GOOD NEWS FOR TODAY......

Medical Clinic to Benefit Iraqis for Years to Come
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
By A. Al Bahrani Gulf Region South

BASRAH—June 17, 2007 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region South district, turned over another newly constructed Primary Healthcare Center (PHC) to the Basrah Health Directorate in May 2007.

The PHC is located in the Al-Qurna district, and marks another step toward the transition to the future of Iraq’s Health Care System.

“Al-Qurna PHC project was completed on May 28, 2007, and has been designed to provide comprehensive medical care services for more than 30,000 patients each year,” said project engineer James Hodges, Basrah Area Office, Gulf Region South district. (Read More)


Coalition Forces in Iraq Taking Down Enemy ‘Cell by Cell’
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2007 – Coalition forces in Iraq are taking down the insurgency cell by cell, killing key foreign leaders in the recent surge of operations, a senior spokesman in the region said today.

“We are on the offensive. We own the initiative, and we’re pressing al Qaeda in Iraq and also the secret cells and the rogue elements of (the) Jaysh al-Mahdi (militia). We’re also seeing an increase in the capacity and capability of Iraqi security forces,” said Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, the communications chief for strategic effects with Multinational Force Iraq. Fox was speaking via telephone from Iraq to online journalists and “bloggers.”

Fox said the July 4 capture of Khalid Abdul Fatah Daud Mahmud al-Mashadani, thought to the most senior Iraqi in the al Qaeda in Iraq network, highlights the significance of coalition forces’ operations to kill foreign al Qaeda leaders. (Read More)

Pace Walks Ramadi’s Streets, Notes Progress
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

RAMADI, Iraq, July 17, 2007 – This Anbar province city was once held up as a symbol of U.S. failure in Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq controlled Ramadi. It was enemy territory, and American servicemembers called it the Wild West of Iraq.

Just a few months ago, the idea that Americans could walk around the center of the city would have been unthinkable. U.S. personnel could not move from one heavily fortified area to another without receiving small-arms fire or an improvised explosive device attack. Times change. A striking illustration of the changing fortunes of Ramadi took place today, when Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took a walk around downtown. (Read More)

Here is video to go along with this last article about Gen Pace......

CNN correspondent Barbara Starr usually reports cynically from Washington, DC, but this week she's embedded in Iraq traveling with GEN Peter Pace and expressed astonishment at the positive conditions in that city. We are winning in Iraq.