Some news you aren't getting from Iraq

Nobody can argue that the daily announcements in the news of American deaths in Iraq since the official cessasion of hostilities in May of last year has been anything but horrible. Few of us, however, have been informed by the media of the widely ignored positive developments behind the scenes in Iraq. Some of these developments have been chronicles in a recent letter sent by the Commanding Officer at MWSS-171 to his Marines and Sailors, and accoring to all the "urban legend" sites on the net it appears to be true. Among the items of good news, it is reported that . . .

• the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on
  active duty.
  
• over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.
  
• nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning.
  
• the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.
  
• on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts-exceeding
  the prewar average.
  
• all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are
  nearly all primary and secondary schools.
  
• by October 1, Coalition forces had rehab-ed over 1,500 schools - 500 more than scheduled.
  
• teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries.
  
• all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.
  
• 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.
  
• the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccinations to Iraq's
  children.
  
• the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large
  and small, as part of a strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq.

For the complete report, click here.