Freedom's Truth

Chrenkoff's latest Good News from Iraq leads off with the same "step by step" article I referenced in my June 7 post "Hutwa bi hutwa" (Arabic for 'step-by-step'). If volume is an indicator, there is more good news from Iraq then ever - Chrenkoff's efforts are becoming encyclopedic in nature. And why not? There isn't just 1 or 2 good stories about education, but a whole nation with thousands of improved schools. Not just 1 or 2 raids to comment on, but well over a thousand terrorists caught in the last month, and a large number of top terrorist leader. Not just a few cases of Iraqi security stepping up to the plate, but a swath of operations like Operation Lightning. A Government building credibility; an economy growing; a widening circle of political acceptance and accomodation. In the past, there would be good news on economy or political progress that might balance the bitter news on violence and (in)security. Now, it's different. On security, the news is one of large progress in grinding down terrorist organizations, capturing criminals and terrorist leaders. The swamp is being drained - "step-by-step".

Some of Chrenkoff's highlights are:
1. Parliament in the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq has held its first session in the northern city of Irbil.
2. Shiite legislators have decided not to push for a greater role for Islam in the new Iraqi constitution ... Instead, the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite coalition that won the most seats in January's elections, will advocate retaining the moderate language of Iraq's temporary constitution that was drawn up under the auspices of the American occupation authority.
3. Since its launch in October, 2003, the new dinar has preserved its value vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar and other major countries. ... "The (central) bank has pursued sound monetary policies," says Thuraya Khazraji, Baghdad University's professors of economics.
4. In less than one year, the newly formed Iraqi Stock Exchange has tripled its trading volume, with growth rates unheard of nearly anywhere else. ... "When we choose to start our business here, demand was very high so we began just with 15 companies . . . now we have about 88," said Taha Abdul Salam, CEO of the exchange.
5. In oil news, talks are to begin soon with Saudi Arabia about reopening a 1.7-million-barrel-a-day pipeline. "The IPSA-1 pipeline, completed in 1989, was shut in the following year after the start of the Gulf War and has remained closed since. The pipeline goes to the Yanbu terminal near the Red Sea port of Jiddah."
6. Regular Baghdad-Basra flights now operational ... Some 42 passengers made the 50-minute trip from the Iraqi capital to the southern city, including airways officials and the transport minister. Iraqi Airways intends to operate four flights a week on the route.
7. Reconstuction Projects update from Bill Taylor, the departing U.S. official overseeing the reconstruction effort in Iraq: were moving ahead despite soaring security costs ... security costs amounted to an average 10-15 percent of the overall price. ... United States was paying out about $200 million a week to contractors and $5.3 billion had been disbursed in total of the $18.4 billion. A further $12.9 billion had been "obligated," or put under contract. ... in the past 10 months, 57 U.S.-funded electricity projects, ranging from big to small, had been completed and 103 more were in progress.
8. Lots of water projects being completed, such as: Iraq's Ministry of Municipalities and Labor recently announced the completion of work on 10 water projects in the Al Rasheed district south of Baghdad, including new tanks and pipelines providing water to several villages. ... 60,000 residents in the rural areas of Diyala governorate will very soon benefit from the rehabilitated water and sewage treatment plant. ... Iraqi authorities in Basra are working on a range of water infrastructure projects. ... USAID supplies potable water to rural Iraqis by digging wells in mid-sized communities. So far, the program has constructed wells at 81 sites; 69 of those sites are now active and 12 have been abandoned due to dry wells or other issues. Operating under the Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction Program, this initiative will drill approximately 110 wells in remote locations throughout Iraq.
9. He cites case after case of chairtable activities to help Iraqi children, such as: Not long ago a Soda Springs pastor serving as a guardsmen in Iraq started a mission, to help kids in Iraq get much needed school supplies. Today, an entire community rallies behind his dream to help others oversees. ... Rhode Island business, working in Iraq, is also trying to contribute in other ways: "A Middletown company is trying help the children of Iraq. Northeast Engineers and Consultants Incorporated has set up the Iraqi Children's Aid Relief Effort. So far, the firm has shipped soccer uniforms, and is planning a major fund-raiser."
10. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq marked their 1000th reconstruction project with the completion of work at a school in the northern-most province of Dahuk ... Engineers have 840 planned school projects throughout Iraq. To date, 580 school projects are finished and 171 are underway.
11. Coalition partners accomplishments: Under the Ukrainian soldiers' or peacekeepers' initiatives a decision about the formation of additional ING units was taken. Due to the efforts of Ukrainian instructors, the Iraqi Armed Forces' 27th Infantry brigade battalions were fully manned and trained (Iraqi National Guard troops were renamed to the Armed Forces of Iraq on February 8, 2005).
12. Good news for down under: Australian troops stationed in southern Iraq were welcomed with open arms when they visited a market in the village of As Samawah. Australia has 450 troops deployed in al-Muthanna Province to assist a contingent of engineers from the Japanese self defence force and provide training for local security forces. The commanding officer of the al-Muthanna Task Group, Lieutenant Colonel Roger Noble, said last night a dozen personnel had been mobbed by friendly locals on their first visit to the village. "There was genuine warmth from the people, (who) reacted to Australian soldiers and they have welcomed us in the best way," Lieutenant Colonel Noble told The Australian.
13. An Iraqi official survey showed that 40% of Iraqi women considered the criminals represent an actual danger for their lives, while 12% of them considered that the coalition forces represent their main threat. 46% of the surveyees did not point out any direct threat for them.
14. Operation Lightning successes: 887 arrests have been made, 608 mobile and 194 permanent checkpoints set up around Baghdad, and 38 arms caches recovered. ... As part of Operation Lightning, a sweep by Iraqi and American forces in Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, netted another 108 suspects. A similar operation around Taji, north of Baghdad, resulted in arrests and weapons confiscations.
15. Iraqi army takes on more responsibility: Outside Kirkuk, meanwhile, Iraqi Army soldiers with First Company, Second Battalion, Second Brigade, Fourth Iraqi Army Division have taken over control of Forward Operating Base Dibbis from U.S. troops. And the Nemer (Tiger) Unit of the Iraqi Second Brigade was officially given control of the Rasafa area of Baghdad.
16. Story about revered and feared Wolf Brigade, Iraq's elite anti-terrorism unit: "The complaints against the Wolf Brigade were the usual: excessive force, renegade patrols, kidnapping, murder. The charges came from Iraq's most powerful Sunni Muslim leaders, and Abu Waleed [commandre of Wolf Brigade] clearly relished reading them. It's precisely this take-no-prisoners reputation that has made his unit the most feared and revered of all of Iraq's nascent security forces. "The Muslim Scholars Association? They're infidels," Waleed said, tossing his detractors' complaints into the wastebasket. "The Islamic Party? Humph. More like the Fascist Party." ... "Every time I see them [Wolf Brigade] in the street, I feel safe," said Ahmed Kanan, 25, who works at a menswear shop in Baghdad. "I feel that we have a country with a government."
17. Lots of Iraqi citizen tips leading to terrorists getting arrested, such as: On May 22, "an Iraqi citizen told Iraqi Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division about two people suspected of planning and carrying out a car-bomb attack near a military base in central Baghdad. An Iraqi patrol went to the site, cordoned off the area and detained two suspects. . . . Another Iraqi citizen's tip helped Task Force Baghdad Soldiers find 14 mortar rounds in east Baghdad."
18. Lots of security successes, such as this one: "Security forces arrested an insurgent leader, Mohammed Daham Abid Hamadi, in a raid carried out in Baghdad on May 23. A government statement said Hamadi was an Islamic extremist who runs a group called the Lewa al-Numan--the Numan Regiment--in the town of Ramadi. The group is said to be responsible for attacks on civilians and the security forces, and Hamadi himself accused of killings and of a series of kidnappings of officials and businessmen, with the aim of collecting ransom money to fund his own group and also to provide other insurgent organisations with funds and weapons."

Chrenkoff closed with a statement from Marine Lt. Col. Bern Krueger, who has been flying helicopters along the Euphrates for the past few months:

I don't see what you see on the news. . . . As I travel hundreds of miles each night, I don't see the violence that you see in the media. Sure, it exists, and is very real to those near it. But it is sporadic, unorganized, and often isolated. It is not everywhere. There are not great pillars of smoke peppering the landscape. There are no riots or mass panic sweeping through the towns. There are no fiery infernos burning houses and schools to the ground, no barrages of mortar fire raining destruction upon the communities, and no raging mobs displaying hate or screaming anti-American propaganda. Sure, it is out there. But it is in small pockets, concentrated in small areas. Overall the country is quiet, silently and eagerly trying to repair an infrastructure damaged by war and neglect and trying to return to some sort of normalcy not seen in decades.

So, away from the MSM glare and the pockets of the 'dead-enders' who chose to sow chaos and terror, most of Iraq is slowly healing, building, developing the fabric of normality and a better life - step-by-step. Kreuger mentions also the hope and the purpose of the coalition in Iraq: "The heavy hand of terror that Saddam Hussein wielded has been lifted; the perpetual intimidation from the cowards that fear liberty and justice must be vanquished." -Marine Lt. Col. Bern Krueger