I read and article I thought was pretty interesting. I know the violence has been dropping for awhile and that isn't really news enough to start a post for in and of itself. The stuff listed in this article is pretty interesting though.



U.S. TROOP LEVELS:

ADVERTISEMENT

_October 2007: 170,000 at peak of troop buildup.

_July 2008: 143,000

CASUALTIES:

_Confirmed U.S. military deaths as of Aug. 1, 2008: At least 4,126.

_Confirmed U.S. military wounded (hostile) as of July 31, 2008: 30,464.

_Confirmed U.S. military wounded (non-hostile, using medical air transport) as of July 5, 2008: 33,153.

_U.S. military deaths for July 2008: 13, including the discovery of the bodies of two American soldiers missing after an attack last year.

_Deaths of civilian employees of U.S. government contractors as of March 31, 2008: 1,181.

_Iraqi deaths in June from war-related violence:

An Associated Press tally shows that at least 510 Iraqi civilians and security force members were killed in July, a 75 percent drop from the 2,021 deaths in the same period last year.

_Assassinated Iraqi academics: 377.

_Journalists killed on assignment as of July 31, 2008: 130.

COST:

_Over $541 billion so far, according to the National Priorities Project.

OIL PRODUCTION:

_Prewar: 2.58 million barrels per day.

_July 22, 2008: 2.53 million barrels per day.

ELECTRICITY:

_Prewar nationwide: 3,958 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 4-8.

_July 24, 2008 nationwide: 4,520 megawatts. Hours per day: 11.6.

_Prewar Baghdad: 2,500 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 16-24.

_July 24, 2008 Baghdad: Megawatts not available. Hours per day: 11.2.

_Note: Current Baghdad megawatt figures are no longer reported by the U.S. State Department's Iraq Weekly Status Report.

TELEPHONES:

_Prewar land lines: 833,000.

_July 7, 2008: 1,600,000.

_Prewar cell phones: 80,000.

_July 7, 2008: 13.4 million.

WATER:

_Prewar: 12.9 million people had potable water.

_June 29, 2008: 20.9 million people have potable water.

SEWERAGE:

_Prewar: 6.2 million people served.

_June 29, 2008: 11.3 million people served.

(Note: The figures for water and sewerage have not changed in the newest SIGIR report.)

INTERNAL REFUGEES:

_Aug, 1, 2008: At least 2.8 million people are currently displaced inside Iraq.

EMIGRANTS:

_Prewar: 500,000 Iraqis living abroad.

_April 2008: Over 2 million — mainly in Syria and Jordan.

___

All figures are the most recent available.

Sources: The Associated Press, State Department, Defense Department, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, The Brookings Institution, Iraq Body Count, U.N. High Commission for Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Working Group, International Organization for Migration, Committee to Protect Journalists, National Priorities Project, The Brussels Tribunal, Department of Labor.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

It's interesting on how much basic needs have increased.
They have more power,water and sewage. The communications in the country have drasticly increased with all the cell phones and a ton of hard line laid. It has also been mentioned that garabage pick up and schools have picked up alot from prewar. Kind of like the country is starting to come out of the 3rd wolrd status and becoming more modern.
No one doubts there is along way to go for that country but there has sure been alot of progress in alot of areas.

Last note is our military fucking rocks.

 

a lot of interest of investments by other countries as well, helping with construction, power infrastructure, land developement, transportation, etc. It will happen.....its just that all the good stuff happening doesn't serve the media's purpose.

 

I'm sure that if the government ever stabilized that investors are waiting to jump in, but I agree with Stewart, you won't hear anyhting good coming out of there since the news is so liberally biased.

 

Bzzzzz, wrong. What country are you from?

News media is far far from being liberal bias. The news is only bias by the takes and views of the american people. Ever heard of a gallop poll? News outlets base their audience on gallop polls, cold calling, complaints and occasionally hit on some "real news". That is 90% of what they call research. So, they take this information and they hit on the subjects of whats "news worthy". It is so sad how the media plays out to one person runing the show, the program director. If it werent an election year, FOX news would be playing with dubya's balls. But their not stupid, the media is jumping on the ever so loving bandwagon to keep viewers attached to that media outlet programming.

 

I love it when liberals talk down to me, it reminds me why I vote Republican
That, and the fact that not everyone can be on welfare.

 

It is strange sometimes where you find little tidbits of how things are in the real world. I was watching a show last night, it was either on the animal channel or national geographic channel. It was about sperm whales. It followed the life on one particular bull whale from infancy to death at 80.

The one thing that perked me up was when it showed an oil rig. I was all prepared to see some sort of evil perpetrated on the innocent whale by the evil oil rig. But, not so. Seems that fish love hanging out around the oil rig and the whale comes there regularly to enjoy a "sushi smorgasboard". Humph, who would have thought that an oil rig is actually a whale feeder in disguise? The documentary made no comment about good oil rig/bad oil rig. It was just a segment in the story that was made in passing.

 

It would be ideal to interpret those figures and believe that things, overall, are better than what they were, but it might yet be prudent to go easy on the back slapping, a little DIGGing and we can easily find things like this too...

Submitted March 2008...

Part 1: YouTube - Baghdad, 5 years on (part 1): City of walls
Part 2: YouTube - Baghdad, 5 years on (part 2): killing fields
Part 3: YouTube - Baghdad 5 years on (part 3): Iraq's lost generation

...it still ain't peachy and to think otherwise might be premature, again...especially when you consider where the next amateur pilots will be coming from (part 3 about 1:50)...

Sorry guys but media, who'ya gonna trust?

 

Jesus fucking Christ....

Accuracy in Media claims the the news media are biased toward liberal politics. Fairness & Accuracy in Media claims the the news media are biased toward conservative politics. Supporters of these views see one group as right and the other as wrong. But the reality is not that simple. Yes, AIM and FAIR each point out coverage that appears to bolster their various claims. At times, the media do seem to be biased one way or the other. What these groups don't say, however, is that their mistrust of the media is also a mistrust of the people. Those who complain most about media bias would see themselves as able to identify it and resist it. They get upset about it because they question whether the average American is able to do the same. If the average American can identify it and resist it, then there is little need to get upset about bias. The AIM and FAIR web sites are full of material to help hapless Americans avoid the cognitive ravages of the "evil" conservatives or the "slandering" liberals and their media lackeys. I believe the average American is quite capable of identifying problems with news coverage. In my opinion, crusading against political bias in the news media is an elitist practice. In truth, they are all bias towards there own views. Maybe you watch news to whcih is liberal biased, I watch news that is conservative bias. It doesnt matter one way or another. And I am not talking down to you, just making a point just as you did, and because I am a "liberal" that means, I am on welfare? Hmmm, good observation.

 

Well, since I was around for the Vietnam war, let me explain my position a little better. Night after night Dan "I'd Rather be dead than red" (his words) Rather would hammer away at the unjust vietnam war. When Tet hit in 68 all the media was crying about how we had lost control of the country. Unfortunately, they were a little light on facts. Tet virtually wiped out North Vietnamese influence in the south, it was a huge defeat militarily, however Rather and his boys were able to spin it into an american defeat on TV. When Nixon started the bombing of the Ho Chi Min trail, this drove the north back to the negotiating table, as far as the news he was "expanding the war into Cambodia". When the US navy and Air force started the "rolling thunder campaign in the north (it took away restrictions on targets) the press said we were bombing non military civilian targets. After the war a northern general made the statement that he couldn't believe we quit bombing when we had them on the ropes, we did, thanks to the lib medias misinfromation campaign. Even after we pulled out in 75, the dems in congress refused to fund the South Vietnamese, shortly thereafter, the country was overun by the communist and a blood bath took place in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. But in the press, the dems saved the day by not funding the war and saved millions of dollars. I wonder what the cost would be in lives murdered.
That is why I think the mainstream press is a bunch of liberal scumsuckers.
If that's elitist your a lib.
I don't get upset because I wonder if the average American is able to resist it, I get upset because it's pure unadulterred bullshit.