As I sit here at a logistics base outside the city of An Nasyria, Iraq, I often read (as many other soldiers do) of the growing discontent of many Americans at the fact that the government has yet to uncover any evidence of "weapons of mass destruction." Many are also questioning the reasons behind this war and if it was really worth the human cost.

I can only tell you what I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. Upon crossing the Iraqi boarder from Kuwait, the sides of the roads were clogged with men, women, and children praising us for their liberation. Many of them claiming that we had been sent by Allah to deliver them from the evil that plagued their country.

Upon arriving at a captured Iraqi airfield not far from my present location, I met a Marine named Mike that I had known for many years. He and I had grown up just miles from each other and had played Youth League Baseball together in Fulton, KY. The youthful smile that he once possessed was long gone. He was a Marine Infantryman who had taken part in the capture of the airfield. He told me a story about how he and his team had sealed off and entered the prison complex located within the base only to make a horrible discovery.

Hanging from the ceiling by his wrists was the bloated, lifeless body of a small boy. The body of his father laid still tied to a chair. One of the Iraqi soldiers told him that as part of "routine questioning", family members were used to help "aid" prisoner's memories.

The boy was suspended from the ceiling and periodically lowered down into a tub of scorpions while his father was forced to watch. After the father told all that he knew, he was shot through the head. The boy, approximately four years old, was then left to die of the repeated stings he had endured.

I talked with a shop owner who runs a roadside stand a few days later about this. The man spoke perfect English having attended college in Chicago. He told me that such things were not uncommon under the rule of Saddam Hussein and his Nazi-like Baath Party.

He showed me scars on his back from being whipped as a teen. He was punished for asking a teacher in his class, "Why do so many starve while Saddam and his supporters live so well?" The scars on the mans back were enough that I could almost feel the pain from them myself.

When I first entered this country, I thought about how awful it was for these children to have learned of war with their own eyes. I watched them play a game of soccer not too far from the perimeter of the compound I am now stationed and wondered how they could play and be so happy after seeing such a gruesome war.

Then it hit me. Many of them were not shocked by the war because it paled in comparison to the horror that they lived with everyday. I have seen many people who were tortured and starved under the rule of this monster, Saddam. Children who are so skinny it looks as though the wind would blow them away. I think of the change we have brought for them and the hope for the future that comes with it. I see parents now rest safer at night, not worrying that the government "death squads" will come for them or their children.

Most of the people in Iraq are happy that we are here. They are grateful for their liberation and tell us so often. There are some that resent us because we took away the privileged life they led under Saddam. They attack our convoys in a vain effort to force us to leave. One of my fellow soldiers in my company was the victim of such an attack, Sgt. Roger D. Rowe. However, our resolve remains strong.

As a human being, I could never leave here and allow this place to turn back to what it was: a tyrant's killing field. Even if no weapons of mass destruction are ever found, from the perspective of a man that fought in this war and saw its effects and costs, I will always say this was a war worth fighting.

Joe Dacus is a sophomore History major from Dukedom. He is currently serving in the 101st Airborne Infantry in Iraq.