Credibility on the Iraq war is very important. Keyboard warriors like myself, and keyboard surrenderers from the left, who have not been to Iraq have limited if any credibility on what is going on in Iraq. We can voice our views. But we should always rely on those who have been there to provide the context for our views. We cannot pretend there is a parallel reality that conflicts with those who have been on the front lines winning this war. That is why it is a rare gift to get a real honest picture about Iraq from those who have sacrificed there (not some liberal fiction made up by a plant in uniform for the pages of some anti-war website). Today we have one of those rare gifts:

Liberals often like to say that “violence is senseless.”

That’s wrong.

Violence isn’t senseless. Senseless violence is senseless. And I should know. Before being awarded the Navy Cross and having the privilege of becoming a Marine, I was a gang member. Sometimes it takes having used violence for both evil as well as good to know that there’s a profound moral difference between the two.

This young man is the real deal – not some facade or fake or puritan. He is the quintessential American. One who is rough around the edges and no saint by any means. But one who has come through his tough roots and wrong path to in the end become a leader among us. He is no politician, talking head, spin meister or political hack. He is someone worth paying attention to.

I was honored to have been given the opportunity to fight in Iraq on our country’s behalf. And it was that experience—and five things I saw firsthand—that illustrate the foolishness of those who would equate American military power to that used by thugs and tyrants.

…

I was part of a group that was tasked with guarding Saddam’s mass graves. And let me tell you something: anyone who could look straight down into those huge holes at the skeletons and remains and see what that monster did to 300,000 of his own people would have no doubt that we did the right thing in removing him from power. Saddam’s henchmen would tie two people together, some with babies in their arms, stand them at the crater’s edge, and then shoot one of the people in the head, relying on the weight of the dead body to drag them both into the hole. This would save on rounds and also ensure that both people died, one from a gunshot, the other by being buried alive.

That was just number one. Number 4 is even worse:

I still can’t shake the pictures out of my head. We discovered them inside a strange laboratory we found inside a Special Republican Guard barracks that had been plunked down inside an amusement park. When I cracked open the photo album, my jaw dropped. There in front of me were the most horrifying images of experiments being performed on newborn and infant children. Picture after picture, page after page, the binder was filled with the most extreme deformities and experimental mutations one could imagine. One baby had an eye that was shifted toward the middle of its head. We turned the books over to our lieutenant as valuable pieces of intelligence.

Recall this imagery when some ignorant fool says we should have left Saddam in power. Ask them if they would still say the same thing if it meant allowing these crimes against humanity to continue unabated.

I am certain Iraqis see the same things, they are only human so how could they not? They were victims – how could they avoid it. I think the history books will be written on what happened, not the PR being pumped out by groups pleading for America to defeat itself so they can gain political power and control. From Iraq will explode horror stories from 3 decades of Saddam’s brutal rule and 4 years of al-Qaeda’s atrocities. And the world we will the alternative existence the US spilt its blood to provide to the people of Iraq. And the history will be written about the stunning contrast of these two realities: life under Islamo Fascists and life as allies of America.

There are thousands of soldiers just like this young man who will come back and tell their stories. Yes, we will see the occasionally John Kerry-like liars who try and smear these wonderful Americans who went to Iraq. We have them now. Phony soldiers, or real soldiers telling phony stories about other soldiers. All who, by some strange coincidence, speak for or with the Democrats? Strange, isn’t it? They all work towards one purpose and use common methods and hang in the same leftward fringes. Maybe there’s pattern here?