Okay... I have no way of verifying this - It was passed to me by a local, and although I trust her, I do not know how she came to possess this:

As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in Iraq, 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 1500 schools have been renovated and ridded 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% from levels before the
war.
The country had it's first 2 billion barrel export of
oil in August.
The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the war.
100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed
compared to 35% 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 email 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, email this to a friend and let them know there are good things happening.

Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard
234th Signal Battalion

Doc,
Good Morning.
Firstly please be sure and send my warmest regards to Ray (and family).
HOWEVER. A few points to pick up on.
There are not 80,000 men currently in the Iraqi Army.
The former Iraqi regime did allow girls to go to school, college and University. (One of the very few enlightened aspects of the former regime).

If, and we must, win the PR war, lets make sure that our facts are 100% correct. The Truth, warts and all ,is the finest weapon against sniping biased reporting.

I sincerely believe that Blog sites such as the CP are in the front line of this (PR) war. It behoves us all to spread the truth.

Cheers

The attitude of my liberal coworker says it all. If it isn't CNN or ABC, then it isn't true. He won't even read the CP!

Confirmation on Soldier's Letter:

*****

Response from Ray (Full thread below):

On Friday, April 23, 2004, at 02:17AM, wrote:

>I did write it and I am in Kuwait now on my way home. I wrote it while at home because I felt that too many people were exploiting the violence in Iraq to sell papers and gain votes. Sometimes the silent majority need to be awakened to respond to the bad things in our world. I am passionate about our President's decision and support this rebuilding whole heartedly...Yes legit..I am a fire fighter in Denison, Iowa and to verify, call Mike McKinnon of the Denison Iowa fire department...Ray
>

04-23-04

Ray,

Great. I will post it around. I'll write back soon. Have some other stuff to do right now. I've posted your original letter and your reply on our site at:

http://www.hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewforum.php?f=22

I'm a detective with the Riverside Polic Dept in CA (City of 300k east of LA). Check out our forums section at www.hspig.org. While the military is doing an excellent job in the War on Terror, domestically we're ripe for an attack. Most fed agencies are reactionary (not necessarily those on the ground level) and not in gear to intercept and prevent or deter an attack. Regional and local agencies are some better but are waiting for the feds to come riding into town on a white horse like the Lone Ranger.

The mindset is "high tech" when AQ will strike using something "low tech." My wife is a doctor of public health. I'm especially aware that the public health and law enforcement sectors do not talk with each other. Each assumes the other is prepared for an event. Go figure. Long story here. But if you follow FOX's TV show "24 Hours," they dramatize what could happen and the dificult decisions that policy and decisions makers will be confronted with.

Here's some key articles on our site which further discuss this stuff. Basically we need to get our act together here and soon without all the hand wringing that's going on. This is why first hand accounts such as yours are so important. As you have probably noticed the media here is not unbiased. The view protrayed is much different from that of someone on the ground over there.

The left and the media feel cheated that so far no substantial WMD have been found in Iraq. They just, " don't get it," were at war with an asyemtrical nationless enemy which is largely tribal and linked thru religion and culture ,and will use diposable terrorists to achieve their perverted. fanatical, religiously driven mission.

Enough for now. Here's the links from another e I just sent to someone else. What kind of Net bandwidth and speed do you have? I have some other stuff which are JPEGS which may be of interest.

Ron Wright
www.hspig.org

*****

Here's some of the stuff I said I would send. Check out our website mission statement, Homeland Security Policy Institute Group's (HSPIG) at:

www.hspig.org

Currently we are looking for corporate donors and sponsors who will support our mission. HPPIG believes to counter this threat, we must build from the bottom up and quickly. HPSIG seeks to form regional matrix groups primarly headed by senior execs and CEOs of the business sector as trusted agents. After all over 80% of this country's critical infrastructure is controlled by the business sector that have a vested interested in surviving terrorist attacks.

As you may have noticed from the 911 Commission Hearings, the federal government has been none too quick to respond to this threat domestically. By involving the business sector which is oftentimes added as only an afterthought to many disaster plans, they can be the driving force to drag the public sector along. Please read my OPED piece on Sen. John Kerry which is a good summary of what we perceive as the real risks we face. . . .

If you follow Fox's "24 Hours," the plot line while fictional, it is entirely plausible. Scenarios here are real threats that policy and decision makers must deal with in times of emergency. Better to have working relationships in place before an event occurs. Policy and decison makers must have the experience in making these tough calls. HSPIG will assist senior executives and CEOs in running table top exercises to gain experiences much like the military does for their senior staff officers. While the "cast of thousands" disaster drills are good for PR, they do little to give the key decision makers the experience they need.

We have done little to counter this threat other than the usual fed "feel good" stuff. The key is to move beyond reactionary and seek out the embedded terrorists before they can strike again. It's only a matter of time and not if. Both Gavin DeBecker (Expert in the world of threat assessment. Author of the "Gift of Fear" and "Fear Less') and Bill Frist (US Senate Majority Leader and expert on bioterror weapons) have said as much.


The attached JPEGS are of letters to the editor of the journal Acumen (Health sciences et al) re an article which appeared in their previous issue, "The Looming Threat." This article will scare the socks off you. My wife and I cited this article when updating a previous article we wrote on smallpox as a bioweapon.

If you and anyone you know would be interested in supporting our organization with time and or monetary support pleace contact me or one of the HPSPIG founders:

tbarnes@hspig.org
kdreger@hspig.org


Ron Wright
Board of Directors
www.hspig.org


This is a sobering reminder of what this is all about. The game has changed rules. We must stay focused, our eyes on the ball, and our heads in the game. We are at war:

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=691

Commentary/Opinion Statements

Reply posted to several sites re Spain Prime Minister's letter in the Wall Street Journal:

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=624

Kerry's foot in mouth statement on NPR:

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=679

On topic - re the need for fast horizontal communications at the bottom:

http://www.hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=341

http://www.hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=429

The Looming Threat

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=442

A Gap in Local Bioterrorism Response

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=428

Reference links for smallpox article

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=545

*****

On Friday, April 23, 2004, at 02:17AM, wrote:

>I did write it and I am in Kuwait now on my way home. I wrote it while at home because I felt that too many people were exploiting the violence in Iraq to sell papers and gain votes. Sometimes the silent majority need to be awakened to respond to the bad things in our world. I am passionate about our President's decision and support this rebuilding whole heartedly...Yes legit..I am a fire fighter in Denison, Iowa and to verify, call Mike McKinnon of the Denison Iowa fire department...Ray
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Ron Wright
>Date: Friday, April 23, 2004 11:28 am
>Subject: QUESTION
>
>> There is a letter going around from a guy with your name and your
>> unit assignment. Here's the letter. Just need to confirm it was
>> you who wrote it. Would like to use on our home page. More on
>> that later. Do check out www.hspig.org it might be of interest
>>
>> RRon Wright
>> www.hspig.org
>>
>> ****
>>
>> http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=715
>>
>> Editor's Note: Another post from a weekend warrior home on leave
>> and returning to Iraq. This was just posted on The Command Post
>> (www.command-post.org) with a large question mark:
>>
>> http://www.command-post.org/oped/2_archives/011853.html
>>
>> This was posted as the 1st comment to another OPED piece:
>>
>> Poll: Terrorists May Be Winning
>>
>> I have not confirmed this yet. I am checking to see if it is
>> legit. The military unit does exist and is from the Iowa Area.
>> Portions of this unit are being redeployed. I sent message to
>> official unit address to verify this soldier does exist and asking
>> if they can confirm it's authenticity. In running a Google search,
>> it's a popular letter that is being posted from site to site and
>> is on the Iowa GOP site.
>>
>> We'll see,
>>
>> Ron Wright
>> www.hspig.org
>>
>>

Since there are NO WMD's in Iraq and AlQaeda Wasn't there Till the invasion. Our Buddy Saddam from the Iran/Iraq, April Glasby days was doing what we Told him to. Cheney/Haliburton needed work so they Created it, Paid by tax cut payers and Am blood. Would have been Cheaper to let the EU countries who Built Iraq's infrastructure Fix it but That would have been TOO Cheap and Not make work And Money, for The Boys... Blowing Everything up just Adds to the job and with the limited income from Oil the US will be Giving Iraqies a NEW country. They did SO much for US, Iran, Gulf War Work, we Owe it to them...

Iraq was a pushover Until AlQeada joined in and mobilized the people. Now the trouble is starting for the US. Turning wrenches while dodging bullets and RPG's will call for Hazardous Duty Pay. MORE Moola from the US. Another Tax Cut should Solve that. Get Chinese and Indians to do the work. They are Our Friends. Only a Despirate Fool from the US would go there to work But there are More and More geting despirate so the story will continue for Ages behind our Fearless, Fighter Pilot..cough!! Leader.. Duhhh !! The Dumb Leading the DUMB... lol

VF

You are such a disingenuous critic. Picture this, if you have the mental capacity. Nuke goes off in LA, DC, Sydney or London and I bet my life YOU would be the first prick to whine why it happened.

WHY you would ask did this President not protect us, WHY was nothing done to stem this tide, WHY do we have to bear this burden now???

Whine and piss yourself all the way to the goddamn fallout shelter you would.

Listen chump! We are protecting you from yourself ok.

God bless our allied troops and God bless all our stalwart leaders.

Maybe Ray Reynolds should stick to fighting fires, because just about every objective statement in the chain letter is flat-out wrong, not even close. The 2 billion barrels of oil claim is off by a factor of almost 100.

Now, I'm biased, I suppose, being an opponent of the Iraq War. You'll also notice that although John Kerry is dared to write to an email address, the address itself isn't supplied.

Now, as to the inaccuracies: The CPA itself says electricity is just barely above prewar levels, far from double. Cite: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/GoodMorningAmerica/Iraq_anniversary_electricity_040314.html

The letter was surely written last month before the Iraqi civil defense and plice forces he speaks so highly of, deserted or even went over to the other side in Fallujah. (cite: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0711FA395C0C7A8CDDAD0894DC404482)

The idea Iraqis had to be told to wash their hands before eating is preposterous: it's in the Koran. [cite omitted]

Girls always attended school in Iraq and the secular Baath-imposed culture was relatively free in matters of women's employment and public dress. This sort of sexism was not one of Saddam's many faults. The author has confused Iraq with Taliban Afghanistan. (In his defense, so did George W. Bush.)

Telephone service has not even been restored to subscribers who lost service from damage during the war last year or because of infrastructure decay before that. The idea that 400,000 NEW subscribers have service seems extremely unlikely. [USG cite: http://www.usaid.gov/press/factsheets/2004/fs040226.html , as of late February 2004]

The US Government puts out a weekly newsletter of "Accomplishments to Date" in Iraq. (Most recent: http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/updates/apr04/iraq_fs28_042004.pdf ). The water system has been "repaired" and delivery has been "improved" but there is no mention of even one person getting water for the first time, much less 4.5 MM.

As you can see here [ cite http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3148997.stm ] estimates for oil export were less than 1.2 Million barrels/day in mid-August 2003. The 2 billion figure is sheerest fantasy.

I guess these B.S. numbers are more fun than dealing with five more US soldiers dead today.

This Ray fellow is not a soldier with the National Gaurd in his state, I checked it out, it's fraud, poor Ray doesn't exist. This is one or more people sending out differant letters of whats going on in Iraq, get your facts straight first, we have 135,000 soldiers in Iraq, the police are shooting our soldies, all Ray has said is untrue, just a bogus chain letter to get attention from people, get a life and serve in Iraq instead of making web sites

Hi, I just couldn't resist replying to Ray Reynold's letter from Iraq. First I thank him for fulfilling his obligation to the Iowa National Guard.

Before I had finished reading his letter I knew his facts where not completely true and correct. And then after reading it in its entirety it was obvious and disappointing that his motive was purely political.

It's very sad that one of our solders would wrap him self in our flag, and under the banner of God Bless America attack John Kerry, a war hero.
If Mr. Reynolds doesn't like Kerry that's his right. His facts regarding Iraq has nothing to do with Kerry.

When I receive e-mail from people pretending to have knowledge that the rest of us lack and fail to sight their sources, I consider it junk mail. However in Mr. Reynold's case his half truths will do more harm than good since he is wearing our military uniform.

I would like to share some facts with Mr. Reynolds in the event he feels the need to continue to inform people about Iraq.
Last May there were no Iraqi security forces. Today, there are more than 200,000 (including 75,000 new police recruits).
U.S. coalition forces responsible for 13,000 projects including rebuilding bridges, roads and sewers; clearing 18,500 kilometers of irrigation canals.refurbishing more than 600 schools, 70 mosques and 75 medical facilities. Playgrounds, water treatment plants, small businesses, soccer fields, youth centers and childcare centers have also benefited from the military's "can-do" attitude.
A March 11 Christian Science Monitor article says the World Bank is predicting Iraqi oil production will recover almost to prewar levels later this year to around 2.7 million barrels per day compared to 2.8 million daily before the war. Right now, Iraq is bringing in revenues by exporting around 1.8 million barrels a day compared to more than 2 million barrels a day in exports in early 2003 There is good news, too, on the educational front: more than five million Iraqi students are back in school and more than 51 million new Ba'ath-free textbooks are in circulation.
The Iraqi Ministry of Health reports some 100,000 healthcare professionals working in 240 re-opened hospitals and 1,200 clinics.
If you need more accurate information go to the Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority,and I would suggest you start reading reliable news print and quit making up facts without confirming them with the US Dept. of State.

By the way Mr. Reynalds, if you run into Under Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz tell him 755 Americans have been killed, not the 500 he reported to congress last week. Also, there have been 3466 soldiers wounded who, like John Kerry, deserve war metals and ask him if the estimated 9000 to 10000 Iraq men, women, and children that have been killed is worth the oil.
Ps. The e-mail address Reynalds has is phoney.

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