THE BAGHDAD POLICE COMMISIONER SPEAKS.

"I don't have the words to explain that stuff. For me, the war in Iraq was very personal, removing Saddam was very personal," Kerik said during a brief break in his hectic workday.

"My coming here was because this whole war started with the first battleground where the World Trade Center once stood. I lost 22 men and one woman there. They died defending the freedom of the United States, along with 430 other public servants in New York City and 2,400 civilians. "

The night Kerik first arrived in Iraq provided a rude awakening to the reality of life in Baghdad.

He was assigned a basic trailer home inside the palace grounds without water and electrical power. All night he had to swat "big-ass mosquitoes."

Seven weeks later, Kerik is proud of the progress he and his small group have made...

As he goes about his work, Kerik is angry with those critics, at home and elsewhere, who hammer on about the slow rate of progress in the new Iraq.

"You know what frustrates me most?" he asks.

"It's the guys who criticize the president of the United States when they're just sitting on a golf course or in the chambers of Congress or the Senate. They have no clue of what reality is here.

"I tell 'em, 'Walk in my shoes, walk in the shoes of the GIs that are standing at these checkpoints 12 hours a day, day in, day out. Walk through the markets and shops downtown, look at the smiles and listen to the clapping.'

"We had an Iraqi police unit go out the night before last and take out an enormous amount of weapons, 15 or 16 RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades], a bunch of AK-47s. When they took these guys outta there, the whole block was clapping and yelling support. Now that's what we're doing here."

Amen, brother.