letter from Baghdad

This is a letter from Ray Reynolds, a medic in the Iowa Army National Guard:

please not the bottom, verified by snopes. :thumbs:



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. 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, e-mail this to a friend and let them know there are good things happening.

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

::: This is an e-mail that has been forwarded around the Internet, Snopes.com authenticates the writer and offers links to another Web sites that nitpicks some of the facts of the message.

Thanks Fireman.https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2006/04/1.gif

Damn good stuff!!

But was it worth 770+ lives ??

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Originally Posted by Escape_Driver

But was it worth 770+ lives ??

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That's a question for the families of those who died.

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Originally Posted by meatwad

That's a question for the families of those who died.

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Yes thats the point...

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Originally Posted by meatwad

That's a question for the families of those who died.

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And those who have just tasted freedom.

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Originally Posted by Escape_Driver

But was it worth 770+ lives ??

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That's what it takes for freedom. How many people died in the American Revolution? Were the lives lost worth it then?

The price of freedom is not cheap. The men and women over there know that more then you will ever understand. But they pay their dues every day until their job is done. And many would and will do it again.

The thing you forget, enlisting in military life in the US is purely voluntary. When you sign up, you know (or should be aware) of the possibility of going to war. It ain’t band camp, it’s a killers occupation. Are those lives lost trivialized by that, of course not. But they are the tools of freedom that must be used when the calling comes.

The civilian lives lost are tragic just the same, but those people that went to a war zone expecting to make money, rebuild a country, or just to get away for awhile, all knew going into it that this was a defining choice and that their sacrifice may be the ultimate one…They are all brave souls…and I salute every one of them.

What's wrong with Band Camp? Do I need to tell more stories?

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Originally Posted by Cleetus

What's wrong with Band Camp? Do I need to tell more stories?

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Please do (should be intersting) :thumbs:

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Originally Posted by Escape_Driver

But was it worth 770+ lives ??

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I question why you think they don't deserve better then they had?

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Originally Posted by Cleetus

What's wrong with Band Camp?

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You don't get to kill people for a living...

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Originally Posted by Ya_know

That's what it takes for freedom. How many people died in the American Revolution? Were the lives lost worth it then?

The price of freedom is not cheap. The men and women over there know that more then you will ever understand. But they pay their dues every day until their job is done. And many would and will do it again.

The thing you forget, enlisting in military life in the US is purely voluntary. When you sign up, you know (or should be aware) of the possibility of going to war. It ain’t band camp, it’s a killers occupation. Are those lives lost trivialized by that, of course not. But they are the tools of freedom that must be used when the calling comes.

The civilian lives lost are tragic just the same, but those people that went to a war zone expecting to make money, rebuild a country, or just to get away for awhile, all knew going into it that this was a defining choice and that their sacrifice may be the ultimate one…They are all brave souls…and I salute every one of them.

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They are all brave souls…and I salute every one of them... Yes as do I this is the reason I am making this point... They are all good people (Hell great people) and I worry that the US might get it's self into a Vietnam all over again. At what point does it become to much???? 1000 Lives ???? 2500 Lives ???? 10,000 Lives ???? Where do you stop ????

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Originally Posted by Escape_Driver

They are all brave souls…and I salute every one of them... Yes as do I this is the reason I am making this point... They are all good people (Hell great people) and I worry that the US might get it's self into a Vietnam all over again. At what point does it become to much???? 1000 Lives ???? 2500 Lives ???? 10,000 Lives ???? Where do you stop ????

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guess tell we are all dead

NICE TRY AT THE BIG LIE, FIREMONKEY. UNFORTUNATELY THE FACTS ARE NOT TRUE.

Yes, Snopes.com verifies that Ray Reynolds wrote the letter. However almost all of the facts are BLATANT LIES or MISREPRESENTATION. In fact the website that Snopes chose to quote as disputing the content of the letter provides factual proof citing various sources as to why almost NONE of what Reynolds said is true. See it yourself http://www.orwelliantimes.com/2004/04/26.html

I am also disappointed that no one even thought to check this out.

btw in investigating the letter the orwelliantimes recevied this info about "MEDIC" Reynolds:

Contrary to the information in the email I received, Sgt. Reynolds is not a medic. He does communications work. In fact, the 234th Signal Battalion's "mission is to provide wide area communications support in a theater of operations."[*] Sgt. Reynolds' civilian job is as a police officer.

EDIT: Update-in fact he is not a police officer in the U.S. In Sgt. Reynolds own words:
I am a fire fighter in Denison, Iowa and to verify, call Mike McKinnon of the Denison Iowa fire department."

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Originally Posted by techs

NICE TRY AT THE BIG LIE, FIREMONKEY. UNFORTUNATELY THE FACTS ARE NOT TRUE.

Yes, Snopes.com verifies that Ray Reynolds wrote the letter. However almost all of the facts are BLATANT LIES or MISREPRESENTATION. In fact the website that Snopes chose to quote as disputing the content of the letter provides factual proof citing various sources as to why almost NONE of what Reynolds said is true. See it yourself http://www.orwelliantimes.com/2004/04/26.html

I am also disappointed that no one even thought to check this out.

btw in investigating the letter the orwelliantimes recevied this info about "MEDIC" Reynolds:

Contrary to the information in the email I received, Sgt. Reynolds is not a medic. He does communications work. In fact, the 234th Signal Battalion's "mission is to provide wide area communications support in a theater of operations."[*] Sgt. Reynolds' civilian job is as a police officer.

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Good article, of course now someone is going to say that you are trying to help the enemy in refuting this.

By the way, the article said he is a fireman, not a police officer.

Goes to show, never simply believe anything you see on the 'net. Check and cross-check everything.
Newspapers lie, magazines lie, reporters make stuff up, TV is the All-Star Wrestling of news,...
Whether from the Internet of radio/tv or paper, take it in, remember it, but don't take it as gospel until it colates with numerous other stories.

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By the way, the article said he is a fireman, not a police officer.

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I edited my post to indicate that he is indeed a fireman.
According to various websites I have seen regarding this email Sgt. Reynolds has basically admitted to lying or in his words "i was only trying to say something positive about what we are doing there" and that he knows much of the info is false. He has taken to proving that he is a fireman by saying "I am a fire fighter in Denison, Iowa and to verify, call Mike McKinnon of the Denison Iowa fire department" Apparently he is now considered an ureliable source even for his own job.

At what point does it become to much???? 1000 Lives ???? 2500 Lives ???? 10,000 Lives ???? Where do you stop ????

Hmmm...the OrwellianTimes makes the statement "An email is making the rounds that sure looks like Republican propaganda."

Then we have Sgt. Reynolds statement:
"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." (not his whole statement)

Now you know that doesn't sound much like Republican propaganda to me, but just a man in harms way speaking his piece - though not necessarily accurate. Seems to me the Orwellian Times has got an agenda of its own. I be a wonderin' what that is? https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2005/03/1.gif

I'm a thinkin' that the truth lays somewhere in between as it is with most things. I do think that Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/reynolds.asp) gives a much more even handed account. https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2006/04/1.gif

I truly understand a soldiers feelings that maybe people don't appreciate their services when the country had turned against the war. However, the countries opinion of its soldiers is different then its opinion of the war. The fact that were no longer all "Gung Ho" lets invade Iraq and turn it into a Western Nation doesn't mean most of us don't appreciate their sacrifices. But making up "facts" to support the war does our soldiers no good.
I for one don't think that our soldiers are war criminals but sad to say a few appear to be. That doesn't change may opinion of the huge majority.
I guess the thing that really blew me away was the posters going Rah Rah over the "facts" in the email. Even without looking them up they were clearly untrue. Are so many people not following what is going on in Iraq? Or are people knowingly supporting false statements because they appear to support thier beliefs?