It’s about time.
The Bush White House is finally starting to deal with the PR problems involved with the war in Iraq and our actions afterward. So far, they’ve been letting the naysayers in on the left,rule public opinion. (Which as you will recall, includes the so-called mainstream press.)
The facts, however, are vastly different than the left makes them. While looking at the website for the Iraqi Provisional government, I noted the text of a speech by Paul Bremmer. I’ve been watching this site with some interest since it first went up. It is interesting how closely the events listed here parallel the events as reported by those leaving Iraq… and how wildly they differ from the leftist media.
Six months ago there were no police on duty in Iraq.
· Today there are over 40,000 police on duty, nearly 7,000 here in Baghdad alone.
· Last night Coalition Forces and Iraqi police conducted 1,731 joint patrols.Six months ago those elements of Saddam’s military that had not been destroyed in combat had buried their airplanes and melted away.
· Today the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty.
· Across the country over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.Six months ago there were no functioning courts in Iraq.
· Today nearly all of Iraq’s 400 courts are functioning.
· Today, for the first time in over a generation, the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.Six months ago the entire country could generate a bare 300 megawatts of electricity.
· On Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts—exceeding the pre-war average.
·· If we get the funding the President has requested in his emergency budget, we expect to produce enough electricity for all Iraqis to have electrical service 24 hours daily—something essential to their hopes for the future.Six months ago nearly all of Iraq’s schools were closed.
· Today all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools.
· Many of you know that we announced our plan to rehabilitate one thousand schools by the time school started—well, by October 1 we had actually rehabbed over 1,500.Six months ago teachers were paid as little as $5.33 per month.
· Today teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries.Six months ago the public health system was an empty shell. During the 1990’s Saddam cut spending on public health by over 90 percent with predictable results for the lives of his citizens.
· Today we have increased public health spending to over 26 times what it was under Saddam.
· Today all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.
· Today doctors’ salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam.
· Pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons.
· Since liberation we have administered over 22 million vaccination doses to Iraq’s children.Six months ago three-quarters of Iraq’s 27,000 kilometers of irrigation canals were weed-choked and barely functional.
· Today a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of those canals. They now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women.Additionally, we have restored over three-quarters of pre-war telephone services and over two-thirds of the potable water production.
Before the war there were 4,500 Internet connections and important services, such as instant messaging were forbidden.
· Today there are 4,900 full-service connections.
· We expect 50,000 by January first.Six months ago Iraq’s economy was flat on its back.
· Today anyone walking the streets can see the wheels of commerce turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and towns.Six months ago all banks were closed.
· Today 95 percent of all pre-war bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily.
· Today Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses.
· Today the central bank is fully independent.
· Today Iraq has one of the world’s most growth-oriented investment and banking laws.
· Next week Iraq will get a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years.Six months ago there was no freedom of expression. Satellite dishes were illegal. Foreign journalists came on 10-day visas and paid mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for “minders” and other government spies.
· Today there is no Ministry of Information.
· Today there are more than 170 newspapers.
· Today you can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner.
· Today foreign journalists and everyone else are free to come and go.Six months ago Iraq had not one single element—legislative, judicial or executive– of a representative government.
· Today in Baghdad alone residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad’s first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city council elected its new chairman.
· Today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country.
· Today 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq’s history, run the day-to-day business of government.
· Today the Iraqi government regularly participates in international events. Since July the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the Arab League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference Summit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is reopening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world.Six months ago Shia religious festivals were all but banned.
· Today, for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala thousands of Shiites celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam.
An amazing list of accomplishments, made al the more amazing that we’re not hearing them from the leftist press. And, let’s call this waht it is; These are all things the left would have us not doing. Had they their own way, Iraq would still be ruled by SoDamn Insane.
I should give Kudos here to Andrew Sullivan, who apparently also monitors that Provisional site. His take on the subject bears repeating:
It’s simply beyond me how anyone can describe this war as about “oil” or about “imperialism” or about “greed” or “militarism.” It remains one of the most humanitarian acts in modern history. And, if successful, it could turn an entire region around – a region that has been the main source of real danger to itself and to the West in my lifetime. I’m banging on about this not simply because it’s by far the most important issue in our politics right now, but because a wilful and petty disinformation campaign is being waged to distort this achievement, undermine it, and reverse it. We mustn’t let that happen. We cannot let these people – and ourselves – down again.
Sullivan is correct, here. Can’t one Democrat come forward and say that we’ve done a good thing over there? Or is it as I’ve suggested in the past, that there ARE no good Democrats?
What it is…. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by their omission; Clearly these being good things, run afoul of their worldview. They’d rather stand on the sidelines and claim Iraq HAD no WMD program, and was never a threat to us. They even point to the recently released Kay report, claiming it proves their point; that Saddam had no WMD. They must not be reading the same report I have on file here.
Here’s what Kay has to say on those subjects:
“We Have Discovered Dozens Of WMD-Related Program Activities And Significant Amounts Of Equipment That Iraq Concealed From The United Nations During The Inspections That Began In Late 2002.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)
“A clandestine network of laboratories and safehouses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service that contained equipment subject to UN monitoring and suitable for continuing CBW [Chemical and Biological Weapons] research.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)
“A prison laboratory complex, possibly used in human testing of BW [Biological Weapons] agents, that Iraqi officials working to prepare for UN inspections were explicitly ordered not to declare to the UN.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)
“Reference strains of biological organisms concealed in a scientist’s home, one of which can be used to produce biological weapons.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)
“New research on BW-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin were not declared to the UN.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)
“Documents and equipment, hidden in scientists’ homes, that would have been useful in resuming uranium enrichment by centrifuge and electromagnetic isotope separation (EMIS).” (David Kay, Statement On The
Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)“A line of UAVs [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles] not fully declared at an undeclared production facility and an admission that they had tested one of their declared UAVs out to a range of 500 km, 350 km beyond the permissible
limit.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)“Continuing covert capability to manufacture fuel propellant useful only for prohibited SCUD variant missiles, a capability that was maintained at least until the end of 2001 and that cooperating Iraqi scientists have said they were told to conceal from the UN.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)
“Plans and advanced design work for new long-range missiles with ranges up to at least 1000 km – well beyond the 150 km range limit imposed by the UN. Missiles of a 1000 km range would have allowed Iraq to threaten
targets through out the Middle East, including Ankara, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)“Clandestine attempts between late-1999 and 2002 to obtain from North Korea technology related to 1,300 km range ballistic missiles –probably the No Dong — 300 km range anti-ship cruise missiles, and other prohibited
military equipment.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)“With regard to Iraq’s nuclear program, the testimony we have obtained from Iraqi scientists and senior government officials should clear up any doubts about whether Saddam still wanted to obtain nuclear weapons.
They have told ISG [Iraq Survey Group] that Saddam Husayn remained firmly committed to acquiring nuclear weapons.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)“In Addition To The Discovery Of Extensive Concealment Efforts, We Have Been Faced With A Systematic Sanitization Of Documentary And Computer Evidence In A Wide Range Of Offices, Laboratories, And Companies Suspected Of WMD Work.” (David Kay, Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03)
I think it clear that all we’re seeing out of the socialist left is spinning, lies, and omissions, issued for the purpose of putting the worst spin possible on President Bush, so as to regain political power. Apparently, they’re working on the same principal that another infamous socialist relied on: A lie, often enough told, become truth.
Just remember; if we followed them Saddam would still be in power.
And 9/11 would have been merely a prelude.
