Quagmire? Doubtful.

[Diff-chan]

L. Paul Bremer has made a report of sorts yesterday. Check it out here: Right here!

Found it on Baloon Juice, which is a blog of sorts. But he has a link to a NYT article, so whatever.

Here's a sample:

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.

Anyway, hmm... seems like its not all bad but the media's not gonna report on all that stuff... because its boring... because of the vast left-wing conspiracy, I dunno... but it does seem as though progress is being made.

Just to satiate Almaci because Im sure he'll be coming in this thread rambling in semi-broken English before too long:

01. Yes there is still violence.
02. Yes there are still major infrastructure problems.
03. Yes there are no WMD to be found.

All these are big problems, and they have to be addressed. But you have to learn to walk before you can crawl. Plus, there is absolutely no balance in coverage on the news - look, all I see is one soldier gets blown up, suicide bomber, another soldier, blah blah. And that's all awful news. But that's not ALL that's going on by far, but you would sure think it if you just watched the news. And that's not fair.

Anyway in my school newspaper a guy made yet another cartoon comparing Iraq to Vietnam. I think from the evidence we have seen that just isn't the case, and I dont see why people continue to insist on it.

The United States cant just pack up and leave - we ran Southern Korea for 3 years after WW2, we ran Japan for I dont know how long right now and Germany same thing. Leaving now would be disastrous for Iraq - hell look at what happened to Afghanistan (yes I am kinda mad about how the US just packed up and left).

[Calliander]

Good article. But $5.33 a month for teachers? I think that's a little exaggerated. And if it isn't, all the more reason for us to do what we did.

[Diff-chan]

Well he did say "as little as"... as in, thats the low-end. Im sure the mean was higher, if not by much (judging by his 12-25x more, the max was probably about $10-$11).

If $5.33x25=$126.65 or thereabouts, thats obviously a big improvement.

[Calliander]

Yeah, but damn... teachers should be making like 50k a year at least.

[Diff-chan]

Uhh different country, different exchange rate, different economy, different everything. Totally different situation. I dont think the American rates really apply over there man. ^_^

[Calliander]

Oh, I thought he was speaking equivalently! Hehe. Man, I suck at the internet.

[Gutsman]

I've heard some people blame the media for the US losing the Vietnam War. All they did was keep reporting casulaties which sapped the will of the public. I wonder if this is the same thing all over again.

[Diff-chan]

Yea Gutsman, its pretty common knowledge that the Tet Offensive was a fucking disaster for the VC, I think their casualties were 50:1 or something compared to ours. Like, they were crushed...

But it was something in the way it was reported that people panicked here and then it was all over. I wasnt alive at the time and Im not a student of the Vietnam War but thats probably the most obvious example of what you are talking about.

Ask me if its happening again now, though, and I say definitely.

[Scourge]

All these are big problems, and they have to be addressed. But you have to learn to walk before you can crawl.

I think you meant 'crawl before you walk'. That's how I did it anyway.

[ChaoofNee]

I'll never understand the obvious slander in the media and how people react to ALL of it without researching and take it ALL as fact. Never.
I'm glad Iraq's situation is improving so dramatically. It's great that the people are finally free of that loony...