Michael Yon

I didn't know! How could we??? Did you know that 47 countries have reestablished their embassies in Iraq? Did you know that the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people? Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been completed in Iraq ? Did you know that Iraq 's higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating? Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the re-established Fulbright program? Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational? They have 5 -100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment. Did you know that Iraq 's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers? Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion? Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers? Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers every 8 weeks? Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq ? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stat ions, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities. Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations? Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October? Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%? Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations? Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004? Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a televised debate recently? OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW! WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW? BECAUSE... OUR MEDIA (CNN, NBC, etc.) WOULDN'T TELL US! Tragically, the lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq serves two purposes: It is intended to undermine the world's perception of the United States thus minimizing consequent support, and it is intended to discourage American citizens . ---- Above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site.. ...Pass it on! http://www.defense.gov/ http://www.pentagon.mil/ http://www.defenselink.mil/ http://www.defendamerica.mil/iraq.html http://www.jcs.mil

As a conservative I am hearbroken to hear of so many government employees in Iraq. When will this tragedy be exposed?

I no longer believe anything I read in the mainstream media. What a shame that good news is not reported along with the bad. Ethical media supports balance, not skewed data to boost sales and/or ratings.

The struggle in Iraq -- which is now mainly a struggle to support democratic state-building there -- is going to affect political developments all over the world. If a reasonably cohesive democratic state can be built there -- this will have enormous knock-on effects over the next few years. A Shia-run democracy will exert influence on the Shia-run autocracies of Iran, Azerbaijan and Bahrain, for starters. Whether or not the invasion of Iraq was a good idea in the first place, it is where we are now. And, we -- and by "we" I mean all democrats in the world, not just Americans -- seem to be winning. So we must back our winners.