While much of the media continue to attempt to discredit the recent liberation of the Iraqi people, there has been far less coverage of some of the positive accomplishments in post-war Iraq. The media have been focusing on the administration's inability, thus far, to find weapons of mass destruction, and on whether or not the Bush administration deliberately misled Congress by exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

Shortly after Saddam's regime fell, some in the liberal media suggested that corporate friends of President Bush and Vice President Cheney were positioned to cash in. ABC's Nightline stated that the American taxpayer would be on the hook for $80-100 billion for post-war reconstruction. Steve Croft of CBS's 60 Minutes put the figure at $60 billion and suggested that much of that money would benefit corporate pals of the administration, such as Halliburton and Bechtel, two companies that have gotten plenty of government contracts through the years regardless of who was in power. There was no mention of the nearly $4 billion worth of U.S. military contracts awarded this year to a firm co-owned by the husband of Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein, including for Iraqi reconstruction.

Andrew Natsios, the administrator of USAID, the primary agency responsible for reconstruction efforts in Iraq, informed Nightline's Ted Koppel on April 24 that Congress had appropriated a total of $1.7 billion for reconstruction efforts and that he believed it wouldn't cost the U.S. taxpayer anymore than that. Koppel was incredulous. Though the interview with Natsios was pre-recorded, Nightline still inexplicably included the greatly exaggerated estimates in its opening segment. We asked them for an explanation, but they never called us back to offer one. The total cost is unknown, but, according to Natsios, the rest of the money will come primarily from Iraqi oil revenues, and partly from other countries.

Little has been written about the various kinds of projects that are being undertaken in post-war Iraq. For example, Creative Associates International (CAI) is a minority-owned company that has provided various services to populations in 68 countries. It was awarded a contract for $62 million for, according to its Web site, "the Revitalization of Iraqi Schools and Stabilization of Education (RISE) Project, which will seek to mend more than a decade of neglect to Iraq's education sector."

No schools were bombed in Iraq. This is not a case where we are fixing what we broke. On the contrary, we are supplying Iraq's children with something they never had-high quality modern and technologically advanced education. The U.S. is in the process of revitalizing every school in Iraq with new desks, textbooks, and computers. Educational reform has been reinstated to maximize school capacity. Also, it is part of CAI's charter to conduct "accelerated learning pilot projects…to address girls education."

We are also revitalizing Iraq's badly degraded airports and seaports. Stevedoring Services of America was awarded a $4.8 million contract to improve usability and accessibility of Umm Qasr Seaport. Skylink Air and Logistic Support, Inc. was awarded over $2.5 million to jumpstart Iraq's civilian airway system, upgrading it to meet advanced safety standards. These two contracts will not only be a positive improvement to Iraqi life, but will help to pave the way for better economic viability.

Other formidable and laudable contracts largely ignored by the media include $40 million to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to put an immediate end to the epidemics which have claimed the lives of one of four children under the age of five during Saddam's rule; $10 million yearly to the World Health Organization to conduct project "Jump Start" whose purpose it is to create a technologically advanced health ministry and train the physicians; $43.8 million to Abt Associates Inc. to "stabilize and strengthen health care delivery and management in Iraq."

The media should be focusing more on these projects in their coverage of Iraq to give a balanced picture of what is going on there. Unfortunately, they have tended to pick up on attacks leveled by the nine Democrats seeking the nomination to run against Bush next year, and focus on those issues.

Robert Enayati is an intern with Accuracy in Media.