E-mail from a Soldier: "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.

"You can rest at night knowing something is happening in Iraq that is noteworthy. This is the list of things that has happened in Iraq recently (Please share it with your friends.):

• Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever.
• Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
• Over 1500 schools have been renovated and ridded of the weapons that were stored there.
• The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster.
• School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.
• The country had its first two billion barrel export of oil in August.
• The country now receives two 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 U.S. 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 for the first time ever in Iraq.
• Textbooks that don’t mention Saddam are in 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."