Editor's Note: Today, April 9, is the five-year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. Five years ago, about 30 kilometers West of Baghdad, just past the now infamous Abu Ghraib prison, I was part of a grisly find that left no doubt in my mind about the rights and wrongs of invading Iraq. There, nearly 1,000 political prisoners were buried in secret graves at the al-Qarah cemetery. All had died in custody. Ten to 15 corpses at a time were buried by Mohammad Moshan Mohammad, the gravedigger who told me how the dead had arrived during the three years before the first U.S. troops crossed the border from Kuwait.
Five Years Later: Al-Qarah was at Least One Good Reason for Going to War
![Five Years Later: Al-Qarah was at Least One Good Reason for Going to War](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/SaddamHusseintrial0704.jpg?w=168&h=207&crop=1)