Saddam Hussein was finally captured, today. Here are some quick reactions. Please add comments. And we should all come back to this in a few weeks and see whether our predictions were accurate:

1)Well, goes without saying, this is good news. The dictator goes behind bars.

2)Good news for the Iraqi resistance also. Bush, Bremer, Wolfowitz, Chirac, Schroeder, Blair and other leaders of neo-colonizer countries believe that now that the headman has been captured, the natives will be quiet and settle down. Completely incorrect.

The resistance did not comprise remnants of the regime. It is quite clearly a grassroots movement against the American occupation. In fact, a large number of people, who did not join because they were afraid Saddam would come back will now enlist. Second, the resistance is now going to gain moral high-ground and no one will be able to call the freedom fighters, the 'fedayeen saddam'. I predict that the resistance is going to pick up momentum.

3)Finally, what happens to Saddam. They can put him on trial, and his trial will be a massive embarrassment like Milosevic. Well, more so. There is very good evidence of Saddam's crimes and his worst crimes were committed when he was allied with the neo-colonizers. So, if we bring charges against him, surely charges of collaboration will be extended to Rumsfeld? Or not?

4)For domestic US politics, this is a boost for Bush's re-election campaign. There are two streams in the anti-war movement. One that says that the 'war on terror' is fundamentally immoral and misguided and a cloak for imperialism, like HIPJ. Another that says that Mr. Bush has not dealt with the 'terrorists ' properly, has failed to capture Osama and has made America unsafe. People like Howard Dean belong to the second stream. They are going to be embarrassed. Good -- they should be.