5 July 2008
Is the press telling the whole story?
Posted by Bryon under: General; World Affairs .
This is an email that was circulating and was posted in march on www.specialforces.com. One more time I will say that Dave Thomas is awesome. Read his other articles. They are inspiring and are about well founded true principals.
Read it & wonder…
If only half of this is a fact I have to wonder about our press. The saddest thing about the email below is the conclusion about the media…
WE ALL SHOULD KNOW!
Did you know that 47 countries have reestablished their embassies in Iraq ? Did you know that the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people? Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are now under construction. And 38 new schools have been completed 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 naval 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 corol) 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 facilits, 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 consists 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 televised debate recently?
OF COURSE WE DIDN’T KNOW! WHY DIDN’T WE KNOW? OUR MEDIA HASN’T TOLD US!
Instead of reflecting our love for our country, we get photos of flag burning incidents at Abu Ghraib and people throwing snowballs at the presidential motorcades. Tragically, 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.
—- Above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site.
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7 Comments so far...
Bryon Says:
5 July 2008 at 10:48 am.
I may not like that we started the war but now that we are in it I am 100% behind the soldiers that are helping this people to have a better life.
T. Fan Says:
5 July 2008 at 11:45 am.
I supported going to war because of faulty information but now I wish we hadn’t. But I am with you, Bryon. We did it so we need to end it right and we need an honest press so there will be more support for the soldiers.
Sharon Anderson Says:
5 July 2008 at 11:59 am.
Bryon, I also support our men and women in uniform and I have heard similar reports about the reconstruction in Iraq.
The cost of rebuilding the nation, however, is astronomical. I’m sure all those dollars are accomplishing a lot of good both for Iraq and for the companies who are contracted to make those improvements (Halliburton and KBR?), but WE are expected to foot the bill.
The US budget for Iraq in FY 2007 came to $4,988/Iraqi. This is triple Iraq’s per-person GDP. It’s like spending $121,000 per person ($484,000 per family of 4) in the US. The ticker on this graph blows my mind. The site has some other interesting information as well.
http://zfacts.com/p/447.html
Here is a 30 second video clip about Halliburton rebuilding Iraq http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRDBn3CcPSI&NR=1
The above clip seems to be inconsistent with the following statement:
“To confirm, Halliburton Company has never been contracted for services by the U.S. government, particularly none of the logistics support services frequently discussed in the media today,” Mann said. “Also, to confirm, Halliburton and its subsidiaries have no employees or work in Iraq.” http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=technology&storyID=nN29388999&from=business
Stumpy Says:
5 July 2008 at 2:22 pm.
Bryon I think yer right about us needin to do things proper but I also think somethin stinks about Halliburton. Maybe they got hallitosis er somethin but every word that comes out of there mouths carries a whif a greed.
Pickles Says:
5 July 2008 at 2:39 pm.
I agree with Stumpy…almost always. hehe
Cavetrollhead Says:
5 July 2008 at 2:56 pm.
The enemy is within. We could have Iraq running like a top if the US Citizens (and congress) would throw their support behind doing so. The problem in Iraq is that we are putting politics and ego ahead of success there.
We have learned nothing as a nation from Viet Nam. We lost that one because people at home were vesting their egos in their opinions and wouldn’t swallow their pride and appear “wrong” long enough to win. What was the result? Extermination of holocaust proportions. But we didn’t do it so our hands weren’t dirty, right? WRONG!
Just like Viet Nam, we are fixated on weather we should have gone instead of how to achieve the best outcome. It is like jumping out of an airplane and then deciding that parachuting isn’t a good idea, and refusing to pull the rip cord. We are in Iraq and there is no turning back.
Weather we should have done it is a mute point, if we don’t throw our support behind winning, millions of people will die in the power vacuum as the terrorists try to prove to the world that the US caused the genocide. The effects worldwide will be disastrous.
So as might Pumba say, put your past in your behind (and pull your head out of the past.) The rear view mirror is for glancing not staring.
Saddened Says:
5 July 2008 at 5:30 pm.
There is a lot of corruption going on there. I’ve heard stories about the good old boy system in the military there and how it is more who you are and who you know as far as getting the good assignments and medals. Congress makes the military decisions and policies instead of the generals.
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