B36 News - 14 August 2006

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things again and one of my biggest obstacles as far as the good news goes is that there was so much of it I'm having trouble sorting through it all. That's not going to slow me down any though.

GEN Pace Reads B36?
Wow, talk about validation. In a recent interview while on his way to Baghdad, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General Peter Pace, made the following comment:

“There is no way to militarily lose this war,” Marine Gen. Peter Pace said, speaking to reporters traveling with him while en route here. “The only way we can lose is if we decide that we just don’t want to do it. And if we decide that, that would not end the involvement, it would simply shift it from its current battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan to our home.”

Pace said support for the war is a concern for him, “because the American military fights the wars that the nation wants us to fight. The American people’s will is a very important part of that,” he said. “I have faith in the American people’s ability to find the right boundaries.”

To those of you who read Winning in Iraq, this should be very familiar. Kinda makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that the most senior military official and I are on the same page.

Baghdad Cleanup - al Doura
Operation Together Forward is progressing and terrorists in Baghdad are losing. This story is of particular interest to me because fellow blogger Trevor from Will to Exist wrote it. The whole of Baghdad is being secured in the same way that the Green Zone was, door-to-door searches. US and Iraqi troops are combing the streets of Baghdad neighborhoods and getting rid of the bad guys. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how it's done. If you have a better idea, please enlighten us knuckle-draggers.

Rebuilding Baghdad
For roughly 40 years, one of Baghdad's primary water treatment plants had little or no maintenance performed on it. Before the war it produced about 1000 cubic meters of drinkable water per hour. One war and $22 million later it produces 2400 cubic meters of drinking water per hour. Oh yeah, let's not forget electricity too. Before the war there was an average of 95,000 megawatts of power delivered to the country with about 90% of that going to Baghdad. Now we're producing 110,000 megawatts which meets the goal set out in 2004.