Pinochet and the junta were never tried. No one was ever tried for the horrors of apartheid. So why the expectation that Saddam be tried?

It is the Americans who have Saddam, not the Iraqis. As a number of posters have pointed out, that is not a plus on the ground in Iraq, or the Middle East. Any trial by the Iraqis will be viewed in the Arab world as a trial put on by the American occupiers. Anyone who thinks this capture has any benefit beyond propaganda value in the US is crazy.

As a number of media whore pundits have already mentioned today, the intentionally humiliating photos of Saddam did not look like a man running an insurgent rebellion against American military might. He was captured because someone in him immediate circle in the area of his capture, wanted him in American custody.

Shouldn't we be asking why? The flippant, easy answer is they did it for the reward money, which may well be true.

It may also be true that the insurgents wanted him out of the way because he had become too much of a liability, because the manhunt was interfering with their waging of war against the American occupation force and it's allies. Or because a new leader wanted to take his place. Any number of scenarios.

But hey--I wouldn't claim victory in '04 for Bush based solely on this event, regardless of the powerful propaganda effect it will have. Bush will see a big bump in the polls. So what? Then it is back to the business at hand--like Halliburton ripping off the US taxpayers, and cutting corners on support for the troops in the field.

If the violence in Iraq ends, that would be terrific. But I for one don't believe the orchestrated violence is being carried out solely by Baathist loyalists, as the Bush regime keeps claiming. There are other forces at play in this insurgency, to be sure. How effectively they will be able to be in carrying on their attacks against the occupation remains to be seen.

As for Howard Dean being on his way out the door--since when do the Republicans decide the fate of Democratic candidates months in advance of elections? Puhleeze. Save your partisan Sunday dinner rants for your own peanut gallery at home.