What is an American?

[Banned]

I just recieved this email and think it says alot.

Subject: Who is an American?
Written by an Australian Dentist...

To Kill an American

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . so they would know when they found one.

(Good one, mate!!!!)

"An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican,
African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.

In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer
only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.

The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans welcome the best of everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the
world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

[RAM Z]

Damn dude that has to be one of the best things I have ever read ! I just love those Aussies ! Nothing could be more true and if more people now a days thought that way we could stop alot of the bullshit that's going on in today's world.

[bassist_25]

Excellent chain letter with the exception of trying to paint the American government as humanitarians to Afghanistan. Our support had more to do with polticial motivations of the Cold War against communist Russia than benevolence towards the Afghan people.

I'm not trying to poo-poo the letter or America, but it rubs me the wrong way when apologists try to paint pretty pictures with ephuemisms and revisionist histories. Seriously though, the first half of letter is great.

[RobTheDrummer]

Thanks to us kickin the shit out of the Taliban, Afghanistan is way better off that it ever was. If that's not humanitarian, I don't know what is.

[Ron]

Thanks to us kickin the shit out of the Taliban, Afghanistan is way better off that it ever was. If that's not humanitarian, I don't know what is.

Yeah. Now they can cultivate and sell a LOT more opium.

[AtoMikEnRtiA]

Thanks to us kickin the shit out of the Taliban, Afghanistan is way better off that it ever was. If that's not humanitarian, I don't know what is.

Yeah. Now they can cultivate and sell a LOT more opium.

I'm down with that..

[RobTheDrummer]

At least they don't have to live in fear.

[AtoMikEnRtiA]

At least they don't have to live in fear.

they don't? what planet are you on Rob?

just because the Taliban is "gone" - doesnt mean they still dont have the problems they had before hand..

if you think, Hamid Karzai is the second coming of Peace in a land that has never known peace.. you're lying to yourself

[Ron]

Afghanistan is as much of a mess as it was before the invasion.

Women are still in the same situation, the war/drug lords have taken over the power previously held by the Taliban, schools paid for with US funds are being burned to the ground, and the separation between the rich and poor classes is growing wider.

You can't just change the way a society acts and operates unless it's a slow change over decades. The doctrine that our present government has adopted is a brainless, knee-jerk reaction to September 11th, and it's easy to sell to America through fear.

If you wipe out the leaders of a non-democratic gov't., democracy will not magically spring forth from the ashes, no matter how much money you throw at it.

It amazed me one night in a restaurant in Bahrain as I listened to 5 U.S. soldiers arguing about this same topic. They also were arguing about immigration and what "American" really means. One pointed out that "The American Dream" is practically dead, unless it's to get here and overstay your visa. One of the other soldiers, whose brother died in Baghdad, was the U.S. born son of two illegal Mexican immigrants.

Not one of them believed that Afghanistan or Iraq would ever become a democracy.

[Blain]

Sixty years ago, who would have thought that Nazi Germany would become a democracy?

[YankeeRose]

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/america2.htm

[Banned]

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/america2.htm

Ok, we now know it was originally written by a law prof at George Mason U. Does that change any of the meaning?

[RAM Z]

I still love it !!

Thanks for post'n it undercoverjoe and I think it is a wonderful way of looking at things and the rest of the world needs to see it that way also IMO !



And I'm Proud To Be An American...............................

[RobTheDrummer]

Afghanistan is as much of a mess as it was before the invasion.

Women are still in the same situation, the war/drug lords have taken over the power previously held by the Taliban, schools paid for with US funds are being burned to the ground, and the separation between the rich and poor classes is growing wider.

You can't just change the way a society acts and operates unless it's a slow change over decades. The doctrine that our present government has adopted is a brainless, knee-jerk reaction to September 11th, and it's easy to sell to America through fear.

If you wipe out the leaders of a non-democratic gov't., democracy will not magically spring forth from the ashes, no matter how much money you throw at it.

It amazed me one night in a restaurant in Bahrain as I listened to 5 U.S. soldiers arguing about this same topic. They also were arguing about immigration and what "American" really means. One pointed out that "The American Dream" is practically dead, unless it's to get here and overstay your visa. One of the other soldiers, whose brother died in Baghdad, was the U.S. born son of two illegal Mexican immigrants.

Not one of them believed that Afghanistan or Iraq would ever become a democracy.

You make a good point Ron. You are right that it does take a lot of time. I can't stand the Liberals screaming to pull out, it will be worse if we just pulled out of Iraq. We're doing that for the sake of our own future and interests...and you know what Ron, I would take your word over others because you have been in that part of the world. You've seen it and you know what it's about over there.

[tornandfrayed]

There are a lot of great points made in that letter. I love the quote from the Statue of Liberty. I also believe that America is and has always been a melting pot of culture, ethnicity and religious beliefs. Regardless of who wrote the letter the point still remains.

[Banned]

Afghanistan is as much of a mess as it was before the invasion.

Women are still in the same situation, the war/drug lords have taken over the power previously held by the Taliban, schools paid for with US funds are being burned to the ground, and the separation between the rich and poor classes is growing wider.

You can't just change the way a society acts and operates unless it's a slow change over decades. The doctrine that our present government has adopted is a brainless, knee-jerk reaction to September 11th, and it's easy to sell to America through fear.

If you wipe out the leaders of a non-democratic gov't., democracy will not magically spring forth from the ashes, no matter how much money you throw at it.

It amazed me one night in a restaurant in Bahrain as I listened to 5 U.S. soldiers arguing about this same topic. They also were arguing about immigration and what "American" really means. One pointed out that "The American Dream" is practically dead, unless it's to get here and overstay your visa. One of the other soldiers, whose brother died in Baghdad, was the U.S. born son of two illegal Mexican immigrants.

Not one of them believed that Afghanistan or Iraq would ever become a democracy.

Here is a Time/Life article on how much difficulty we had with post war Germany. It took over 7 years to form a government after the fall of Nazism, so do not expect it to be any easier in the Middle East.

"LIFE Magazine: Americans Are Losing the Victory in Europe

January 7, 1946


We are in a cabin deep down below decks on a Navy ship jam-packed with troops that’s pitching and creaking its way across the Atlantic in a winter gale. There is a man in every bunk. There’s a man wedged into every corner. There’s a man in every chair. The air is dense with cigarette smoke and with the staleness of packed troops and sour wool.

“Don’t think I’m sticking up for the Germans,” puts in the lanky young captain in the upper berth, “but…”

“To hell with the Germans,” says the broad-shouldered dark lieutenant. “It’s what our boys have been doing that worries me.”

The lieutenant has been talking about the traffic in Army property, the leaking of gasoline into the black market in France and Belgium even while the fighting was going on, the way the Army kicks the civilians around, the looting.

“Lust, liquor and loot are the soldier’s pay,” interrupts a red-faced major.

The lieutenant comes out with his conclusion: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” You hear these two phrases again and again in about every bull session on the shop. “Two wrongs don’t make a right” and “Don’t think I’m sticking up for the Germans, but….”

The troops returning home are worried. “We’ve lost the peace,” men tell you. “We can’t make it stick.”

A tour of the beaten-up cities of Europe six months after victory is a mighty sobering experience for anyone. Europeans. Friend and foe alike, look you accusingly in the face and tell you how bitterly they are disappointed in you as an American. They cite the evolution of the word “liberation.” Before the Normandy landings it meant to be freed from the tyranny of the Nazis. Now it stands in the minds of the civilians for one thing, looting.

You try to explain to these Europeans that they expected too much. They answer that they had a right to, that after the last war America was the hope of the world. They talk about the Hoover relief, the work of the Quakers, the speeches of Woodrow Wilson. They don’t blame us for the fading of that hope. But they blame us now.

Never has American prestige in Europe been lower. People never tire of telling you of the ignorance and rowdy-ism of American troops, of out misunderstanding of European conditions. They say that the theft and sale of Army supplies by our troops is the basis of their black market. They blame us for the corruption and disorganization of UNRRA. They blame us for the fumbling timidity of our negotiations with the Soviet Union. They tell us that our mechanical de-nazification policy in Germany is producing results opposite to those we planned. “Have you no statesmen in America?” they ask.


The Skeptical French Press

Yet whenever we show a trace of positive leadership I found Europeans quite willing to follow our lead. The evening before Robert Jackson’s opening of the case for the prosecution in the Nurnberg trial, I talked to some correspondents from the French newspapers. They were polite but skeptical. They were willing enough to take part in a highly publicized act of vengeance against the enemy, but when you talked about the usefulness of writing a prohibition of aggressive war into the law of nations they laughed in your face. The night after Jackson’s nobly delivered and nobly worded speech I saw then all again. They were very much impressed. Their manner had even changed toward me personally as an American. Their sudden enthusiasm seemed to me typical of the almost neurotic craving for leadership of the European people struggling wearily for existence in the wintry ruins of their world.

The ruin this war has left in Europe can hardly be exaggerated. I can remember the years after the last war. Then, as soon as you got away from the military, all the little strands and pulleys that form the fabric of a society were still knitted together. Farmers took their crops to market. Money was a valid medium of exchange. Now the entire fabric of a million little routines has broken down. No on can think beyond food for today. Money is worthless. Cigarettes are used as a kind of lunatic travesty on a currency. If a man goes out to work he shops around to find the business that serves the best hot meal. The final pay-off is the situation reported from the Ruhr where the miners are fed at the pits so that they will not be able to take the food home to their families.

“Well, the Germans are to blame. Let them pay for it. It’s their fault,” you say. The trouble is that starving the Germans and throwing them out of their homes is only producing more areas of famine and collapse.

One section of the population of Europe looked to us for salvation and another looked to the Soviet Union. Wherever the people have endured either the American armies or the Russian armies both hopes have been bitterly disappointed. The British have won a slightly better reputation. The state of mind in Vienna is interesting because there the part of the population that was not actively Nazi was about equally divided. The wealthier classes looked to America, the workers to the Soviet Union.

The Russians came first. The Viennese tell you of the savagery of the Russian armies. They came like the ancient Mongol hordes out of the steppes, with the flimsiest supply. The people in the working-class districts had felt that when the Russians came that they at least would be spared. But not at all. In the working-class districts the tropes were allowed to rape and murder and loot at will. When victims complained, the Russians answered, “You are too well off to be workers. You are bourgeoisie.”

When Americans looted they took cameras and valuables but when the Russians looted they took everything. And they raped and killed. From the eastern frontiers a tide of refugees is seeping across Europe bringing a nightmare tale of helpless populations trampled underfoot. When the British and American came the Viennese felt that at last they were in the hands of civilized people. But instead of coming in with a bold plan of relief and reconstruction we came in full of evasions and apologies.

U.S. Administration a Poor Third

We know now the tragic results of the ineptitudes of the Peace of Versailles. The European system it set up was Utopia compared to the present tangle of snarling misery. The Russians at least are carrying out a logical plan for extending their system of control at whatever cost. The British show signs of recovering their good sense and their innate human decency. All we have brought to Europe so far is confusion backed up by a drumhead regime of military courts. We have swept away Hitlerism, but a great many Europeans feel that the cure has been worse than the disease.

The taste of victory had gone sour in the mouth of every thoughtful American I met. Thoughtful men can’t help remembering that this is a period in history when every political crime and every frivolous mistake in statesmanship has been paid for by the death of innocent people. The Germans built the Stalags; the Nazis are behind barbed wire now, but who will be next? Whenever you sit eating a good meal in the midst of a starving city in a handsome house requisitioned from some German, you find yourself wondering how it would feel to have a conqueror drinking out of your glasses. When you hear the tales of the brutalizing of women from the eastern frontier you think with a shudder of of those you love and cherish at home.

That we are one world is unfortunately a brutal truth. Punishing the German people indiscriminately for the sins of their leader may be justice, but it is not helping to restore the rule of civilization. The terrible lesson of the events of this year of victory is that what is happening to the bulk of Europe today can happen to American tomorrow.

In America we are still rich, we are still free to move from place to place and to talk to our friends without fear of the secret police. The time has come, for our own future security, to give the best we have to the world instead of the worst. So far as Europe is concerned, American leadership up to now has been obsessed with a fear of our own virtues. Winston Churchill expressed this state of mind brilliantly in a speech to his own people which applies even more accurately to the people of the U.S. “You must be prepared,” he warned them, “for further efforts of mind and body and further sacrifices to great causes, if you are not to fall back into the rut if inertia, the confusion of aim and the craven fear of being great.”


Here's more from this issue of LIFE...

The first winter of peace holds Europe in a deathly grip of cold, hunger and hopelessness. In the words of the London Sunday Observer: “Europe is threatened by a catastrophe this winter which has no precedent since the Black Death of 1348.”

These are still more than 25,000,000 homeless people milling about Europe. In Warsaw nearly 1,000,000 live in holes in the ground. Six million building were destroyed in Russia. Rumania has her worst drought of 50 years, and in Greece fuel supplies are terribly low because the Nazis, during their occupation, decimated the forests. In Italy the wheat harvest, which was a meager 3,450,000 tons in 1944, fell to an unendurable 1,304,000 tons in 1945. In France, food consumption per day averages 1,800 calories as compared with 3,000 calories in the U.S.

Germany is sinking even below the level of the countries she victimized. The German people are still better clothed than most of Europe because during the war they took the best of Europe’s clothing. But their food supply is below subsistence level. In the American zone they beg for the privilege of scraping U.S. army garbage cans. Infant mortality is already so high that a Berlin Quaker, quoted in the British press, predicted. “No child born in Germany in 1945 will survive. Only half the children aged less than 3 years will survive.”

On Germany, which plunged the Continent into its misery, falls the blame for its own plight and the plight of all Europe. But if this winter proves worse even than the war years, blame will fall on the victor nations. Some Europeans blame Russia for callousness to misery in eastern Europe. But some also blame America because they expected so much more from her. On the following pages the distinguished novelist John Dos Passos, who has been abroad as LIFE correspondent, reports on Europe’s suffering and what it means for America.

[YankeeRose]

Okay, all of you who still support us staying in Iraq at all costs: those of you who have children, make certain you instill in them how very important Democracy in the Middle East is to their future well being. Not only that, but as soon as they are of legal age, encourage them to enlist in the Army or Marines in the Infantry, and encourage them to volunteer for Active Duty where ever there is fighting going on in the Middle East. Also, what IS the cut off age for enlistment these days???

[Banned]

Okay, all of you who still support us staying in Iraq at all costs: those of you who have children, make certain you instill in them how very important Democracy in the Middle East is to their future well being. Not only that, but as soon as they are of legal age, encourage them to enlist in the Army or Marines in the Infantry, and encourage them to volunteer for Active Duty where ever there is fighting going on in the Middle East. Also, what IS the cut off age for enlistment these days???

That is what my son is going to do when he gets of age. He is now 15 and plans on joining the National Guard, knowing full well he may be sent over to Iraq or wherever. Not everyone is a "what's in it for ME liberal"

BTW, it also took several years in Japan (maybe 6 if I remember) to set up their democracy. None of these things happen instantly, but I believe it is a good thing that there is not an new Nazi government in Germany or a militaristic monarchy in Japan today. Those things might have happened if we just packed up and left after winning WW II.

[Blain]

Okay, all of you who still support us staying in Iraq at all costs: those of you who have children, make certain you instill in them how very important Democracy in the Middle East is to their future well being. Not only that, but as soon as they are of legal age, encourage them to enlist in the Army or Marines in the Infantry, and encourage them to volunteer for Active Duty where ever there is fighting going on in the Middle East. Also, what IS the cut off age for enlistment these days???

If we decided to pull all troops out of Iraq today, all we are doing is postponing the inevitable. Whether there were terrorists in Iraq before the war is now a moot point, because we know they are there now. If we leave, Iraq becomes a terror state.

My question to the anti-war people is always "what is your solution - what would you do to deal with terrorism?". The answers always revolve around diplomacy, peace talks, negotiations, whatever. Great, enjoy your fantasy land. Let me know how that works for you.

Whether you support us being there, we're there, and we need to get the job done before we get out.

[YankeeRose]

As my daughter says, "if he was really serious, he'd join the Marines". We know a young Marine in the Infantry by the name of Tony Ballance, who graduated with my oldest boy and was sent immediately to Iraq. Also, as my daughter said, "a what's in it for ME Liberal? BWAHAHAHAHAHA! It's a what's in it for ME Conservative!"




Okay, so NOW we're staying in Iraq due to terrorists? They're all there now because we're still there, and guess what, we have Domestic Terrorists (No, I won't let anyone forget the Murrah Building in OK.), and there are terrorists everywhere the world over. So, what are we supposed to do, invade country after country just like members of that "New American Century" cartel want? I for one don't THINK so. I agree, we can't just up and instantly leave Iraq with no Troop prescence there. We've made it a mess, but we can bring the majority home. Other countries need to become involved pronto...more European countries and other close in proximity, Oil-glutted countries are the ones who should help first, in any and all ways. That is, unless the powers that be in the United States have a problem with any other countries being involved in stabilizing and re-building Iraq.




What happened to ending our addiction to Oil and the Alternative Fuels mentioned in the State of The Union Address? Oh, I see, the major problem facing our Country now is illegal Immigration. I realize it's a small start, but a huge Ethanol factory is supposed to be built in Schuylkill County, at least that was on the front page of the local newspaper roughly a month ago, wonderful news! We're not so "addicted to Oil", the Oil Barrons are "addicted to MONEY"...and I can't believe the Oil Companies are still getting TAX BREAKS after record breaking, never before seen in this country, profits. Dubya, Cheney and Co. are all truly crazy like Foxes.

[RobTheDrummer]

When Saddam was in power...

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/da ... deaths.htm

[Blain]

We've made it a mess

I can't argue with that.

[RobTheDrummer]

Call this a mess if you want....a fact sheet from the US Department of State.


Remarkable Progress Has Been Made In Iraq In The Last Three Years

On March 19, 2003, United States And Coalition Forces Launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. Life in Iraq under Saddam Hussein was marked by brutality, fear, and terror. Iraqis had no voice in their country or their lives. Saddam Hussein devastated Iraq, wrecked its economy, ruined and plundered its infrastructure, and destroyed its human capital.

Three Years Later, Iraq Has A Democratically Elected Government. The reign of a dictator has been replaced by a democratically elected government operating under one of the most progressive constitutions in the Arab world. Millions of Iraqis have joined the political process over the past year alone. The transition from three decades of dictatorship to a fully functioning democracy is still difficult, and Iraq must overcome many more challenges before it fully secures its democratic gains.

*

Saddam Hussein Is Facing Justice In An Iraqi Court. The Iraqi people are holding Saddam accountable for his crimes and atrocities.

The Next Year Will Bring A Consolidation Of These Gains, Helping A New Iraqi Government Stabilize The Nation And Build A Solid Foundation For Democracy And Increased Economic Growth. Iraq's elected leaders are diligently working to form a government that will represent all the Iraqi people. As the Iraqi government comes together and Iraqi Security Forces continue improving their readiness, efforts to stabilize the nation will increasingly be Iraqi-led. We will support the Iraqi government in these difficult times, and we will keep our commitment to the Iraqi people.
Securing A Lasting Victory In Iraq Will Make America:

*

Safer by depriving terrorists of a safe haven from which they can plan and launch attacks against the United States and American interests overseas.
*

More Secure by facilitating reform in a region that for decades has been a source of violence and stagnation and depriving terrorist control over a hub of the world's economy.
*

Stronger by demonstrating to our friends and enemies the reliability of U.S. power, the strength of our commitment to our friends, and the tenacity of resolve against our enemies.

Despite Progress, The Situation On The Ground Remains Tense. As al Qaida's actions and statements show, terrorists reject democracy, reject peace, and want to impose their own concept of a dictatorial government on the Iraqi people. The United States and its Coalition partners are united in support of the Iraqi people and helping them win their struggle for freedom. The terrorists know they lack the military strength to challenge Iraqi and Coalition forces directly - so their only hope is to try and provoke a civil war. Immediately after the attack on the Golden Mosque of Samarra, the Iraqi people looked into the abyss and did not like what they saw. Iraqis have shown the world they want a future of freedom and peace - and they will oppose a violent minority that seeks to take that future away from them by tearing their country apart.

The President's National Strategy For Victory In Iraq Has Three Tracks - Political, Security, And Economic. All three tracks are progressing. Access the National Strategy for Victory at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/ ... v2005.html.
The Political Track: Iraq Has Transitioned From Tyranny And Oppression To Freedom And Democracy

Three Years Ago, Iraqis Had No Voice In Their Government Or Their Nation's Future. Simple acts like voicing concerns about bad policies or organizing a meeting were denied. Citizens feared arbitrary arrest, torture, and imprisonment. Thousands of innocent Iraqis ended up in mass graves.
Today, Millions Of Iraqis Are Shaping Their Own Destinies By Participating In Iraq's Political Process:

*

Iraqis Completed Two Successful Nationwide Elections And A National Constitutional Referendum In 2005. Each successive election experienced less violence, bigger voter turnout, and broader political participation. On December 15, more than 11 million people - more than 75 percent of the Iraqi voting-age population - participated in the election for a new government under Iraq's new constitution, an increase of more than three million voters over the January election.
*

Iraqi Voters Approved A New Permanent Constitution. Iraq's new permanent constitution, approved on October 15, 2005, provides a solid legal framework, based on a democratic process and inclusiveness, which the Iraqi people are working to strengthen.
*

Iraqi Leaders Are Now Forming A National Government. The December election resulted in a representative parliament and offers Iraqis an opportunity to build a national unity government. Iraqi leaders continue working on forming a new broad-based, inclusive government in furtherance of their commitment to democratic principles.

The Security Track: Iraqi Security Forces Are Increasingly Taking The Lead To Protect Their Nation

Three Years Ago, Saddam Hussein And The Ba'ath Party Were Preserving The Regime's Tyrannical Rule. Under Saddam Hussein's rule, the Iraqi army was used as an instrument of repression against Iraq's own citizens and against Iraq's neighbors.
Today, An All-Volunteer Iraqi Security Force Is Taking Increasing Responsibility For Protecting Their New Nation And The Iraqi People:

*

Trained Iraqi Security Forces Are Growing In Number And Assuming A Larger Role. More than 240,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained and equipped and are working to protect their fellow citizens. Iraqi Security Forces demonstrate growing competence and capability, and over 90 percent of Iraqis say they support their efforts to bring stability to the country. Over 112,000 Iraqi soldiers, sailors, and airmen have now been trained and equipped. More than 87,000 police have been trained and equipped. These police work alongside over 40,000 other Ministry of Interior forces.
*

Additional Iraqi Army And Special Operations Battalions Are Conducting Operations. Last fall, there were over 120 Iraqi Army and Police combat battalions in the fight against the enemy - and 40 of those were taking the lead in the fight. Today, the number of battalions in the fight has increased to more than 130 - with more than 60 taking the lead. As more Iraqi battalions come online, these forces are assuming responsibility for more territory. Iraqi forces now conduct more independent operations throughout the country than do Coalition forces.

The Terrorists Are Turning To Weapons Of Fear Because They Know They Cannot Defeat Us Militarily. After the terrorists were defeated in the battles in Fallujah and Tal Afar, they saw they could not confront Iraqi or American forces in pitched battle and survive. So they turned to IEDs - a weapon that allows them to attack from a safe distance, without having to face our forces in battle. Innocent Iraqis are the principal victims of IEDs. Our strategy to defeat IEDs has three elements: targeting and eliminating terrorists and bomb-makers; providing our forces specialized training to identify and clear IEDs before they explode; and developing new technologies to defend against IEDs.

*

Coalition Efforts To Defeat IEDs Are Producing Results. Today, nearly half of IEDs in Iraq are found and disabled before they can be detonated - and in the past 18 months, the casualty rate per IED attack has been cut in half. During the past six months, Iraqi and Coalition forces have found and cleared nearly 4,000 IEDs, uncovered more than 1,800 weapons caches and bomb-making plants, and killed or detained hundreds of terrorists and bomb-makers.

The Economic Track: Iraq's Economy, Infrastructure, And Quality Of Life Is Improving

Three Years Ago, Saddam Hussein And His Regime Led A Life Of Privilege And Luxury, While Leaving The Iraqi People Without Infrastructure To Provide Essential Services. Those out of favor were denied the simplest public services, with hunger and essential services used as weapons of tyranny. As a result, parts of Iraq suffered a severe lack of electricity, water, health care, education facilities, and other vital services. While challenges remain, and while it will take years to modernize Iraq's economy and infrastructure in the wake of Saddam Hussein's decades of neglect, significant progress has been made over the past three years.
Today, Iraq's Economy Is Recovering, And The Iraqi People Have Better Access To Essential Services:

*

Iraq's Economy Is Recovering, And The Iraqi People's Standard Of Living Is Rising. Iraq's economy is showing signs of recovery after 30 years of dictatorship. In 2005, the Iraqi economy grew an estimated 2.6 percent in real terms, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated it will grow by more than 10 percent in 2006. Under Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraqis' standard of living deteriorated rapidly. In nominal terms, Iraq's per capita income had dropped from $3,800 in 1980 (higher than Spain at the time) to $715 in 2002 (lower than Angola). In 2005, per-capita income is estimated to have increased to over $1,000.
*

Iraq Is Rejoining The International Economic Community. Iraq is on the road to World Trade Organization accession, has received both an IMF credit facility and its first World Bank loan in 30 years, and has secured a debt agreement with the Paris Club that will lead to the forgiveness of at least 80 percent of about $40 billion of Saddam Hussein-era debt.
*

Investors Are Optimistic About Iraq's Economic Future. Foreign and domestic banks are opening new offices, the stock market established in April 2004 currently lists nearly 90 companies, and a total of over 32,000 businesses are now registered in Iraq.
*

More Iraqis Have Access To Clean Water. 3.1 million Iraqis enjoy improved access to clean water, and 5.1 million have improved access to sewage treatment.
*

Iraq's Education System Is Being Rehabilitated. More than 30 percent of Iraq's schools have been rehabilitated, more than 36,000 teachers have been trained, and approximately 8.7 million revised math and science textbooks and 3 million school supply kits have been provided to students nationwide.
*

Iraq's Public Health System Is Improving. Vaccination campaigns have significantly reduced infectious disease outbreaks. For example, 98 percent of children under five have been vaccinated for polio.

[YankeeRose]

When Saddam was in power...

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/data/childdeaths

WHAT does that link have to do with a THING that is going on currently?
Nothing. Besides, most don't really care any way, "they're only Muslims, after all, let God sort 'em out", is the general consensus. The link is only a justification for Dubya's lie as to why we were invading them in the first place.
I think it's time to "stop watching topic". Thinking for yourself clearly has no place here.

[RobTheDrummer]

I just find it funny that you are a liberal and liberals claim to be "humanitarian" yet, you don't care that under Saddam's rule from 1991-1998, 50 million children died. That doesn't matter tho...all that matters is you like to cry about war. And what is Dubya's Lie?

Anyways Listen to the Big Man!

http://thekidfrombrooklyn.com/video_dis ... deoid=1198