Saddam Hussein proved not to be as elusive as Bin Laden has been as Hussein has been captured after eight months of hiding. What a great day this must be for Americans, Iraqis, and the world. I don't know about you, but if I was dictator of a fairly large country, rich beyond my wildest dreams, yielding some major weapons (nuclear? chemical? biological? uhh, no comment), yet forcibly taken out of power by the most powerful country in the world, I would not stay in that country. Yet, that's where they found Hussein, right near his hometown too, sure, in a tunnel and with a fairly long beard. Judging by the picture, he may look old, but he looks healthy (he was smiling in the tape!) and all those news reports that he had plastic surgery were completely false. See, without an open media in Iraq, he couldn't get an Extreme Makeover, or at a lower level, not even a makeover with a queer eye.

Though most likely, Saddam would have executed the guy with a queer eye before allowing him to do anything.

Politically, it's a boon for President Bush, up for re-election in ten and a half short months. His administration has been getting dogged by doubts that the military can handle the escalating situation in Iraq, the rising death toll, the money being invested, the exclusive contracts to Halliburton and others, etc. This news should quiet the critics for at least a little while, especially his Democratic rivals, where this is their only issue they can effectively fight President Bush in the face of an improving economy. Sure, they could talk about the environment, and the new Medicare plan, and all those tax cuts, but the two major issues facing the country is the economy and Iraq. That being said, unemployment is dropping, albeit SLOWLY, GDP growth is lightning fast, Iraq is supposedly on its way to self-government according to its timetable, and the insurgents don't have a leader to look up to. Saddam has been captured. Now Bush must be dying to see what message his rivals will approve of next.