A Soldier's Letter

[Proteas]

Sent to me by a NC relative, from the May 9th Salsbury Post.

Operation Iraqi Freedom: Letters detail the good things
soldiers are doing

By Rose Post, Salisbury Post
And now, another letter from Iraq.

No, that's not quite right.

Today's mail brings two letters from Iraq by way of
Sgt. First Class Elaine Howle, a member of the Army
Reserves' 846h Transportation Co. based at the Reserve
Center on Jake Alexander Boulevard.

Howle, who's been in the unit longer than anyone else
and went to the Middle East in Desert Storm as well as
being one of our connections with Iraqi Freedom,
frequently drops a line to the folks back home.

And this weekend we got two of her letters from Iraq.

The first was brief and to the point.

"I got baptized in the Persian Gulf tonight," she wrote
in the subject line of her e-mail. "And yes! It was
cold!"

The second letter's subject line was "Iraq," and again
her note was succinct.

"This was sent by a soldier who is home for two weeks
from Baghdad," she wrote, and he was apparently
returning.

"I think it says it all," Howle added.

And from then on the words are his:

"As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my
stay in Iraq," he writes, "I wanted to say thanks to
all of you who did not believe the media. They have
done a very poor job of covering everything that has
happened. I am sorry that I have not been able to visit
all of you during my two-week leave back home. And just
so you can rest at night knowing something is happening
in Iraq that is noteworthy, I thought I would pass this
on to you. This is the list of things that has happened
in Iraq recently: (Please share it with your friends
and compare it to the version that your paper is
producing):

Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for
the first time ever in Iraq.

Over 400,000 kids have up to date immunizations.

Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the
weapons that were stored there so education can occur.

The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be
off loaded from ships faster.

School attendance is up 80 percent from levels before
the war.

The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of
oil in August.

The country now receives 2 times the electrical power
it did before the war.

100 percent of the hospitals are open and fully
staffed compared to 35 percent before the war.

Elections are taking place in every major city and
city councils are in place.

Sewer and water lines are installed in every major
city.

Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.

Over 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing
the country.

Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets
side by side with US soldiers.

Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first
time ever.

Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing
techniques to prevent the spread of germs.

An interim constitution has been signed.

Girls are allowed to attend school for the first time
ever in Iraq.

Text books that don't mention Saddam are in the
schools for the first time in 30 years.

Don't believe for one second that these people do not
want us there. I have met many, many people from Iraq
that want us there and in a bad way.

They say they will never see the freedoms we talk about
but they hope their children will. We are doing a good
job in Iraq and I challenge anyone, anywhere to dispute
me on these facts. So If you happen to run into John
Kerry, be sure to give him my e-mail address and send
him to Denison, Iowa.

This soldier will set him straight. If you are like me
and very disgusted with how this period of rebuilding
has been portrayed, e-mail this to a friend and let
them know there are good things happening.

Ray Reynolds, SGT. FIRST CLASS

Contact Rose Post
[e-mail].

[RedSkunk]

And once again, proving why we shouldn't go by what some dipstick soldiers say. There were many things blatantly wrong in his letter, I'll outline acouple for shits and giggles:

At 5/11/04 04:20 PM, Proteas wrote: Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for
the first time ever in Iraq.

Before sanctions Iraq was a modern country with complete infrastructure, etc.

Over 400,000 kids have up to date immunizations.

See my last comment.

Elections are taking place in every major city and
city councils are in place.

What elections? "mayor"? Woot.

Girls are allowed to attend school for the first time
ever in Iraq.

That's bullshit. Girls were allowed to go to school before sanctions.

Text books that don't mention Saddam are in the
schools for the first time in 30 years.

Revisionist textbooks that leave out 30 years of history?

[Der-Ubermensch]

That letter just seems to me like some little piece of propaganda some low-level Government PR clerk put together.

[WildCatzTy]

Thanks For this Letter and more if you have other things please send them to

[e-mail]

[EvilGovernmentAgents]

Somehow, this ability of disbelief is not applied to people who say the opposite. People are biased.

Still, until I can go to Bagdad without having fear of a 7.62 AK round entering my skull, I'll reserve judgement.

[ReddSky]

They were doing very well before the USA knocked them down into a third world country in the first place.

[RedSkunk]

At 5/11/04 06:03 PM, EvilGovernmentAgent wrote: Somehow, this ability of disbelief is not applied to people who say the opposite.

Because this conflicts with my predetermined stance on the issue.

*crazy brits*

[Empanado]

At 5/11/04 04:20 PM, Proteas wrote: letter

I'll apply my Jesus criteria for this one.

[Mr-Silv3r]

At 5/11/04 04:27 PM, Skvnk wrote: And once again, proving why we shouldn't go by what some dipstick soldiers say. There were many things blatantly wrong in his letter, I'll outline acouple for shits and giggles:

So without any proven first hand experience with this country, you are tearing apart someones statement who at least claims to have some first hand knowledge of the situation.

I have no position on the state of affairs in Iraq. Things are fucked up, thats my position, i haven't taken a side on the issue whether its 'good' or 'bad' that the US went in there. I'm taking a lesson from the US back in the first couple of world wars, not give a damn, and possibly play for profits, until bad shit is happening to me directly. Everyone else in Australia seems to want to be like the big bad US, so i think i'll follow suit for once, and hey, maybe i'll blame this statement on following the stereotypical view on teenagers too.

The point is, without first hand knowledge, none of us knows what the fuck is really happening anywhere, its just trusting what we hear from the majority of sources. But sometimes you have to at least question those sources.

[RedSkunk]

At 5/12/04 12:26 AM, Mr-Silv3r wrote: So without any proven first hand experience with this country, you are tearing apart someones statement who at least claims to have some first hand knowledge of the situation.

Hmm, yes, I am. And?

I have read other first hand experiences, and I've read a bit on what Iraq was like before the war, before sanctions. Some grunt in the field doesn't know a whole lot more than any of us do, of the big picture at least.

And these were just facts that the guy supposedly widdled off. We could of gotten the same exact information from whitehouse.gov. Nothing new or unique about the supposed first hand account.

The point is, without first hand knowledge, none of us knows what the fuck is really happening anywhere, its just trusting what we hear from the majority of sources. But sometimes you have to at least question those sources.

Yes, of course. And isn't that what I was doing?

[Grim]

Here is the link to the original

Comments from me -

The numbers given seem to be normalized. How many of these projects did Ray Reynolds, SGT. FIRST CLASS actually take part in and is actively monitoring; status change seems to occur overnight and 6 months work can be eliminated in one explosion.

I have no doubt that constructive actions are taking place, that's the whole premise as to why the troops are still there, just that the impact needs to be measured and verifiable.

Too many politicians NEED this to be successful.

[Mr-Silv3r]

At 5/12/04 01:20 AM, RedSkvnk wrote: Yes, of course. And isn't that what I was doing?

Not really. You questioned one side, the positive side, but not your own. Good way to pose a persuasive argument i suppose.

[NoHitHair]

This letter is entirely unimportant and meaningless. It's one person. One person's opinion of over 150,000 others in the exact same positions. Additionally, the things he stated he couldn't possibly know from firsthand experience anyway - that's impossible. Has he met these children who have attended school personally? Has he seen all these local elections? How do I know this isn't all hearsay? Most likely - it is.

The bottom line is simple: multiple sources of evidence are needed to determine what it's really like in Iraq and one letter, one that cites obviously biased information that is impossible to base on first-person experience, and thus anything this soldier says should be taken with the smallest grain of salt, along with the other hundreds of thousands of grains of salt.

[RedSkunk]

At 5/12/04 04:07 AM, Mr-Silv3r wrote: Not really. You questioned one side, the positive side, but not your own. Good way to pose a persuasive argument i suppose.

Believe it or not, I'm continually questioning any information about stuff like Iraq, where I can't readily verify it with first hand experience. Like hithair said - grains of salt.

[TheWakingDeath]

At 5/12/04 12:26 AM, Mr-Silv3r wrote:

So without any proven first hand experience with this country, you are tearing apart someones statement who at least claims to have some first hand knowledge of the situation.

what makes you think that this is actually from someone who's over there? for all you know this is some goddamn chain e-mail that been passed down the line by some war supporter; it sure is formatted like one. it could be legit, but how the fuck would we know. and personally i don't believe it. those sure are a lot of offhand figures for someone to remember while they're been shot at.

sure maybe things have improved since a year ago when we wer e BOMBMING THE SHIT OUT OF THEM, but i don't think we should be taking credit for cleaning up after ourselves

[NoHitHair]

Another good point.

[Reverend-Kyle]

At 5/11/04 05:19 PM, Ruination wrote: That letter just seems to me like some little piece of propaganda some low-level Government PR clerk put together.

That's exactly what I thought when I read it. I find it hard to believe anything relating to Iraq-- unless it's some "left-wing" article, of course.

The leaders of Iraq were lying to the Iraqis about conditions in Iraq, and the leaders of the United States are probably lying to the Americans about the conditions in Iraq.

Maybe I'm just too skeptical. That comes with age, I guess.