Listed below are FACTS that some will try to hide. Some will lie about a doomed U.S. Economy some will Lie and state the U.S. unemployment rate is over 6% when it is not! Some will lie and say that U.S. troops are doing nothing more than hiding in the “green zone” not venturing out to help local citizens when they in fact are! Some will twist the truth and compare U.S. Reservists with British regular troops…Sad…very sad…..
Britain's reputation is heavily besmirched by reports from Amnesty International that UK troops have killed innocent Iraqis who presented no apparent threat. Civilians are always going to be the innocent victims of war, but there is evidence that at least 12 and as many as 37 Iraqi civilians have been unlawfully killed by British troops.
National Association for Business Economics sees 4.7% growth in '04, also lifts inflation forecast.
May 24, 2004: 7:29 AM EDT
The economists raised their outlook for this year's growth to 4.7 percent from 4.6 percent in their February survey, the fourth time the 2004 outlook has been upgraded. The forecast for 2005 was unchanged at a more moderate 3.8 percent rise.
Signs of a strong pickup in employment in recent months have cemented market expectations for the Fed to begin raising short-term interest rates, possibly as early as June. Interest rates were dropped to a 1958 low of 1 percent last year in a bid to strengthen the slow recovery from the 2001 recession.
The NABE panel also upgraded their forecasts for employment growth in six of the next seven quarters and predicted the unemployment rate would drop to an annual average of 5.5 percent this year and an even better 5.3 percent in 2005.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
WASHINGTON — The economy (search) grew at a 4.4 percent annual rate in the first quarter of this year, slightly faster than previously thought and fresh evidence that the recovery possessed good momentum as it headed into the current quarter.
The increase in gross domestic product from January through March reported by the Commerce Department (search) on Thursday marked an improvement from both the 4.2 percent pace first estimated for the quarter
School Attendance is up 80%-Truth!
Again, according to an April, 2004 report from UNICEF, school attendance in Iraq increased by 60 percent shortly after the war to more than 95 percent during the recent national exam week
More than 1,500 schools renovated-Truth!
UNICEF says that as of April, 2004, more than 2,500 schools have been renovated with the goal of 4,000 being completed by the end of the year, but 10,000 more need repair.
The Port of Uhm Qasar [sic] renovated so grain can be offloaded faster-Truth!
In a November, 2003 interview on National Public Radio, Andrew Natsios of the U.S. Agency for International Development said that the port at Umm Qasar, Iraq's largest, is modern and functioning for the first time in 20 years.
All of the hospitals operating-Truth!
Because of disrepair and looting, it took a lot of work to get hospitals back up to speed but according to James Haverman, the Coalition Provisional Authority Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, all 240 hospitals in Iraq as well as 2400 primary health care clinics were operating as of December, 2003
Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to prevent the spread of germs-Truth!
Not only are U.S. soldiers demonstrating field sanitation and hand washing, but UNICEF is conducting an active health education program to improve personal hygiene and promote more hand washing.
Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the first time in 30 years-Truth!
According to published reports, a team of U.S. appointed Iraqi educators combed through more than 500 Iraqi textbooks and removed every mention of Saddam Hussein and the Baath
party including pictures.
The texts will probably be revised by the Iraqis at some point in the future, but the pre-war texts were dominated with Saddam Hussein
“U.S. troops hand out nap sacks full of school supplies in Samarra. This just days after those four American contractors were killed and their bodies mutilated in Fallujah. “
Major progress has also been made in health care. Under Saddam, the Ministry of Health spent $16 million a year. The current budget is almost $1 billion. The health care system is now open to all Iraqis, with 30 percent more people now using the facilities. Doctors, who used to get $20 a month, now earn up to $180. Modern medication such as cancer drugs are now available, something unheard of during the Saddam years.
Last Sunday, these five Navy Seabees were killed in the Sunni triangle while on assignment rebuilding schools and medical facilities for the Iraqis.
Before the war, few areas had proper sewage facilities. One example of what soldiers are doing on the ground is in Mosul, where a neighborhood was swamped with raw sewage for 17 years. The U.S. Army spent $40,000 to hire local workers, and the problem is fixed.
Improvements in the infrastructure are widespread. Here are some key examples. Baghdad airport now has 43 passenger flights a day, including regular commercial service to Jordan.
And look at something as simple as phone service. Under Saddam, cell phones were a luxury, reserved only for top party and government officials. Now, more than 340,000 Iraqis have cell phones, and business is booming.
