We have pulled our troops from combat in Iraq's cities. This is a good thing under the circumstances made possible by our victory over the various terrorists and insurgents we faced the last 6 years. Iraqis are right to be happy over this. I wish them all the best. They've had horrible lives given the despotism and many wars that Saddam and then terrorsists inflicted on them.
It is dreck like this that makes me despair of our press corps:
More than six years of U.S. occupation and the orgy of sectarian violence it unleashed have left most Iraqis feeling at best ambivalent about U.S. forces.
Many complain their lives have improved little since then, with daily struggles caused by power cuts and water shortages.
"They did a good job getting rid of that tyrant, Saddam, and we thank them for that, but it's really time for them to leave," said Talib Rasheed, 70, sitting outside in one of Baghdad's leafier suburbs. "Maybe they could leave us some electricity?"
Oh really? We caused the Sunni-Shia conflict in Iraq? I thought the underlying cause was the general Shia-Sunni division in the Moslem world. And I thought that several centuries of minority Sunni rule over the Shias and Kurds in Iraq contributed. And add in several decades of Saddam's cruel regime. Oh, and a nice al Qaeda terrorist campaign aided by Syria and supplemented by Iran's Sadrist thugs on murder sprees.
Silly me, our "occupation"--otherwise known for defending Iraqis against all the thugs and terrorists shooting and bombing innocent Iraqis--was the cause of the bloodshed. Thank God the press corps cleared that up!
As for the electricity crack, reality should really raise its ugly head after all these years. This is our so-called failure:
Electricity Minister Karim Wahid said in Babil Province on February 18 that the country's power output has reached 6,760 megawatts, some 2,500 megawatts more than the amount being generated in 2003 before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Wahid added that the country will get a substantial increase in power this summer when several large energy-producing projects will be finished and provide an additional 2,000 megawatts.
Huh. So we did leave them with some electricity.
Well what about water shortages? Well:
USAID has refurbished 10 sewage treatment plants in eight cities in Iraq providing sewage treatment to an additional 5.1 million Iraqis, processing 300 million gallons daily. 3.1 million Iraqis who had no clean drinking water in 2002 now have access to safe, potable water following USAID efforts to refurbish and expand 19 water treatment plants in five cities. Providing clean water and efficient sewage treatment has greatly improved sanitation and contributed to a decrease in waterborne disease. USAID's rural water program installed 70 small water treatment systems in rural communities throughout Iraq, providing clean water to almost 500,000 villagers each day. USAID also provided plant-level operations and maintenance (O and M) training at major water and wastewater plants nationwide to ensure that these plants remain functioning.
In addition, USAID's rural water program will install over 70 small water treatment systems in rural communities of less than 5,000 people. As of May 2006, 51 sites have been completed with the rest coming online by August. Countrywide, the rural water program will help to supply clean water to almost 500,000 villagers each day.
I guess we've done some good there, too.
But other than gross anti-American bias masquerading as news, the press corps has covered the war just swell.
