*Snopes Alert* Did You Know This?

[Catchawave]

RWnut "patriotic" email alert !!!!

For anyone who receives this in their email, I have already checked Snopes and has been declared "Undetermined". I will be sending this link to my "friend" and his "list" also. I wonder if I should CC it to the DOD and White House, they might believe it and bring the troops home...yay!!!!

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/combatend.asp

Here's my copy received today:

Of course I didn't know. How could I?

Did you know that 47 countries have reestablished their embassies in Iraq?

Did you know that the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?

Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been built in Iraq?

Did you know that Iraq's higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating?
Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the reestablished Fulbright program?
Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational? They have 5- 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment.
Did you know that Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers?
Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?
Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers?
Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks?
Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities.
Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?
Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?
Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%?
Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?
Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?
Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a televised debate recently?


OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW!
WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW? OUR MEDIA WOULDN'T TELL US!
Instead of reflecting our love for our country, we get photos of flag burning incidents at Abu Ghraib and people throwing snowballs at the presidential motorcades.
The lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq serves two purposes. It is intended to undermine the world's perception of the United States thus minimizing consequent support, and it is intended to discourage American citizens.

---- Above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site.
.......Pass it on!

//end of blah-blah-blah

[tatertop]

1. that is too funny

[wtmusic]

2. Yippee! Did you know...

100,000 Iraqi citizens are not around to enjoy the new Iraq because we killed them?

Can't find that one on the DOD website...must be here somewhere...

[Catchawave]

12. Exactly......

Never hear the Happy Stats of Iraqi Progress in the WH or DOD briefings.

100,000, really? How sad, no wonder our precious country is despised around the world. :cry:

[silverweb]

3. This is not new.

I remember it from at least a year ago and I'm checking my archives for the debunking e-mail now. Seems to me that it was blown out of the water because the "facts" were not verifiable on the DoD website, but there was something else I can't remember right now.

I'm searching for the earlier exchange on it... no guarantees.

On edit: I can't find anything on it in my own archives. The post below by acmejack has an excellent rebuttal. Using the search engine on the DoD website, it is impossible to find information to verify these claims. Once again, as with all RW e-mail campaigns, this piece of garbage is bogus.

[achtung_circus]

4. All very nice

and very rose tinted glasses.

I saw a post somewhere (which I will go attempt to find) putting this in context.

Context is all and this list is pure bullshit in context.

[Garbo 2004]

5. Wow, the Iraqi navy? Doesn't sound like they could take on Grenada.

I thought this crap had been previously debunked.

In the meantime unfortunately Iraq also is literally exploding with freedom ("free people sometimes make bad choices" I think Rummy said) and the death toll mounts among Iraqis and Americans alike. I don't call that good news or a sign of stability.

[acmejack]

6. Check this out.

Professional answers.

http://tampatrib.com/opinion/MGB447LZLCE.html

[silverweb]

7. Perfect.

Thank you!

[Catchawave]

11. Sorry, I'm confused.....

great article, but the title says misleading but the context says the AP reported it? Are we to be suspect of the AP? Or is it to prove that the media has reported some of the Happy Grams from Iraq ?

[wtmusic]

18. The email says it's never shown in the media

but AP stories, which have been widely distributed in the media, seem to be its main sources.

[Catchawave]

23. That's good or bad for AP credibility?

Sorry for sounding like such a dunderhead, been reading Craig Crawford's book "How Politicians Turn You Against the Media:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0742538168/qid=1132091428/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-3692084-8774226?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I think we need to re-define "Free Press" :sigh: Can't help but think these little internet spams may be written by SCOOTER *snork* as an example.

What's really bothersome, my Snopes ergo email trickled down from a bored DOD contracter. Who's planting these damn things ??? Not even Snopes can track down the original source.

Oh crap, putting it on now :tinfoilhat: heh.

[wtmusic]

25. Doesn't say much about AP

just that the emailer's claim that these stories don't make the media is an obvious lie.

AP has been suspect as a war cheerleader from time to time, but the point is: even if the stories are true there are no comparisons. What if twice the number of schools were open under Saddam? Presented in this fashion its value is only as propaganda.

[Catchawave]

27. Oh yeah, that makes sense....

Thank you so much for 'splain' to lucy :) :hug:

[drb]

8. Great! Sounds like we're all done over there! Can we bring....

...the troops home without the boxes now?

[ClintonTyree]

9. Or as some knuckle-headed jackass once said.....

"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"! I forget what the knuckle-headed jackass's name was :think: it'll come to me sooner or later. ;)

[Catchawave]

14. Yep, was my first thought too.....

Damn, Iraq is doing better than the U.S. inner city hotspots, I tell ya!

[Lex]

10. Answer: So why the hell are our troops still over there, then?

If they can take care of themselves, we should let 'em.

[Catchawave]

19. Great point.....!

Wonder who's feeding the AP with these stats? Hmmmmm....I know how the Bushies hate the beating drums of the internets....this is all so bizzarro now.....blame the media?

[soothsayer]

13. lol of course cell phone use went up, we blew up the landlines

Iraq is a MESS, thanks to us.

[neuvocat]

15. I went to the DOD site

and you will see the casualty list before you ever see anything about any embassies or schooling.

http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/nov2005/a111505tj1.html

[Catchawave]

24. Thank you for doing the research !

I really didn't know where to begin, and so it seems, neither does the DOD :cry:

I'm still feeling for the Iraqi civilians and their huge losses, and probably also too scared to talk to the international media, much less whine like Bushco does, for this horrible, horrible invasion on their homeland. I mean, who do they trust?

[procopia]

16. "a war costing $2 billion a week -- had better yield some results"

Out of Context, Lists of Presumptive Triumphs in Iraq

by Pierre Tristam

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0301-22.htm

"...The stuff is written simply and factually, but in that bullying tone of self-evidence that omits the relevance of evidence -- context, proof, explanation, perspective.How many of those embassies are basement annexes to the same obscure countries sharecropping their way to American favors as part of the "Coalition of the Willing"? What's the use of a government employing 1.2 million people if it can't pay them? How many of those Band-aided schools were wrecked by American bombs? Twenty-five students from Iraq are studying in American universities on Fulbright scholarships for the first time in 14 years. But American sanctions had something to do with keeping them out so long. And in the spirit of the Fulbright program's aim to foster "mutual understanding" between nations, it would be newsworthy if American students were lining up to study in Iraq. They're not."

[ComerPerro]

17. Did you know that Bush spends billions and billions of dollars

rebuilding the infrastructure that he destroyed in his illegal war?

Instead of spending money on Americans, instead of helping Americans have a better life, and instead of doing things such as restoring schools and fixing roads in the US we are now wasting billions upon billions of dollars fixing stuff that shouldn't have been destroyed in the first place!

[ComerPerro]

20. Did you Know? Several hundred cars DIDN"T blow up today in Iraq

what do they expect?

Honestly?

Remember when some American soldiers died in "Blackhawk Down"?

The media and the right wing went apeshit.

The right wingers are still pissed about it! (Well, at least, they pretend to be. In truth, they probably never cared at all about the deaths).

[On the Road]

21. Saddam Must Have Done a Pretty Good Job, Then

Many of those things took a lot longer than two years. The writer wants the US to take credit for the university system and the Navy?

[wtmusic]

22. Let's compare to pre-invasion Iraq

and see what a mess we've created.

[alcibiades_mystery]

26. It's funny that so many of the statistics in the other email refer to pre-

war standards (2/3 of pre-war telephone service, etc.). Uh, so, the telephone service was better before the war? I also love items about cleared canals...

But I think the poster above got it just right: So, we can leave then, right? The nuts have no answer for this, other than "It's still very bad," which of course contradicts the intention of the email. At which point, they are finished.

[matt819]

28. For those of you with time on your hands. . .

How's this for an exercise? As yourselves the following questions:

how many embassies were in Baghdad before the invasion and occupation?

How many Iraqis were employed by the Iraqi government before the war?

Did you know that 47 countries have reestablished their embassies in Iraq?

How many schools? How much electricity? How many suicide bombs?

Yeah, yeah, I know. Saddam was evil, had to go, etc. But these sorts of statistics are more than a little disingenous, if not outright lies.

[rocktivity]

29. Did you know that the U.S. are the ones who DESTROYED all those

schools and hospitials and things IN THE FIRST PLACE? And that we HAD TO BUSINESS destroying them in the first place? And that as long as there's an insurgency, they're all in danger of getting destroyed all over again?

The LEAST we can do is put Iraq back together again!

:headbang:
rocknation