by Tina Grazier
Special thanks to Meagan for bringing this subject to the fore.
A serious aspect of the war in Iraq is our support of the Iraqi people. It has been contended that we are bombing innocent people and that the people are worse off now than they were under Saddam Hussein. Are we just blowing people up over there or are we uplifting the people and their new government, acting as a supportive force? Its an important question and the answer deserves more attention than our media has apparently decided to give. We can find reliable answers to this and other questions about our progress in Iraq at the website Operation Iraqi Freedom-Official Website of Multi-National Force-Iraq.
A recent Defense Department briefing, An Update on Health Care Issues in Iraq delivered by Dr. Quraish Alkasir, President of the Society of Iraqi Surgeons and Advisor to the Deputy prime Minister of Iraq and Brigadere General Michael Walsh, commanding general of the Gulf Region Division of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers offers some insight into our efforts and the Iraqi efforts in the area of healthcare. The report includes the following information:
The United States has contributed 22 billion dollars to reconstruction efforts in Iraq and 376 million dollars of that money has gone to the healthcare sector.
Renovations and construction of health facilities:
We are renovating 20 hospitals across the country and constructing 138 primary care clinics and one specialty hospital dedicated to maternity and child health care. One of the hospitals is a teaching hospital, a seven story building with 13 operating rooms. It includes residency and ancilliary buildings and the necessary systems of heating, electrical, oxygen, etc. These projects were completed by local Iraqi-owned business. Eighteen clinics are completed, eight are open and seeing about 250 patients a day. More than 80 clinics are 90% completed. We are also building a 94 bed state-of-the-art pediatric oncology teaching hospital along with Project Hope. The Basra Childrens Hospital will be the first hospital built since the 1980s. It is the desire of the Iraqi government that this hospital become a center for excellence in technology, practice, training and administration.
Dr. Alkasir explained that the strategy for reconstruction was looking for the best things to give to the people. He reported that an important part of his job has been to contact friends that had left Iraq, colleagues, who might be willing to come back to Iraq to practice and teach. He concluded by saying, Really at this moment, I want just to present my really thanks and gratefulness to my friends, the Americans in the JPC and the JROC, for what they have done and for what they are doing now.
I dont think we could ask for a more eloquently delivered thank you than that. I dont know why none of this ever gets reported by our media. If I can find it surely they can. I invite you to visit this site often for updates on our progress with our friends, the Iraqi people.
Heres another item, from the Freedom Update section on the site
Completed Gulf Region Division water treatment projects have provided the capacity to serve an additional 2.2 million Iraqis with potable water. At the end of the program, the added capacity could serve approximately 5.2 million Iraqis with potable water.