News From Iraq

Today we live in a world where the media whores want to portray us as a violent nation. They chose only to focus on the horrendous. Often the news is more a biased entertainment (if you can call it that) broadcast than an accurate portrayal of what is really going on. I know this first hand as I have been deployed to several locations in the Middle East and many times what we were watching on CNN was not the way it was at all. Recently I received an email with a focus similar to mine. Getting the information out there as it really is or how it is perceived by those who are there and those who have been there.

I do not know the author of this email personally. I received this by way of a friend of a friend so to speak and some where along that chain someone purportedly knows SFC Ray Reynolds. SFC Reynolds is a member of the Iowa Army National Guard, serving in Iraq. In an email to friends and family SFC Reynolds wrote:

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. I am sorry that I have not been able to visit all of you during my two-week leave back home. And just so you can rest at night knowing something is happening in Iraq that is noteworthy, I thought I would pass this on to you. This is the list of things that have 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 port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster.
* 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.
* Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are in place.
* Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
* Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.
* Over 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the country.
* Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by side with US soldiers.
* Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever.
* Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to prevent the spread of germs.
* An interim constitution has been signed.
* Girls are allowed to attend school.
* Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the first time in 30 years.

Don't believe for one second that these people do not want us here. I have met many, many people in Iraq that want us here, 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

To SFC Reynolds I say thank you. Also, I agree John Kerry doesn't have a clue. It would be a sad day if he were elected president of our great nation. The thought of having a Commander in Chief that has done so much to hinder our military is NAUSEATING.

Posted by SlagleRock at May 1, 2004 09:46 PM