Here is an excerpt of an interview with a local Iraqi exile, from today's Minneapolis Star Tribune, about Saddam's capture:

"A complex stew of emotions that included joy, disgust and personal humiliation washed over Abbas Mehdi at his Minnetonka home this morning as he watched television footage of the broken and bedraggled Saddam Hussein being examined for head lice by U.S. Army doctors.

Mehdi, an Iraqi-born professor at St. Cloud State University, hates Saddam and has devoted years of effort to his overthrow.

His own mixed feelings, which surprised Mehdi himself, made him want to caution U.S. officials to take care that the treatment of their high-profile captive not aggravate the sense of humiliation that many Iraqis feel about the situation in their country.

Mehdi said he felt "joy and relief" to see the hated dictator in custody. He felt disgust with Saddam for allowing himself to be captured after presenting himself all these years as the ultimate tough guy who would prefer death to the dishonor of captivity. Mehdi expressed confidence that many Iraqis -- Saddam supporters and haters alike -- will lose respect for Saddam for not killing himself in the moments before his capture. "Now he is not only a criminal, but a coward," Mehdi said.

But Mehdi also felt an unexpected personal sadness, that this man who has been the personification of Mehdi's homeland for many years was being prodded and displayed, as if this somehow symbolized how the whole country was being treated by its conquerors."

The truly cynical people are those who keep touting what a great thing Saddam's capture is for George W Bush's political future. They are many, but most of all the whores of the US mainstream media. The spin so far is to show how triumphant the Bush Americans are, how emasculated Howard Dean is, blah blah blah blah blah blah.

How can any American rejoice when the entire Iraq debacle is so obviously only about the American Republican party winning it all, and shaming the Iraqi people into submission so we can steal their oil?