I want more from the media that flags in the lapel and embedded reports from journalists. I want to know about the reopened schools, the functioning hospitals, the repaved streets and the good works that America is bringing to Iraq.

        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 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 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 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

thanks DTOM- at the very least, the letter is untrue because the author is not real.

This is how Sgt. Reynolds responds to inquiries about his message:

"I did write it and I am in Kuwait now on my way home. I wrote it while at home because I felt that too many people were exploiting the violence in Iraq to sell papers and gain votes. Sometimes the silent majority need to be awakened to respond to the bad things in our world. I am passionate about our President's decision and support this rebuilding whole heartedly...Yes legit..I am a fire fighter in Denison, Iowa and to verify, call Mike McKinnon of the Denison Iowa fire department."

CR, sorry, it wasn't snopes, it was Orwelliantimes that stated:


Link
Look for 26 April. BTW if you'll notice the links on the web page, they can hardly be construed as right wing.

The analogy still stands- if you are parroting the party line, while taking shots at the opposite side, and ignoring the reality of the situation (as the rebuttal shows)- it is propaganda.

The analogy still stands- if you are parroting the party line, while taking shots at the opposite side, and ignoring the reality of the situation (as the rebuttal shows)- it is propaganda.

The way propaganda works is to tell PART of the truth in glowing terms as possible- but NOT the actual reality- such as, yes, things are being built, but not in as glowing terms as this letter suggests.

Situation in Iraq

Bush's rating on his handling of the situation in Iraq -- now at 42% -- has fallen 19 points since January and is three points below the previous low rating (last November).

George W. Bush’s Job Approval on
The Situation in Iraq
June 2003 -- Present

By the time the major fighting in Iraq had ended last April, 76% of Americans expressed approval for the way Bush was handling the situation in Iraq. Last month, his rating on handling Iraq was 48%.

The current poll was conducted Sunday night through Tuesday night. Allegations that American soldiers had abused Iraqi detainees dominated news coverage during this time, but the public apologies and appearances by Bush have intensified the focus on the situation there in the past couple of days. The full impact of the abuse allegations and Bush's response may not yet be reflected in these poll findings.

Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations

This is interesting. A lot of kids have been immunized in Iraq. In fact, last year the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) "25 million doses of vaccines to Iraq to help prevent the spread of polio, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, measles, and tuberculosis -- considered the main killers of children in developing countries."[*] At the time, UNICEF spokesman Gordon Weiss explained that the children of Iraq would need several stages of repeated immunizations for the immunizations to be effective:
"Iraq is in a particularly delicate stage at the moment -- postwar, with a lot of the health system having broken down and a lot of the water systems having broken down, as well. So children are more than ever this year vulnerable to water-borne diseases. Usually you don't vaccinate just once, you vaccinate a number of times in order to have the vaccinations work."[*]

snip

I also don't know where the 400,000 number came from. Last year, Iraq had approximately 4.2 million children in Iraq under the age of five. If fewer than 10% of young Iraqi children have up-to-date immunizations out of the millions who have been on an immunization schedule and are exposed, that would seem to be a serious failure.

That being said, hundred of thousands of immunized children has got to be a good thing.

The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.

Nonsense. First, there's nothing in the Fact Sheet about oil. Iraq is presently exporting approximately 1.9 million barrels of oil a day, or under 60 million barrels per month. And that's going to be difficult to maintain. You probably already know that insurgent attacks have been limiting the exports.[*] In August -- the supposed 2 billion barrel month -- Iraq was expecting to export fewer than 1.2 million barrels a day, about 37 million barrels for the month.[*]

Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in Iraq.

Here's what the Fact Sheet says:

"Iraq has 13 major wastewater facilities. Baghdad's three facilities are currently inoperable and comprise three quarters of the nation's sewage treatment capacity. Raw waste flows directly into the Tigris River. In the rest of the country, most wastewater treatment facilities were only partly operational before the conflict, and a shortage of electricity, parts, and chemicals has exacerbated the situation and only a few wastewater treatment plants are operational. Iraq's 140 major water treatment facilities operate at about 65 percent of the pre-war level of three billion liters a day."

Water does appear to be getting to a lot more people. But, apparently, at a price. A witness from Basra last month claimed:

"The [water] plant seems to be working well . . . This plant is up and going and provides water for a huge number of people. Someone is constructing a new plant to expand so that there is drinking water. I have not met anyone here yet despite the poverty who is not buying drinking water."[*]

The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the war.
Not true. According to the Fact Sheet, on March 11, 2004, power peaked at approximately 92% of "the pre-conflict generating level". ABC reports that power generation is off since last October and is averaging somewhere around pre-conflict generation.[*]

100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35% before the war.

Not true. The Fact Sheet provides no information about this. But, the Washington Post on March 5, 2004 reported[*]:

"Health Minister Khudair Fadhil Abbas said about 90 percent of the hospitals and clinics have been brought back to the same poor conditions as before the war but that the others will take more time to reach even that low level."

snip

Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are in place.

False. In June, 2003, US authorities put a halt to local elections. We installed mayors and administrators of our choosing.[*]

Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.

I don't know how many Iraqi police are on duty, given widespread desertions.[*] But, we know how many police are in the New York Police Department -- 39,110.[*] According to the 2000 Census, NY City had a population of more than 8 million and covered an area of 320 square miles.[*] According to 1993 estimates, the population of Iraq is about 19,435,000.[*] Iraq is about the size of California, approximately 171,000 square miles.[*]

snip

Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever.

Not true. The Fact Sheet says that before we invaded 1.2 million Iraqis had "subscribed to landline telephone service." As of March 9, 2004, "104,680 subscribers to the Iraqi landline phone network were reconnected." Repairs have reconnected some form of telephone service between Baghdad and 20 other cities.

Girls are allowed to attend school.

True, but not because of the invasion. Girls were allowed to attend school during Saddam's rule. Between 1997-2000 82% as many girls attended primary school as did boys. 62% as many girls attended high school as did boys, during the same period.[*]

The only good news about the Iraq invasion was the capture of Saddam Hussein and the ending of sanctions.

Dr David Nabarro, a senior manager working on the World Health Organisation's Iraq programme, says the overall picture is one of improvement:

"For the majority of Iraqis, health care is much more accessible at affordable rates than before the war."[...]
Unicef says services at about 80% of Iraq's primary health centres have been restored or improved, including major reconstruction work at about 50 centres.

Absolutely false...

There is progress and Piper Plexed is absolutely right to point out that it could change the perception of the war if it were reported responsibly...