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Great article and another example of media bias. I would like to quote part of the article (note this is from a gov website no copyright issues).
Quote:
The heart of the article rests on several old statements by the Special Investigator General for Iraq Reconstruction which infer these are recent or recurring problems. The SIGIR knows that, in fact, program management, construction quality, progress, and accountability have all improved significantly since the early days of the effort some three years ago. Yet, the reporters’ “project problems” comments infer that these are recent issues. Such actions inflame public opinion in the United States and create resentment by the very people so many conscientious Americans over here are trying to help here in Iraq and worse, embolden our very enemies.
When I arrived here a year ago we planned to complete 3,200 reconstruction projects. Today we are focusing on the completion of 3,700 projects. We’ve started 3,500 of those projects and completed almost 2,800…and work is continuing! This is not a failure to meet our commitment to the Iraqi people as the article states. In some cases we are not executing the same projects — we have changed to meet new priorities of three government changes in Iraq since our arrival — but in all cases, rest assured, these projects will be completed. We discussed this at length with the reporter…and he was taking notes and recording our conversations.
We told the reporter that, while 141 health clinic construction projects were taken away from a U.S. contractor who failed to perform, they were re-awarded to Iraqi contractors who are already demonstrating progress, have improved quality and shown their great desire to work with the United States to help Iraq improve … and they are doing so phenomenally!
We did talk to the reporter about on electricity. Three-quarters of Iraq gets twice as much electricity today as they did before the war. Furthermore, we are working with the Minister of Electricity to improve the situation in Baghdad daily and have doubled the hours of power from four to eight in the capitol in the last six months in spite of the fact that demand is markedly increased with Iraqis’ new ability to buy personal electrical products.
What is truly amazing to me is that we took the reporter to the Nasiriyah prison project and, while it is true that we terminated the prime U.S. contractor for failure to perform, the Iraqi sub-contractor continues to work there (now directly for us) and his progress and quality have improved significantly ... and he saw that! We are not turning unfinished work over to the Iraqis as he stated in his article; we are fulfilling the U.S. commitment to the people of Iraq and using Iraqis to do it!
The reporter didn’t tell you about the hundreds of dedicated military and civilian professionals he saw over here working to make Iraq better, or the Iraqis who come to work every day at their own peril because they believe in what we, and they, are accomplishing together.
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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."
All of that is great. What's not so great -- the ever escalating level of violence across the country including Baghdad.
This guy reminds me of Kevin Bacon's ROTC character in Animal House. Pandemonium erupts in the streets and he's shouting "All is well! All is well!"
We're supposed to lock arms and sing kumbaya around a campfire over some construction projects when they're getting blown up as fast as they get built?
Let's be clear: This person does not want the American public to know what happens over there when it comes to anything that might be construed as bad news. If someone blows up a hospital and kills 100 people, he doesn't want it reported. If 4 Marines get ambushed and get killed, he doesn't want it reported. If Sunnis-Shia's gun it out in the streets, killing civilians, he doesn't want it reported.
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Last edited by SoonerPatriot; 08-08-2006 at 09:46 PM..
Well ther is a lot of violence in Baghdad currently. However I don't know if you can characterize the whole country as more violent. For example today security in the provinces (3 more) that include Mosul and Tikrit, both of which were very much centers of the insurgency, not the Iraqi military is taking over fromt the US troops.
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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."
I wouldn't call those areas secure. A car bomb killed a policeman in Tikrit today and a car bomb killed 4 police in Mosul over the weekend. Anbar is a mess as well.
Not many anticipated Iraqi forces taking charge of security in provinces in the "Sunni tirangl" however, that show some progress.
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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."
Not many anticipated Iraqi forces taking charge of security in provinces in the "Sunni tirangl" however, that show some progress.
Sure there's progress in some areas. But the way I see it is, violence pops up in an area, it gets quelled and then another hot spot opens up. So what happens is it's hard to get control of the entire country all at once.
The fact Baghdad is such a problem is a real concern. In theory, it should be the most secure because it has the largest US troop prescence in the country and it's the seat of power for the new govt. Unfortunately, it's not happening right now.
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Hey...some sources on your side also hold that Detroit is a more dangerous place than Baghdad.
So the rose glasses are obviously pretty thick.
Quote:
We told the reporter that, while 141 health clinic construction projects were taken away from a U.S. contractor who failed to perform, they were re-awarded to Iraqi contractors who are already demonstrating progress, have improved quality and shown their great desire to work with the United States to help Iraq improve … and they are doing so phenomenally!
Love that quote...I wonder, was that Cheneys firm that performed so poorly, or was it Bechtel? And why was there so much corruption in the first 3 years because of the Bush decision to award no-bid contracts.
This engineers gotta be pissed that the contractors made five times as much as him for less work, as desk jobs, with contractors who hired some staff through the Heritage Foundation website.
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Last edited by All_Around_Brown; 08-09-2006 at 06:59 AM..
It's no surprise that if you throw enough money at a problem you can make some progress. That's been the Republican approach since Reagan. Spend. Spend. Spend. Of course, the question will be, Is that progress sustainable at an affordable price.
At any rate, in all fairness to the General, he works for the CiC, who is trying to justify an increasingly unpopular war, so the General is trying hard to put a good spin on things. Further, I never read the WP article, so maybe it was unfair. We'll have to see if the WP responds.
"Security increases costs by 10-25 percent, so we're not getting our value for money. Security was factored in at a rate of 9 percent – we didn't know it would be this much," [Brigadier-General Bill McCoy] said on a tour of projects at Taji military base north of Baghdad.
"We've had to downsize in some areas. It took $3 billion out of water and $500 million out of electricity," he said.
And as I told you earlier, nationwide, we have 12 to 14 hours of power a day in virtually every other province but Baghdad. And in Baghdad's province, about three months ago it was two to four hours; and here in the last month, it's been four to eight hours, and he has been a part of that. We want to get better.
Wonder how many sick and old people are dying because of the electrical problems? Wonder if all the hospitals have adequate power reserves? Any idea?
General blasts the MSM reporting on Iraq.
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