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By Oliver North March 21, 2008 Page 2 of 2 -- Iraq's police, military and security forces, widely depicted as ineffective or worse, have grown by more than 100,000 in the past year and have assumed responsibility for nine of 18 provinces. -- In the past 12 months, the Interior Ministry has opened 13 new training facilities. The Iraqi military now has 134 active combat, infrastructure and special operations battalions, with a total of nearly 647,000 Iraqis who have volunteered to serve in uniform. -- After we first reported on the Anbar Awakening in December 2006, the Sons of Iraq movement has crossed the Sunni-Shiite sectarian divide and now has 91,000 members. In the same time frame, attacks against Iraqi civilians and coalition forces have dropped by more than 70 percent. -- Since 2004, more than 4,000 civil reconstruction projects -- including 325 for electrical distribution and 320 water treatment facilities -- have been completed. More than 3,000 schools and 75 hospitals, clinics and health care facilities have been renovated or built from the ground up while nearly 3,200 primary health care providers and physicians were being trained. -- There are now more than 100 privately owned radio stations, 31 television stations and 600 newspapers published in Iraq -- a nation just slightly larger than California. -- In February, crude oil production exceeded 2.4 million barrels per day, and this year, the Iraqi economy is projected to grow by 7 percent. In the half-decade since Operation Iraqi Freedom began, our Fox News' "War Stories" team has made nine trips to Iraq, spending months in the field embedded with more than 30 U.S. combat units -- from "shock and awe" to the "thunder runs" to gunfights in "bloody Anbar" to "the surge." The brave Americans we have documented deserve better than what they have gotten from the mainstream media and far too many of our politicians. --- Oliver North will host "War Stories -- Iraq: Five Years in the Fight for Freedom," a chronicle of courage, commitment and sacrifice on Fox News Channel Sunday, March 23, at 8 p.m. EDT. COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC. -------------------- Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA. >> Back -- Page 1 2
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