Following the end of the letter is a short description of the unit from Iowa.  The site from which this data was drawn indicates the authenticity of the letter.

This is the type of news that no one reports in America – conservatives or liberals.  We can only wonder why????

Use your own judgment on this.  We don’t even see this news coming out of America when disasters hit regions.  When was the last article you read about Louisiana reconstruction?  It’s sad that often, unless it’s sensational and bleeds, American media are not willing to report truth and fact, only the unseemly, the negative and the adverse news.

Ed Lawton

AF-ret.

----- Original Message -----

From: "Dawn T" dawnt (snipped)

Subject: Fw: Iraq

Can you circulate this? This is a letter from Ray Reynolds, a medic in
the Iowa Army National Guard, serving in Iraq:

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 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.

  * School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.

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

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

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

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

  * 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.

  * Textbooks 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. 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

Provide command and control to all units within the 234th Signal Battalion to insure they are prepared to perform their federal and state missions, and to insure these units add value to local communities by participating in programs at local, state and national level.

If a long-term lease can be worked out for 8 acres of land, the Iowa National Guard will build a new $19 million armory at The Eastern Iowa Airport. The $3 million first phase of the project could begin as early as 2002. Guard leaders say the Guard has outgrown the nearly 40-year-old Armory on airport property at 10400 18th St. SW. They estimate the building is 20,000 square feet too small for the uses already required. The Guard has closed two armories in western Iowa during the last year and is looking at closing three more in the state. Some 464 Iowa National Guard troops are assigned to Guard units based in Cedar Rapids, including 39 full-time personnel. The Guard spent $4.77 million locally last year -- $2.57 million in training pay and the rest in pay for full-timers. Those operations include the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 234th Signal Battalion; Company A of the 244th Signal Battalion; Company B of the 334th Forward Support Battalion; and Detachment 1, 2168th Transportation Company and Organizational Maintenance Shop.

On March 15, 2003 the 234th Signal Battalion was mobilized to deploy to Southwest Asia to support operations against Iraq. The unit arrived in Kuwait on June 13, 2003 and entered Iraq on or about July 9, 2003. The unit is deployed with roughly 600 soldiers and is currently attached to the 22nd Signal Brigade near Balad. According to the Army's rotation schedule, the unit is not planned to return to the United States until June 2004.

An email is making the rounds that attempts to highlight the positive elements of U.S. military efforts in Iraq. Sgt. Ray Reynolds exists, and Sgt. Reynolds confirms he wrote the email. The e-mail message is authentic, although various reviewers have pointed to mistakes of fact in the e-mail message.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/234sig.htm