Originally Posted by: 3rd_degreeburn...*Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
* School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.
* Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur.
* The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster.
* The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in June.
* 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 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the country.
* Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by side with US soldiers.
* Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever.
* Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to prevent the spread of germs.
* An interim constitution has been signed...

OK.
(Notice the OK is meant to show that I'm responding with a level head, I'm listening to you. You can almost see me nod, right? Right).
Now,
Is the above the reason Bush and co. gave as the reason for starting the war?
We all the answer to that, we've been through it, no repetiton needed.
You could say that it was a side effect, and a nice one at that, but this is a war, not a godamn World Bank donation.
What you are refering to here is by and large alleviation of poverty/imrpovement of living standards. I didn't know, but I guess wars are very effective at achieving these kinds of ends.