GOOD News out of Iraq...UPDATE 8/18

[50 BMG]

Howdy all,
A buddy of mine at GM sent this along. Somehow he is acquainted with the author of this letter who is over in Iraq with the Seabees. I hope this letter is accurate because the press sure isn't painting a picture quite like this one (go figure!)...
It is very good news if it IS accurate and it sounds like the job our military is doing over there MAY be over sooner than our patriotic press would like us to believe (go figure!). I'm sure the press' stance has NOTHING to do with election time or the push to crucify Bush for the "unjust War", do you think? (HAH!)
Pat

The Straight Scoop
A Seabee's First Hand Account of Life in Iraq

Senior Chief Art Messer, a Navy Seabee serving with 22 Naval Construction Regiment (Forward) Task Force Charlie in southern Iraq, shared his perspective on post-war life in Iraq in a recent letter to American Legion Post 45.

Dear Post 45,
I caught wind of and read the recent news articles being circulated back there in the states. I figured I could clarify some things for you.
As usual the news media has blown some things way out of proportion. The countryside is getting more safe by the day despite all the attacks you are hearing about. Imagine every shooting incident or robbery committed in LA or Portland being blown way out of proportion.
This is a country where most of the Saddam Hussein thugs are being chased around like scared rabbits by Coalition forces. It is literally open season on them! We hunt them down like animals.
There were about a million soldiers in the Iraqi army at the beginning of hostilities and most of them took off before we attacked. There are some that were very loyal to Saddam that are trying to sneak around and take potshots at us. We are cleaning them up pretty fast. There are also thugs from other countries running around, like Iran and Syria. Well, the Iraqis hate these thugs as much as we do. So the Iraqi people are hunting them down too! I can honestly say 98% of the population of Iraq love us and they do not want us to leave...ever! They say as long as we are here they feel safe.
What is going on with the countries infrastructure? Everything is going well!
The railroad is running again! The railroad has not run since 1991.In the city of Hillah, the power stays on 24 hours a day and it has more power than prior to the war. Some Iraqis are worried about getting too much food from the coalition because they don't have enough room in their homes to store it. The markets are open. The Seabees have rebuilt all of the schools and put in furniture and chalkboards. The kids used to sit on the floor! Now they have nice desks to sit at. Commerce is running. New money is being printed. The Iraqi Dinar has stabilized and is now increasing in value.
Most of the Iraqi men want to buy Chevy pickups. They pretty much want any vehicle made by General Motors. The highways and bridges are being repaired.
In the Universities, the girls have tossed their deshakas (long black dresses with head and face coverings) and are now wearing western style clothes and even some are wearing short sleeves.
The favorite drink is Pepsi, followed by Coke.
They want us to bring them any and everything American. Any item made in America or that is from America is worth money over here.
The newspapers and television paint a picture of doom and gloom and that we
are having major problems over here. That is just not the case.
The Iraqis have a saying about the situation over here "Every day is better than the day before".
Life is flowing back in to this country and it is fun to watch and I am so glad I got to watch it happen. Some days watching the Iraqi people is like watching the faces of
little kids on Christmas Day! Many of them are walking around in a daze wondering what to do with their freedom. They are starting businesses everywhere. They want to build shopping malls and factories, they want McDonalds and Jack in the Box and Pizza Hut. Of course anything American Fast Food, because of the stories the
troops are telling them.
We give them our old newspapers and magazines that you have been sending us and they are absolutely flabbergasted when they read them! They want us to keep bringing them. They read every single page even the advertisements over and over! This would be a good time for media to get their magazines going over here because the Iraqis just love them.
So in short you see I will give you the straight scoop and keep you informed of what is up over here. I will sign off for now and send this along.
Thanks again to all of you for your support.
My mailing address has changed. The older one is no longer working. I will tell
you the new one as soon as we get it.
Senior Chief Art Messer
22 Naval Construction Regiment (Forward)
Task Force Charlie
U. S. Navy Seabees
"With Compassion For Others, We Build, We Fight, For Peace With Freedom"

[Jim Simmons]

Why am I not suprised?

Most Iraqis know that their country has one of the most valuable resources in the world, and properly managed, their society should be the vibrant, lush and rich community that Arabic culture has bequeathed them. All they need is an honest government, a modicum of freedom, and a bit of education on how to use that freedom.

Under a proper government, Iraq could be one of the most powerful and influential nations on earth, and a worthy ally and partner of the United States.

[goldwing2000]

Regarding the potential of Iraq, unfortunately the estimates to get them "up tp speed" are running around $600 billion, which is about six times what they are capable of contibuting via oil production. I'd say the chances of them becoming a civilized, productive member of the world community any time soon are pretty slim.

News Story (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030812/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_costs_4)

I found this (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030810/ap_on_re_mi_ea/pipe_dream_glance_1) interesting, too:

Country — Known Oil Reserves — Freedom Level

Saudi Arabia — 25 percent — not free
Iraq — 10.7 percent — not free
United Arab Emirates — 9.3 percent — not free.
Kuwait — 9.2 percent — partly free.
Iran — 8.6 percent — not free.
Venezuela — 7.4 percent — partly free.
Russia — 5.7 percent — partly free.
United States — 2.9 percent — free.
Libya — 2.8 percent — not free.
Nigeria — 2.3 percent — partly free

Seems corruption and heavy-handed governments generally follow oil. Who would have guessed? :roll:

[lee]

BMG50 I have read the letter and believe it is not factual . First of all IRAQ was considered a fairly liberal country as far as Islamic law was applied. The female students were not forced to wear Islamic clothing such as deshakas---there was no Taliban but tyrants yes. Furthermore: I doubt that in a country of 30 Million that "all of the schools have been rebuilt and supplied with chairs and chalkboards." In the time frame they had I doubt that US personnel have even set foot in all the schools. This lettter wreaks of an attempt to put warm fuzzies on a very nasty situation. It is pro propoganda just as there is anti propganda out there----lots of it. I think the ametuer writer is mixing Iraq with Afganistan. His lack of knowledge has shot a lot of holes in this letter. I wish it were true but my brain says FAKE or at least dishonest :shock: :shock:

[Renegade]

I have to agree with lee.

There are several things in the letter that do not add up.

[CnA]

It was on the internet so it must be true! :lol:

[50 BMG]

I thought the same things believe me but, how can we REALLY tell?
I certainly know better than to take what the "press" says is going on at 100% face value....!
I also sent this to a buddy whos son is JUST returning from Iraq with his Purple Heart... My buddy had no comments about this email... Maybe his son can confirm/deny some of these things? I will be SURE to find out when I see him in the next week or so...
One thing that makes me believe some of this email "report" is the Fox News report I saw about the power/electricity situation around Baghdad last night... They said that the electrical grid was up to about 80% of it's pre-war condition and that by the end of Sept. it will be back to 100%. Fox also reported that some parts of the grid are in BETTER shape NOW then they have been in 20 YEARS! So they ARE making great progress in the rebuild and even making some repairs that have been LONG overdue... The Fox thing also said that the Iraqi people around Baghdad are HAPPY with our progress because in the past, the only problems in the infrastructure that were repaired wiith any kind of expediency were the ones that benefitted Baghdad/Saddam himself.
Tell you what, I have also been email-corresponding with a Special Forces guy over there... The last email I got from him, he was working out of Kuwait. I'll send this to him too and see if HE can confirm/deny any of these points...
Don't sell this thing short yet... UNLESS, you believe EVERYTHING Dan Rather tells you? (YEA RIGHT!) I have a feeling that a good portion of this story MAY be fairly accurate, and believe me, I had the same initial thoughts as you all....

[50 BMG]

Well,
I got a reply from my "friend" over in Iraq today... I got it a LOT quicker than I thought I would...
He says that some of this story is B.S. and some is true. Here's what he sent to me, you decide.
I also have another person to check this story with but I won't see him for a few more weeks... He is still on R&R with his Purple Heart that he earned in Iraq... He SHOULD be home soon we all hope... He will shed further light on this I am sure...
What do you think?
Pat
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pat,

Interesting. The Senior Chief is here in my sector, and lives about 2 miles from me. Part of what he says is true, part is only true because we are in the Shiite sector. Part is a bit inflated. Here, a high majority of the population love us, and bad guys are from up north or out of town. There have been mortar attacks in the IMEF zone, but almost all of the shooting and explosions are in the sector of Baghdad and north. Those are the Sunni's, who had all the perks under Saddam, and figure they stand to loose the most now that Saddam is out of business. Those are the ones doing the sabotage of their oil systems, power grid, and attack on Americans.

Nowhere in Iraq is power 24 hours a day, unless there is a private generator. This is an antiquated national power grid where all power is controlled by Baghdad. Power is a major problem as is all versions of fuel supply (benzene (gasoline) diesel and LPG) . We are not going to solve this any time soon unfortunately, especially with Iraqi's doing sabotage to keep things destabilized. The railroad is up again, and as soon as the whole commerce infrastructure is integrated (supplies to and from the port of Umm Qasr), that will be a big plus.

The Seabee's did a lot of work...but did not rebuild all the schools. Pure BS. I can look up the numbers of schools in just Hilla where he is....and although they did remarkable work on a handful of schools....he is either puffing out his chest, or he does not get out much. Bechtel (a huge international contractor) has multi-year contracts to repair the schools. I have no doubt the Seabees in the country did a couple of schools up very well...but only a few. There is enough staple food products in bulk (from food for oil) program, but they don't have all the foods they need. No milk was distributed last month for example. If you have money (most don't), then you exist on the government supplied food. This was quite a controlled system making everyone dependent on Saddam and his system. Commerce is starting slowly...but one needs power and fuel and vehicles to transport goods. Seeing street vendors and small shops is a good sign, but the concrete factories, vehicle assembly plants etc (huge employers) are not operating yet.

The girls are not all throwing down their robes and dressing in western wear! This is the Shiite section, the women work the fields wearing black robes. Their life is worse than donkey's. Women wearing western clothes here are under 13 years old. Then, they disappear into the woman's structure of the family/tribe. In Baghdad they do dress western, as the capital needs to survive and the women are most likely from the less stringent religious sects. Oh by the way....there are some beautiful Iraqi women...but not the ones whose lives are relegated to working the fields. The kids are all cute and energetic, and they still run to the road to wave at us. Roads and highways are being repaired....slowly. There is (30) years of Saddam's neglect to overcome, with some battle damage as well. It will take a long time for the contracted US companies to hire local talent and get it right.

Pepsi does seem to be favored over Coke...and a case of between 24-30 cans is $5.00 USD. New money is supposed to be a Swiss currency, until they come up ultimately with a Iraqi Dinar without Saddam's face. The "new money" that the Senior Chief may be referring to is additional smaller denomination old Iraqi Dinar. Big bills are not desired, and there is a shortage of smaller bills. Thus despite the US desire to never print Saddam's face again...they had no choice for now on the smaller bills.

They do want the western things such as fast food...but first they need to be able to make money. Fuel is pennies on the gallon...but it is in very short supply. Miles long lines...lots of black marketing. Medical is inadequate, but improving. Remember, initiative was not rewarded here...it got you shot! Lots of highly capable people are not yet seizing the opportunities as Saddam is still alive and his Fedeyean are still out there (albeit in smaller numbers).

It will take a long time for the Iraqi's to feel comfortable asserting themselves, and they are comfortable reverting back to their old ways which actually hurts progress. Lots of bright, very educated men over here....but it will take time to reconstruct a country, more than just the buildings.

Anyway....military people are killed every day here, although it is safer than in Los Angeles. We are doing good for the Iraqi people, and my having been the Deputy Director of the Humanitarian Assistance Center - Iraq for the southern half of Iraq, has shown me where our strengths and weaknesses lie. The military forces are superb. The interim Coalition Provisional Government (CPA) lead by the US is grossly undermanned and not supported as well as it could/should be from Washington. Sometimes it appears the Ambassador in Baghdad has had one hand tied behind his back by people up his food chain. Makes it doubly difficult for the civilian staff to be effective. They are also so short staffed, that it is absurd. If any corporation was so undermanned...it would close its doors and quit.

Anyway....hope this helps somewhat. Things are largely good, but not great. The Iraqi people are great, the kids are especially great. I'm glad to have been here and know we have had a positive and lasting impact. We have some friends for life, and several of us are "adopting" our tribal neighbors needs and will do what we can to be of assistance once home.

Thanks for the opportunity to expand on the info below.

Regards,

Al Burghard
LtCol A.G.Burghard, USMC
Deputy Director HACC-IZ

[goldwing2000]

Another story from a Marine, from the Wall Street Journal, which more or less corroborates the two accounts above:

AL HILLAH, Iraq--There's more to America than New York, Washington and Los Angeles. The same is true for Iraq; there's a vast country outside Baghdad and the "Sunni triangle" that's now the center of a guerrilla campaign. It's understandable that Western press reports are fixated on attacks that kill American soldiers. But that focus is obscuring what's actually happening in the rest of the country--and it misleads the public into thinking that Iraqis are growing angry and impatient with their liberators.

In fact, there is another Iraq that the media virtually ignore. It is guarded by the First Marine Division, and, unlike Baghdad, it has been a model of success. The streets are safe, petty and violent crime are low, water and electrical services are almost universally available (albeit rationed), and ordinary Iraqis are beginning to clean up and rebuild their neighborhoods and communities. Equally important, a deep level of mutual trust and respect has developed between the Marines and the populace here in central and southern Iraq.

More... (http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110003883)