A really good article in Opinion Journal today, written by an ex-KGB officer. He tells how the communists deliberately launched campaigns to discredit American leadership throughout the Cold War.

Here’s a taste of it:

During the Vietnam War we spread vitriolic stories around the world, pretending that America’s presidents sent Genghis Khan-style barbarian soldiers to Vietnam who raped at random, taped electrical wires to human genitals, cut off limbs, blew up bodies and razed entire villages. (those stories sound vaguely familiar, don’t they? – GWR) Those weren’t facts. They were our tales, but some seven million Americans ended up being convinced their own president, not communism, was the enemy.

He ends with a terrific passage:

On July 28, I celebrated 29 years since President Carter signed off on my request for political asylum, and I am still tremendously proud that the leader of the Free World granted me my freedom. During these years I have lived here under five presidents–some better than others–but I have always felt that I was living in paradise. My American citizenship has given me a feeling of pride, hope and security that is surpassed only by the joy of simply being alive. There are millions of other immigrants who are equally proud that they restarted their lives from scratch in order to be in this magnanimous country. I appeal to them to help keep our beloved America united and honorable. We may not be able to change the habits of our current political representatives, but we may be able to introduce healthy new blood into the U.S. Congress.

Few people understand the value of our freedoms and the need to defend them like someone who has actually lived under totalitarianism. You can bet this man is one citizen who isn’t going to call our troops Nazis or go on a “Bush is Hitler” rant.