 159 girls at the school, are her main focus ? she knows the importance of education. How access to education can open so many doors.
"My mother made clothes and used the money to educate us. She learnt to read and write. She sewed for a living".
Bushra means ?good news? in Arabic. For this primary school-good news is exactly what is needed
All the children in the family are educated. They are teachers, principals etc. She knew the importance of education, so it makes me so sad when mothers in western Iraq don?t realise this for their girls.?
?Girls are taken out of school early. We have some very smart girls here at the school. When they are taken out of school they feel defeated. We have an obligation to teach them till the sixth grade. We encourage families to let them continue their education, however some of them see us as a bother,? she said sadly.
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Pictures from Iraq
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Subject: FW: OIF Survey report
31 March 2004
To: General John P. Abizaid, Central Command
From: Charles Moskos
Subject: Follow-Up Report on Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
This is a follow-up to the preliminary report on OIF dated 14 Dec 2003. Attached the tables of the OIF survey we conducted in December when in theater. The responses of our soldiers are much more positive than those usually reported in the media. Some highlights are given below.
1. The morale of the soldiers was higher than anticipated. In fact, junior enlisted and NCOs report almost identical morale as their WWII counterparts (table #17)! Not the officers though.
2. The survey data reinforce the interview data given in the preliminary report. Namely, reserve components had markedly lower morale than the active duty, BUT, the survey data show that RC lower morale is mainly due to the perception they are treated as second-class members of the Army (tables #3, #7, #8, #9), NOT with the mission itself (tables #1 and #2). This, in a sense, is good news because the problem is fixable. A listing of RC perceptions were covered in the preliminary report.
3. Compared to surveys conducted in earlier deployments in Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo, the OIF soldiers are more optimistic about what their mission will accomplish (table #15).
4. A significant percentage report that OIF had made them more religious and regularly attended religious services. The role of the chaplaincy is central to troop morale and one that ought be supported further (table #12).
5. An open-ended question asked for the most difficult thing of the mission (table #20). Leading complaints were separation from family and climate; no big surprises there.
Survey
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UN says Iraqi election plans "on track"
- 03-May-2004
UNITED NATIONS, May 3 (Reuters) - Preparations for key elections in Iraq are "on track," but unless security improves, free and fair polls in January for a national assembly will be impossible, a U.N. official said on Monday.
Carina Perelli, director of the U.N. Electoral Assistance Division, said a new Iraqi election commission would have seven officials and one director-general as well as commissioners in each province. Nominations are underway.
"Security aside, right now we are better than on track," said Perelli, a Uruguayan, who visited Iraq for three weeks last month to advise on the country's first free elections after decades of one-party rule by Saddam Hussein.
But she told a news conference, "Obviously if the security situation does not improve, one of the things that is clear is that the U.N. will not participate in Mickey Mouse elections. Neither will we advise any (other) institution to go into elections that would not represent the will of the people."
The United Nations, led by senior adviser Lakhdar Brahimi, is currently trying to form a caretaker government until national, regional and provincial elections take place by Jan. 31. But Brahimi has lowered expectations for the interim government, saying the "important milestone" was in January because there was "no substitute for the legitimacy that comes from free and fair elections."
Perelli said eight months of preparation are necessary for the January poll and the first phase had gone ahead of schedule. Still vague is what kind of an executive will be formed as there are no separate elections for president foreseen at this time, she said.
The United Nations and the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority has set up a dozen ballot boxes in all but five major centers around the country and a Web site (http://www.electioniraq.org) to get nominations for the election commissioners.
NOMINATIONS CLOSE BY MAY 15
The nominations will close by May 15. U.N. officials reduce the list by May 24 to 20 candidates, who have to submit a resume and answer a seven-page questionnaire. Then three international experts, whom Perelli did not name, will interview the candidates and select the commissioners.
Perelli said candidates should be nonpartisan and sign a statement that they would not participate in electioneering or join a political party while they serve as commissioners.
"The anti-political party feelings of the population is extremely high," Perelli said, pointing to a poll showing only 3 percent of the population supported the concept of political parties.
But she acknowledged political parties would struggle for control. "There is a feeling that is it now or never" and "all groups are trying to win as much as they can."
With insurgents battling coalition troops, Perelli was hopeful violence would subside because campaigns needed to be free of intimidation.
"We do not believe elections are silver bullets that can cure all ills," Perelli said. But the procedure should "not be an empty process."
She estimated the cost of the overall election process at $250 million to $260 million, already appropriated by the provisional authority. She said the cost could soar if out-of-country voting were allowed.
Despite cynicism about security problems, Perelli said she faced an "incredible eagerness" among Iraqis she encountered to participate in elections.
"What we cannot provide is the political will of the people to march towards an election, and that's what I saw in the eyes of Iraqis," Perelli said.
Link
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A Better Life
Good News -- and Better News -- from Iraq
The latest poll, conducted by Oxford Research International and sponsored by various media outfits, presents many encouraging tidbits. Here's one:
On a personal level, seven in 10 Iraqis say things overall are going well for them -- a result that might surprise outsiders imagining the worst of life in Iraq today. Fifty-six percent say their lives are better now than before the war, compared with 19 percent who say things are worse (23 percent, the same). And the level of personal optimism is extraordinary: Seventy-one percent expect their lives to improve over the next year.
On a sobering note, Iraqi unhappiness stems primarily from unemployment and inadequate electricity supplies, which receive 69% and 64% negative ratings. Both top the national-priorities list.
But if Iraqi satisfaction relates to these two issues, then the following report gives us some reason to believe that public opinion can improve further:
In a reversal of fate, ABCNEWS, BBC and Time news teams today found electricity levels are better in the north and south, but worse in and around Baghdad.
The Coalition Provisional Authority says it has more than tripled daily electrical generation. Sabotage to power lines continues to present a real problem, and the so-called Iraqi power police have been deployed to guard particularly sensitive lines.
Scheduled and unscheduled outages still make the power supply erratic. But the CPA and Bechtel Corp., a U.S.-based company that has been awarded major Iraqi reconstruction contracts, appear to have had some success in boosting the power supply.
A Better Life
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Falluja leaders say city is now safest in Iraq
- 17-May-2004
FALLUJA, Iraq, May 20 (Reuters) - A month after hundreds were killed in fierce clashes between U.S. Marines and guerrillas, Falluja's leaders said on Thursday the city is the safest in Iraq and invited U.S. contractors back to rebuild it.
"Finally we have peace in Falluja. This city is today the safest and the calmest in Iraq," Mayor Mahmoud Ibraheem Al-Juraisi told reporters, under the watchful eyes of heavily armed U.S. Marines in Humvees mounted with machineguns.
At a news conference at which confiscated rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47s were displayed, the Iraqi general entrusted by U.S. forces to control Falluja said the time for fighting was over and Americans and Iraqis should work together.
"Everybody wants peace back," said General Mohammed Latif, commander of the Falluja Brigade that includes soldiers from Saddam Hussein's old army.
"The most important thing is that Iraqis and Americans are working together and this is going to be an example for all Iraq," said Latif. "When reconstruction begins, American engineers are welcomed to come."
U.S. CRACKDOWN
U.S. forces backed by warplanes and tanks launched a crackdown on the Sunni stronghold of 300,000 after a crowd killed and mutilated four American private contractors on March 31 and dragged their bodies through the streets.
Under a ceasefire agreement, Marines lifted their siege and pulled back to the outskirts, tasking the Falluja Brigade with restoring security.
The deal put an end to clashes, but U.S. commanders have expressed growing impatience at the brigade's slow pace in stripping guerrillas of heavy weapons and arresting the killers of the contractors.
In an apparent attempt to placate American impatience, Latif said guerrillas had "voluntarily" handed over the rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47s to his 1,800-strong brigade.
"The safer people feel, the more weapons are going to be turned over," he said.
Latif heaped praise on U.S. forces for "ridding Iraq of the worst dictator on earth" but said there were no foreign fighters left in Falluja, as the Americans say.
The killers of the contractors are still at large, but Al-Juraisi held in front of reporters what he said was a copy of a religious fatwa, or edict, issued by Falluja religious leaders condemning the killings.
Major General James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said the Falluja Brigade had still to prove itself.
U.S. Marines are massed outside Falluja and have not ruled out renewing their crackdown if the brigade fails to restore order and hunt weapons. Three Marines have been killed in action this week in the volatile province that includes Falluja.
"The Falluja Brigade has to demonstrate it has control," Mattis told reporters. "This is just the beginning of things. Not the end of things."
Asked if he would send U.S. military contractors into Falluja to help with reconstruction after the city was battered by U.S. air strikes, Mattis said: "I have no need to send American contractors if you have Iraqis who can do it."
Link
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Economy on the Rise in Iraq
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
BAGHDAD ? It?s the Iraq you don?t hear about, one with falling unemployment, rising wages, lower interest rates and higher foreign investment.
While the war-torn country is still struggling politically, economically it?s taking off. Businesses are opening, shops are full of merchandise and there?s a lot of hiring and investing going on. The transition to a free-market capitalist system is underway.
Not long ago, the picture was very different, with unemployment rates at 60 to 70 percent. U.S. coalition officials brought in American contractors and began privatization across Iraq. One water treatment plant employs 350 new workers.
U.S. and foreign aid are turning Iraq into a massive public works project, and while the nation isn?t yet a model of private enterprise, the work done to date has given many Iraqis a better life.
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This is really quite a different story from those you read or hear about
in the news these days. Listen to what is being said by an Army Major who is in
Iraq and seems to have a pretty good handle on the situation.
OPEN LETTER TO FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF RICHMOND BEACH
It has been a while since I have written to my friends at First Lutheran
Church about what's really going on here in Iraq. The news you watch on
TV is exaggerated, sensationalized and selective. Good news doesn't
sell.
The stuff you don't hear about? Let's start with Electrical Power
production in Iraq. The day after the war was declared over, there was nearly 0
power being generated in Iraq. 45 days later, in a partnership between the
Army, the Iraqi people and some private companies, there are now 3200 mega
watts (Mw) of power being produced daily, 1/3 of the total national
potential of 8000 Mw. Downed power lines (big stuff, 400 Kilovolt (Kv) and 132 Kv)
are being repaired and are about 70% complete.
Then there is water purification. In central Iraq between Baghdad and
Mosul, home of the 4th Infantry Division, Water treatment was spotty at
best. The facilities existed, but the controls were never implemented. Simple
chemicals like Chlorine for purification and Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) for
sediment settling (The Tigris River is about as clear as the Mississippi
River) were in short supply or not used at all and when chlorine was used, it
was metered by the scientific method of guessing. So some people got pool
water and some people got water with lots of little things moving in it.
We are slowly but surely solving that. Contracts for repairs to
facilities that are only 50% or less operational are being let, chemicals are being
delivered, although we don't have the metering problem solved yet (It's
only been 45 days).
How about oil and fuel? Well the war was all about oil wasn't it? You
bet it was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people because they have no
other income, they produce nothing else. Oil is 95% of the Iraqi GNP. For this
nation to survive, it MUST sell oil. The Refinery at Bayji is at
75% of capacity producing gasoline. The crude pipeline between Kirkuk
(Oil Central) and Bayji will be repaired by tomorrow (2 June). LPG, what
all Iraqi's use to cook and heat with, is at 103% of normal production and
WE, the US ARMY, at least 4th ID, are insuring it is being distributed
FAIRLY to ALL Iraqi's.
You have to remember that 3 months ago, ALL these things were used as
weapons against the population to keep them in line. If your town
misbehaved, gasoline shipments stopped, LPG pipelines and trucks
stopped, water was turned off, power was turned off.
Now, until exports start, every drop of gasoline produced goes to the
Iraqi people, crude oil is being stored, the country is at 75% capacity now,
they need to export or stop pumping soon, thank the UN for the delay. ALL LPG
goes to the Iraqi people EVERYWHERE. Water is being purified as best
they can, but at least it's running all the time to everyone.
Are we still getting shot at? Yep Are American Soldiers still dying?
Yep, about 1 a day from the 4th ID, most in accidents, but dead is dead.
If we are doing all this for the Iraqi's, why are they shooting at us?
The general population isn't. There are still bad guys, who won't let go
of the old regime. They are Ba'ath party members (Read Nazi Party, but not
as nice) who know nothing but the regime. They were thugs for the regime
that caused many to disappear in the night and they have no other
skills. At least the Nazis had jobs they could go back to after the war as
plumbers, managers, engineers, etc...these people have no skills but terror. They
are simply applying their skills....and we are applying ours.
There is no Christian way to say they must be eliminated and we are
doing so with all the efficiency we can muster. Our troops are shot at
literally everyday by small arms and RPGs. We respond and 100% of the time, the
Ba'ath party guys come out with the short end of the stick. The most
amazing thing to me is that they don't realize that if they stopped
shooting at us, we would focus on fixing things and leave. The more they shoot at
us, the longer we will stay.
Lastly, Realize that 90% the damage you see on TV was caused by
IRAQI's, NOT the war. Sure we took out a few bridges from military
necessity, we took out a few power and phone lines to disrupt
communications, sure we drilled a few palaces and government
headquarters buildings with 2000lb laser guided bombs (I work 100 yards
from where two hit the Tikrit Palace), he had plenty to spare. But, ANY
damage you see to schools, hospitals, power generation facilities,
refineries, pipelines, was ALL caused either by the Iraqi Army in its
death throws or the Iraqi civilians looting the places. Could the army have
prevented it? Nope. We can and do now, but 45 days ago the average
soldier was lucky to know what town he was in much less be informed
enough to know who owned what or have the power to stop a
1,000 people from looting a building by himself.
The United States and Britian are doing a very noble thing here. We
stuck our necks out on the world chopping block to free a people. I've already
talked the weapons of mass destruction thing to death, bottom line, who
cares, this country was one big conventional weapons ammo dump
anyway. We have probably destroyed more weapons and ammo in the last 30 days
than the US Army has ever fired in the last 30 years (Remember, this is
a country the size of Texas), so drop the WMD argument as the reason we
came here, if we find it GREAT, if we don't, SO WHAT? I'm living in a
"guest palace" on a 500 acre palace compound with 20 palaces with like facilities built in
half a dozen towns all over Iraq that were built for one man. Drive down the
street and out into the countryside 5 miles away (I have) and see a family of
10 living in a mud hut herding two dozen sheep, then tell me why you
think we are here.
Respectfully, ERIC RYDBOM MAJ, ENGINEER Deputy Division Engineer
4th Infantry Division
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Letter from Iraqi Troop
Posted on Sun, Apr. 25, 2004
Without hatred in our hearts
GS12 Michael Meoli is a Navy SEAL (Sea, Air and Land special warfare team) medic who, for the last six months, has been on authorized absence from his reserve team to work as a contractor for the U.S. government in Iraq, patrolling and keeping the peace. Meoli sent the following essay and photos via e-mail to friends and relatives back home, and he gave The Inquirer permission to print them because of his belief that the "liberal media" are misreporting the progress of the war and U.S.-Iraqi relations. Note: Because of the danger of reprisals, we have withheld mention of locale and photos of Iraqis who cooperate with American forces.
Introduction: Iraq
The Iraqi people as a whole love us. You read it right: They love us. Terrorists may hate us, and radicals in different ethnic groups within Iraq may hate each other, but in general, the common Iraqi people, Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Chaldeans, Turkomans, all have one thing in common: For once, they have hope for themselves and their children, and that hope centers on one group: Americans.
We are helping train Iraqis to protect themselves with sound moral and ethical procedures. But while teaching adults is important, educating children is the key. So a lot of money is going into rebuilding schools in Iraq and getting rural children to attend for the first time in history.
The U.S. Marines have shown appropriate reactions in Fallujah since the March 31 murders of four U.S. contractors, one of whom I knew. As for the rest of us, we will respond with lethal force when our lives or those of others are threatened, or when we are impeded from carrying out a critical mission. Our ROEs (rules of engagement) may change depending on the threats we face. But we are moral and civilized and will never degenerate to the kind of barbarism seen in Fallujah.
Here are three examples of how we Americans behave when dealing with Iraqis in crisis situations. All these missions took place in March, just outside the gates of our base.
Mission 1: Force Protection/MedEvac
A taxi from Baghdad approached our front gate. Unknown to the guards, he was carrying one of our translators. He was ordered to slow down. When he didn't, he was forcefully ordered to stop and get out. In panic, he floored the gas. Appropriately, the gate guards fired eight 5.56 caliber rounds into the taxi, which veered off into a field. No one inside was seriously injured. After a search, we decided that the driver's mistake, though nearly fatal, had not been deliberate. Had the guards been bloodthirsty, they could have continued to fire until both Iraqis were dead. But they are professionals, and they followed their current ROEs.
After tending to our translator's minor wounds, I noticed the cab driver holding his chest with a clenched fist. He reported severe pressure on the left side of his chest radiating to his left shoulder and arm. His pulse was irregular. Our electrocardiogram monitor showed potentially life-threatening heart rhythms. I determined he had unstable angina, the beginning stages of a heart attack.
Because he was outside our gates, we had no legal obligation to treat him and could have let him suffer and die. But we do not have hatred in our hearts. We brought him into our compound and put him on oxygen. I administered nitroglycerin, and started an IV and gave him morphine and other appropriate drugs. And we packaged him for flight and called in an American Dust-off MedEvac Crew. I flew with him to the closest combat surgical hospital, where, for 24 hours, he received the same medical care any American soldier would have received. He was given medicine to take home and was turned over to an Iraqi ambulance when he was stable. An American civil affairs officer is helping him process his claim and get his cab repaired or replaced. One week later, he returned for his cab, and he made it very clear he doesn't hate us, either.
Mission 2: Civil Affairs
A few days ago, the son of a local shepherd reported that the family dogs had returned home but not his father. Some of the sheep had been found outside an unsecure ammunition supply point (ASP) still full of live unexploded ordnance (UXO). Fearing the worst, the son asked us to help find his father. We found the shepherd's body next to a small detonation crater. He had been trying to strip a piece of ordnance of its brass casing, for which there is a vigorous black market.
If we were barbarians with hatred in our hearts, we could have done things barbarians do to bodies, which perpetuates more hatred. But we are professionals. We carefully collected and documented his possessions and placed the remains in a body bag. We took our translator out to the family to notify them and provide grief support. At the family's request, we brought them in to see their loved one and touch and caress the one intact limb for the last time. We waited while they said Muslim prayers; some of us added silent Christian ones. Then the Army expedited the arrival of Iraqi police authorities to bury the remains before sunset, as is their tribal custom.
Mission 3: Interdiction
On March 31, the same day the four contractors were murdered and desecrated in Fallujah, I was activated to patrol with a quick-response force. We returned to the same ASP site where we found the shepherd. But this time, we had to go much farther in. The UXO were as thick as a carpet underfoot.
We'd encountered much smaller groups of looters here before, looking for ordnance and scrap metal. We can't let them sell intact ordnance; that's the kind of stuff used every day to blow someone up from here to Israel. This day we found 15 looters, then 20, then 20 more. Soon, we had more than 100. Our team had started with only eight of us contractors and three regular Army infantry soldiers. Two of the soldiers found themselves isolated with more than 50 looters. The soldiers asked for help, so we split into two three-man teams and patrolled in on foot.
At least two looters shot at us with AK-47s, which were extinguished by immediate fire. My team joined the two soldiers in the middle of the ASP. We now had 148 looters in all. Anyone still holding weapons would have been shot. But none were, and almost all had discarded the ordnance they were stealing. Now, each of us were carrying more than 250 rounds of ammunition, and we could have lined the looters up and shot every one. Or we could have forced them to walk back through a mine field or any number of unspeakably worse things done in Iraq by the previous government. But that's not the American way, not the model of behavior we wish to perpetuate here or take back home. So we kept order and discipline and carefully searched each of them. When we were sure everyone was safe and we knew exactly where the Army would meet us, we carefully marched them in columns out of the ASP. We ended up with almost 200 looters, too many for the Army to incarcerate that day. So we methodically took digital pictures of each one, including identifying marks, scars or tattoos. We recorded first names, father's names, tribal names, and birthplaces. Later, we turned them over to military intelligence officers.
That night, we saw films of the charred remains of our brothers hanging on a bridge in Fallujah amid screams of jubilation.
Pure thuggery has ruled Iraq for years.
