ANDREW SULLIVAN:This event must, of

ANDREW SULLIVAN:

This event must, of course, come as a terrible blow to many ordinary Arabs, who have been fed for years on the possibility that Saddam might be the next Caliph. He wasn’t deposed by Arabs; he didn’t put up a fight; he is no martyr either – just a coward in a miserable little hole. The point of this is not to humiliate Arabs, of course. But it is to attempt to break the mass delusions that have both kept other dictators in power and prevented progress in the Arab world. Taking Saddam alive – and giving him all the dignity of a bedraggled hobo – is about as big a propaganda victory as the forces against terror can hope to accomplish.

Be sure to also read the post below about the Telegraph’s discovery of a document that they claim proves a link between Saddam and Al Qaeda.