Subject: Open Letter from Iraq, judge for yourself
Most of you have probably already seen this in an email. I thought it was quite interesting given our recent discussion on WMD' s in Iraq.
Quote:
This is really quite a different story from those you read or hear about
in the news these days. Listen to what is being said by an Army Major who
is in Iraq and seems to have a pretty good handle on the situation.
OPEN LETTER TO FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF RICHMOND BEACH
It has been a while since I have written to my friends at First Lutheran
Church about what' s really going on here in Iraq. The news you watch on
TV is exaggerated, sensationalized and selective. Good news doesn' t sell.
The stuff you don' t hear about? Let' s start with Electrical Power production
in Iraq.
The day after the war was declared over, there was nearly 0 power being
generated in Iraq.
45 days later, in a partnership between the Army, the Iraqi people
and some private companies, there are now 3200 mega
watts (Mw) of power being produced daily, 1/3 of the total national
potential
of 8000 Mw. Downed power lines (big stuff, 400 Kilovolt (Kv) and 132 Kv)
are being repaired and are about 70% complete.
Then there is water purification. In central Iraq between Baghdad and Mogul,
home of the 4th Infantry Division, Water treatment was spotty at best.
The facilities existed, but the controls were never implemented. Simple
chemicals like Chlorine for purification and Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) for
sediment settling (The Tigris River is about as clear as the Mississippi
River) were in short supply or not used at all and when chlorine was
used, it was metered by the scientific method of guessing. So some people
got
pool water and some people got water with lots of little things moving in
it.
We are slowly but surely solving that. Contracts for repairs to facilities
that are only 50% or less operational are being let, chemicals are being
delivered, although we don' t have the metering problem solved yet (It' s
only been 45 days).
How about oil and fuel? Well the war was all about oil wasn' t it? You bet it
was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people because they have no
other income, they produce nothing else. Oil is 95% of the Iraqi GNP. For
this
nation to survive, it MUST sell oil. The Refinery at Bayji is at
75% of capacity producing gasoline. The crude pipeline between Kirkuk
(Oil Central) and Bayji will be repaired by tomorrow (2 June). LPG, what all
Iraqi' s use to cook and heat with, is at 103% of normal production and
WE, the US ARMY, at least 4th ID, are insuring it is being distributed
FAIRLY to ALL Iraqi' s.
You have to remember that 3 months ago, ALL these things were used as
weapons against the population to keep them in line. If your town
misbehaved, gasoline shipments stopped, LPG pipelines and trucks
stopped, Water was turned off, power was turned off.
Now, until exports start, every drop of gasoline produced goes to the
Iraqi people, crude oil is being stored, the country is at 75% capacity now,
they need to export or stop pumping soon, thank the UN for the delay. ALL
LPG
goes to the Iraqi people EVERYWHERE. Water is being purified as best
they can, but at least it' s running all the time to everyone.
Are we still getting shot at? Yep
Are American Soldiers still dying? Yep, about 1 a day from the 4th ID,
most in accidents, but dead is dead.
If we are doing all this for the Iraqi' s, why are they shooting at us?
The general population isn' t. There are still bad guys, who won' t let go
of the old regime. They are Ba' ath party members (Read Nazi Party, but not
as nice) who know nothing but the regime. They were thugs for the regime
that caused many to disappear in the night and they have no
other skills. At least the Nazis had jobs they could go back to after
the war as plumbers, managers, engineers, etc...these people have no skills
but terror. They are simply applying their skills....and we are applying
ours. There is no Christian way to say they must be eliminated and we are
doing so with all the efficiency we can muster. Our troops are shot at
literally everyday by small arms and RPGs. We respond and 100% of the time,
the Ba' ath party guys come out with the short end of the stick. The most
amazing thing to me is that they don' t realize that if they stopped
shooting at us, we would focus on fixing things and leave. The more they
shoot at us, the longer we will stay.
Lastly, Realize that 90% the damage you see on TV was caused by IRAQI' s,
NOT the war. Sure we took out a few bridges from military necessity, we took
out a few power and phone lines to disrupt communications, sure we drilled a
few palaces and government headquarters buildings with 2000lb laser guided
bombs (I work 100 yards from where two hit the Tikrit Palace), he had plenty
to spare. But, ANY damage you see to schools, hospitals, power generation
facilities, refineries, pipelines, was ALL caused either by the Iraqi
Army in its death throws or the Iraqi civilians looting the places. Could
the
army have prevented it? Nope. We can and do now, but 45 days ago the
average soldier was lucky to know what town he was in much less be informed
enough to know who owned what or have the power to stop a
1,000 people from looting a building by himself.
The United States and Britian are doing a very noble thing here. We
stuck our necks out on the world chopping block to free a people. I' ve
already
talked the weapons of mass destruction thing to death, bottom line, who
cares, this country was one big conventional weapons ammo dump anyway.
We have probably destroyed more weapons and ammo in the last 30 days than
the US Army has ever fired in the last 30 years (Remember, this is a country
the size of Texas), so drop the WMD argument as the reason we came here, if
we find it GREAT, if we don' t, SO WHAT? I' m living in a " guest palace" on a
500 acre palace compound with 20 palaces with like facilities built in half
a dozen towns all over Iraq that were built for one man. Drive down the
street and out into the countryside 5 miles away (I have) and see a family
of
10 living in a mud hut herding two dozen sheep, then tell me why you think
we
are here.
RE: Subject: Open Letter from Iraq, judge for yourself
Calhunter my son who was over there throughout the war speaks more on the Iraqi people level, and trust me the Iraqi people are very, very happy we are there, the unhappy ones are the Baath party thugs as stated, the Iranis Islamic fundamentalist, and the terrorist who are slipping into Iraq to exact revenge on America. My son is really upset that the media refuses to let the world know who the trouble makers are over there and how right we were for taking Sadaam down.
__________________
The Tazman aka Martin Price
Proud father of a Devil Dog
RE: Subject: Open Letter from Iraq, judge for yourself
Great post. My brother-in-law is a Seabee over there right now, and from what I' ve been able to glean from the pics that he emails back, the local population is very happy we' re there.
RE: Subject: Open Letter from Iraq, judge for yourself
I would really like to hear somebody tell the explanation of how the power went off in the first place and why it took so much time to get it back running. I don' t feel the news nedia has given this story enough time that it deserves to explain the diiffiuulty of what our people are facing over there
Subject: Open Letter from Iraq, judge for yourself
