Good things about our soldiers in Iraq

[Squigly]

This is a letter from Ray Reynolds, a medic in the Iowa Army National Guard:

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, e-mail this to a friend and let them know there are good things happening.

Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard
234th Signal Battalion

This was sent in an email to one of my friends. I thought you guys here would like to see this, instead of the BS on the TV.

[daveoskie]

Quigs,

This was already posted by a Ranger in the News section, but I will post the same reply here. This site discredits that letter.

http://www.orwelliantimes.com/2004/04/26.html

[Silverback]

This linke being provided needs to go away. This link is more fitting of the Greenpeace website than a Ranger BBS.

[deleon275]

I fail to see how a link posting statistical facts needs to go away. It's not like someones going to read and start hating Bush and hugging trees, unless of course the reader is nieve and doesn't know the meaning of being objective and gathering facts first before making a decision.

Oh, and this needs to be in the News and Politics section =)

[Vapor Brain]

Here is another website that discredits it, but does not have any political affiliation.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/reynolds.asp

[Silverback]

I didn't mean literally go away, I meant it figuratively.

[Squigly]

Ah I did not know that it was already posted or to go in another area of the site. It won't happen again.