Did You Know This?
We all know that there are things besides terrorist bombings going on Iraq, but we don't hear much about them. If we all knew that these sorts of things were happening, then there would be more support for Coalition, Americans would be less discouraged about Iraq, and it would be harder for anti-American elements at home and abroad to speak convincingly of what bad guys we are.
With thanks to Mustang, who runs www.socialsense@blogspot.com, and the DoD website, I'd like to let you know some of the news that the media aren't interested in reporting:
1) Forty-seven countries have re-established their embassies in Iraq.
2) The Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqis.
3) 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 are being rehabilitated, 263 are now under construction, and 38 new schools have been completed.
4) Iraq's higher education structure consists of 20 universities, 46 institutes or colleges, and 4 research centers, all currently operating.
5) Twenty-five Iraqi students departed for the United States in January, 2005, for the re-established Fulbright program.
6) The Iraqi Navy is operational; they have five 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels, and a naval infantry regiment.
7) Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and three US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operates day and night, and will soon add sixteen UH-1 helicopters and four Bell Jet Rangers.
8) Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a commando battalion.
9) The Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers.
10) There are five police academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each eight weeks.
11) There are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq, including 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities, and 69 electrical facilities.
12) 96% of Iraqi children under the age of five have received the first two series of polio vaccinations.
13) 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid-October, 2004.
14) There are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%.
15) Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers, and 10 television stations.
16) The Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004.
17) Two candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a televised debate recently.
With thanks to Mustang, who runs www.socialsense@blogspot.com, and the DoD website, I'd like to let you know some of the news that the media aren't interested in reporting:
1) Forty-seven countries have re-established their embassies in Iraq.
2) The Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqis.
3) 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 are being rehabilitated, 263 are now under construction, and 38 new schools have been completed.
4) Iraq's higher education structure consists of 20 universities, 46 institutes or colleges, and 4 research centers, all currently operating.
5) Twenty-five Iraqi students departed for the United States in January, 2005, for the re-established Fulbright program.
6) The Iraqi Navy is operational; they have five 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels, and a naval infantry regiment.
7) Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and three US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operates day and night, and will soon add sixteen UH-1 helicopters and four Bell Jet Rangers.
8) Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a commando battalion.
9) The Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers.
10) There are five police academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each eight weeks.
11) There are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq, including 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities, and 69 electrical facilities.
12) 96% of Iraqi children under the age of five have received the first two series of polio vaccinations.
13) 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid-October, 2004.
14) There are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%.
15) Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers, and 10 television stations.
16) The Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004.
17) Two candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a televised debate recently.
posted by Cubed © @ 7/24/2005 01:32:00 PM
1 Comments:
At Wed Aug 17, 05:50:00 PM PDT,
Robin said…
Thought you would get a kick out of this...
www.opinioneditorials.com/freedomwriters/rboyd_20050816.html
August 16, 2005
While Editors Ponder...
Robin Mullins Boyd
The New York Times ran an article on August 15, 2005 that was an eye opening discourse into the
soul of the print media. The article, “Editors Ponder how to Present a Broad Picture of
Iraq”, was spurred by an anonymous email that has been making the rounds since January 2005.
The email was basically a list of many of the accomplishments that had taken place in post Saddam
Iraq. A number of editors of major newspapers, all Associated Press members, had concerns that they
where “not telling the whole story” about Iraq.
Mike Silverman, managing editor of the Associated Press, lamented the fact that “explosions
and shootings and fatalities and injuries on some days seem to dominate the news.” Silverman
cited the dangers in Iraq as one of the reasons reporters were not getting more of the good things.
Kathleen Carroll, the AP’s Executive Editor, actually said that “it was much easier to
add up the number of dead than to determine how many hospitals received power on a particular day
or how many schools were built.” Silverman than threw out the typical media excuse –
the positives listed in the email were actually in various AP stories but they were buried in the
articles.
Well here’s a news flash for the editors cited in the article. The email that started the
ball rolling was actually excerpts from an article published on the Internet on January 30, 2005.
The article, “Accentuating the Negative”, was published on OpinionEditorials.com. How
did I get all of this information about the original article? Easy – I wrote it.
Yes, the major print media was thrown into fits of “healthy discussion” by a woman who
lives in Guyton, GA. A southern belle, wife, mother and grandmother that works full time as a
Registered Nurse. A writer that has no degree in journalism but writes op-ed pieces for free (but
would not mind getting paid). A woman who loves to write and has book number 2 in production with a
publisher. I am just someone that seeks out the facts and doesn’t rely on what someone tells
me. Someone that can form an opinion all by their little self. I put my critical thinking skills
developed through years of nursing to work.
Believe it or not, a dreaded “FReeper” and member of the Pajamahadeen knows more about
the situation in Iraq than all of the high paid, high powered editors that rule what we read every
day. I have no connections, no anonymous sources. Ramsey Clark did not have to set up interviews
for me. I do not have an account at Kinko’s or access to forged memo templates. No one got
“outed” in my attempt to uncover the truth. Lives were not placed in jeopardy. Not one
single animal was harmed in my quest for information. No one was forced to wear panties on their
head or participate in naked pyramids. Heck, I didn’t even have to give money to “the
other side” in Fallujah to get the low-down.
In an ironic twist, a follow-up article, "Ignoring the Positive", was published on opinioneditorials
.com the very same day. I did not have to be stationed in Baghdad or embedded with troops in
Fallujah to get my information. No one was firing RPG’s at me. The only injury I sustained
was a paper cut while printing out my rough draft of the article. The information for both articles
came the War on Terror section of the Department of Defense website - information that anyone with
Internet access can get any time of the day. Guess that blows Mr. Silverman’s excuse out of
the water.
Am I surprised that the print media executives were clueless about the reconstruction facts in
Iraq? Not hardly. Was the information more difficult to obtain than tallying up the dead and
injured in Iraq? Uh, no. Any one with any amount of common sense knows the truth. Things are not
all peaches and cream in Iraq but they certainly are not all black as the media would have us
believe. So the next time one of the media pundits laments the difficulty obtaining positive
information from Iraq, consider the source. The only difficulty the media has is setting aside
their hatred of President Bush long enough to do their job. And they wonder why the newspaper
circulation numbers are down across the board? Guess it’s easier to tally up the numbers than
find out the truth.
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