Hardly news, more like jingoistic bollocks, but here goes...

Quote:

Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1st...

... the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty.



Which is good news as the US armed services have had to put in special provisions preventing people from leaving once their official service period is up. People are leaving the US armed forces in droves, the suicide rate is at its highest level sicne the start of the war and morale is at an all time low.

Quote:


.. over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.



10,000 of whom are locked in military prisons without having been charged. The release of 4% of their number over the past few days is widely believed to be a direct result of the coalition not having enough manpower to adequately confine these people.

Quote:

... nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning.
... the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.



And yet it is forced to operate under a set of "guidelines" which confines its abilities to civil and criminal cases only, not constitutional.

Quote:

... on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts - exceeding the prewar average.



But the power outages and curfews are still rampant across the entire country while solid/liquid fuels are exceptionally hard to appropriate. Lines at gas stations mean five hour waits for peopel to fill their cars. Meanwhile, Paul Bremmer has created special legislation (ignoring the Iraqi courts mentioned above) levying life sentences on anyone found to be peddling fuel on the blackmarket.

Quote:

... pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons.



Which is useful seeing as the US air force has been blowing up pharmaceutical factories over the last decade citing probable cause that they were bio-terrorism weapons manufactuiring factories.

Quote:

... the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccinations to Iraq's children.



Which is nice as it almost makes up for the million which died as a direct result of the sanctions placed on Iraq over the last decade. But not quite.

Quote:

... we have restored over three-quarters of prewar telephone services and over two-thirds of the potable water production.

... there are 4,900 full-service telephone connections. We expect 50,000 by year-end.



Which is interesting as a large amount of the telecommunication infrastructure has been contracted out to oversees organisations. Like Halliburton.. And you don;t want to get me started on those guys.

Quote:

... the wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and towns.



See the above comment on the curbs which have been placed on these "wheels of commerce", namely the blackmarket, which wouldn't even exist if the economy was even active.

Quote:

... 95 percent of all prewar bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily.

... Iraq has a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years.



Now that people actually trust the currency, that is. There were some wonderful stories about counterfeiting of the 10,000 dinar notes whch led to a run on the paper money supply a few months ago.

Quote:

... satellite TV dishes are legal.



So everyone can tune in to Al Jazeira (sp) and listen to the stations the US would prefer they didn't know about.

Quote:

... foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for "minders" and other government spies.



Instead they are told, in no uncertain terms, that they shoudl stick to coalition proscribed areas or risk being shot at by coalition forces. And indeed, shot at they are!

Quote:

... there are more than 170 newspapers.



And all of them are rabidly pro-American. Oh, wait a mo...

Quote:

.. in Baghdad alone residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad's first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city council elected its new chairman.



Qangos are us!

Quote:

... children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents disagree with the government.



They're just kicked to death by the coalition forces instead.

OK I can't go on battling this rubbish. So let's go back to the first thing and I will add a fact which some how didn't make it to the list...

Quote:

Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1st...



...over 150 US servicemen have died in combat attacks in Iraq.

George W. Bush, their commander in chief, went to precisely none of their funerals.