Mayada al askari photo collage

THOSE who simultaneously see the war against Iraq as unjustified and the removal from office of Saddam Hussein as desirable are invited to reconcile these positions to Mayada al-Askari.

Presidential hopeful Wesley Clark should spend time with this woman as well.

Television spots Clark is running in Oklahoma refer to cleaning up "the mess in Iraq." He should let al-Askari tell him about how George W. Bush and Tony Blair cleaned up the real mess in Iraq months ago.

For Mayada and thousands of other victims of Saddam's secret police, April 9 will forever be known as Iraqi Liberation Day.

On that date in 2003, U.S. forces took control of Baghdad. Less than four years earlier, Mayada was arrested and thrown into a blood-smeared, stinking, eight-person cell with at least 17 other women.

Her story is told in "Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival under Saddam Hussein" by American author Jean Sasson.

As a journalist and descen