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Howdy fellow Hunters of Natures Wonders. I hope everyone is doing Okie-Dokie and finding lots of good stuff on yalls local fieldtrips. I'm still here in Mosul, Iraq staying hydrated and trying to survive the extreme heat over here. Lately, it's been up around 135 degrees during the days, and with cool nights around 110 degrees. Ahh what coolness. As for as the latest war news… I doubt very seriously that you will never see this information on any of the major news networks. But it's time for some good news for a change. All the following "Good News" can be verified on DoD web sites. Did you know when Saddam was in power, less than 10 countries had embassies in Iraq. Now that he is gone, over 47 more countries have re-established their embassies in Iraq! Did you know when Saddam was in power, all government employees were only Sunni Arabs (the minority) totaling 500 thousands. Now that he gone, the Iraqi government employs over 1.2 million Iraqi people from all ethnic groups in Iraq!
Did you know when Saddam was in power, there were less than 1000 schools open throughout Iraq. Now that he is gone, over 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are now under construction and over 38 new schools have been completed in Iraq! Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational! They have 5- 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment. Did you know that Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 bell jet rangers! Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion! Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service now has well over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers! And did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers every 8 weeks! Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq! They include more than 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities. Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations ever! Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%! Did you know that Iraq now has free and open independent media that consist of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations. More than ever in the history of Iraq. Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004! Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a recent televised debate, first time ever in the history of the nation! And did you know that during the first national election in the history of Iraq this year that over 75% of the population voted for the first time. This included women voters for the first time. And it is estimated that 85 to 90% of the population will be voting in the next one. The US only averages about 35% of the population on Election Day? And all this is just the beginning. This does not account for all the ongoing humanitarian missions the U.S. military and colilition forces are doing on a daily bases like delivering needed food, clean drinking water and medical supplies to isolated villages and supplying them with electricity for the first time ever! It's interesting you never hear or see this kind of informative information on any of the news networks!
I did finally found some more information about the green rocks that I strongly suspect that they are from the Jade family. I found that the closest Nephrite in the region came from the Turkistan area, central Asia between Iran and Siberia. It was the earliest known source of Nephrite that was used by early Chinese for carving. If what I found were Jadeite or Nephrite, it would be a new find and a new source in the area. My rock tumbler has been tumbling some very unique and wonderful creations of "Mother Earth". Well folks, you know the old saying, "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words". I'll let these pictures speak for themselves. And I do have a question for my readers… It looks like I might have some problems getting all my rocks back to the states. Does anyone have any information that would help me get my rocks through U.S. Customs to be mailed back home??? If anyone has any information, please contact me through Rockroost.
The Holidays are coming up and I'll be back home soon. I wish everyone a very happy and safe holiday season and good hunting on yalls local trips. Until my next report.......
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