* School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.
* 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.
* Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.
* Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever
* 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.


I have seen all of these above facts discussed and shown to be at least partially true, with video, and interviews of Iraqis, on CBS Sunday Morning, which airs, obviously, on Sunday Mornings on CBS, nationwide. Each week they have taken a small segment to discuss Iraq. Of course some of the numbers may be a bit off, but they are similar to what I remember CBS reporting.

Last week they went with a group of soldiers and were shown new facilities and improvements that were recently made thanks to coalition forces, including phones, massive hospital improvements, and electricity. This was just one area, and one show. But they have shown other cities also with similar improvements.

Please note that I'm only talking about the facts above that I cut and pasted, not the whole list.

They also discussed that cellphone providers have already put up relay stations and the few people who could afford them were buying them. Internet, too, was popping up in store-like settings.

They also discussed in depth the last point, and talked to children about how often they had to put up with reading about Saddam's "heroics". The children all said they were happy to be back in school.

They also mentioned how the ports were much more available for free traffic but didn't get into specifics.

They also detailed a few times on how people were openly free to worship without fear of Sunni oppression.

These stories were spread out over the last 12 weeks or so on their program. You should watch it, or tape it. They have some good stuff right there on the scene, and don't just give some 20 second blurb.