Facts On Iraq

I love it when liberals like to argue with "facts" on their side because their so called facts are usually wrong, half-truths or just flat out lies. This is especially true with the war on Iraq. Putting aside the arguments about whether or not we should have gone, we are there, now. That is an undisputable fact. With that being the case, we as a nation should look at how we are doing, what we are accomplishing and is it worth the price in lives we are paying. Unfortunately, this is where liberals can't stand the heat. When you look at the facts, by any measure, we are winning in Iraq. The Iraqi people are better off. The world is a safer place.

Consider the following FACTS, objectively, and make your own judgements about "how we are doing" in Iraq. The following information is a gathered by Oxford Research International in two seperate polls. One conducted in early 2004, then again at the end of 2005. These polls covered all of Iraq’s major regions and demographic groups.

Asked to compare their current lives with their lives under Saddam, Iraqis reported an improvement in availability of necessities such as clean water, health care and education. They also reported an improvement in overall economic wellbeing. They reported that local governments had improved.

Asked what form of government they hoped to live under going forward, democracy won handily: four-to-one over the rule of one-man, and ten-to-one over totalitarianism.

Iraqis list security as their most pressing problem. But a plurality of Iraqis feel safer now than under Saddam, and a majority feel safer from ordinary crime. Moreover, better than 90 percent feel personally safe in their neighborhoods.

Iraq Body Count. an antiwar group that keeps a running tally of Iraqi civilian deaths, reports that the daily toll under the occupation falls in the range of 15 to 18 per day. But under Saddam’s rule, the death toll averaged three times that, including 900,000 civilian executions recorded by the Documental Center for Human Rights, and the 800,000 Kurds killed during the Anfal operation.

Coalition casualties have declined by 35 percent in 2005. They have declined by 82 percent in 2006, measured against the comparable period of 2005.

The insurgent strategy of targeting Iraqi police and army units peaked in July of 2005. Since then, casualties among those units have declined by 43 percent.

Attacks on other soft targets are also down. For instance, there were 146 strikes against the oil infrastructure in 2004, compared to 81 in 2005.

One year ago, March 2005, the number Iraqi boots on the ground — police and army units — surpassed those of Coalition forces.

From March of 2005 to September of 2005, the number of civilian tips informing on insurgents increased from 483 to 9,700, as numerous Sunni tribes declared outright war on al Qaeda.

Fifty-eight percent of Iraqis feel threatened by terrorists, compared with 10 percent who feel threatened by Coalition troops. And by 71 percent to 9 percent, Iraqis believe that their own security forces — Iraqi security forces — are winning the fight against terror.

We are building schools and businesses, we are rebuilding the environment. The government of Iraq, consisting of people from all walks of life, religious beliefs and regions, is growing more and more efficient. WE ARE WINNING!

Our most daunting task in this war on terror is defeating the enemies at home.