Ladies and Gentlemen: We got him.

With those six words, an era of brutality has ended. The Bully of Baghdad was taken without a shot being fired. This man, who encouraged his followers to fight against those who freed his people from his 36-year reign of terror, surrendered without a fight.

This is the man who encouraged his troops to fight a jihad against American and coalition forces. This is the man who encouraged his people to fight to the death. This is the man who meekly surrendered to the troops who would take him into custody. The pistol he carried on his hip stayed in the holster.

The Bully of Baghdad showed his true colors. For 36 years, he gave orders to torture and kill innocent citizens of Iraq. He allowed his sons to kidnap, rape, torture, and kill. He ordered the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens. And when he had the chance to kill himself, he apparently couldn't do it. Why? I don't know, maybe he was caught off-guard and didn't have the chance. Maybe he didn't have any bullets. Maybe he was disoriented. Maybe he just didn't have the courage.

This bully is like all other bullies. They cave in and become meek and mild when stood up to and they see that they have to show what they are made of. He ran and he hid. When it came to capture, he meekly surrendered. He gave up without a fight. Maybe he didn't have the strength to fight. He's been on the run for eight months, moving two, three, four times a night. Not enough sleep, poor if any medical care, and probably poor nutrition. The stress of being on the run, grief over his sonsÂseparationseperation from his remaining family would cause his physical and mental health to decline.

The film I saw was that of a beaten man. I don't know if once he gets some sleep, medical care, and nutritious food he will return to the swaggering dictator he once was. I don't think so. Now that he is in custody, I think we will find that most of what we thought we knew of Saddam was a fake. All he had was show. There was nothing of real substance behind him. Yes, he had his minions who carried out his orders. I think that's all there was: the fear of Saddam. Fear was enough to keep the people of Iraq under his thumb. How many of us stay in jobs we don't like because of fear? We're afraid to rock the boat. We're afraid of retaliation. We're afraid of the unknown.

The Iraqi people have little to fear today. But I fear it will take a long time to get over the psychological fear that was instilled in them. Once the celebrations are over, the psychological healing can begin.


The Emperor's New Clothes

I had a vision of Saddam as the lead in the children's story The Emperor's New Clothes. He is the Emperor now without his clothes. Everyone can see what he really is: a sad, pathetic little man. Not little in physical stature, but little in the eyes of the Iraqi people and the eyes of the world. He's a little man without his swagger, his bodyguards, and the fear that clothed him.

I now wonder whether there are any weapons of mass destruction. Maybe what we knew of was all there was. He had twelve years to tell the world that he didn't have any WMD, but he didn't want to. He wanted the world to think he had them so that the world would respect him or fear him. If he had WMD, he would become a power, a power that would have to be respected. He would use this power for his own ends. And if he couldn't have respect, fear would do. The rest of the world would be afraid of Saddam and what he might do with his WMD. After all, if he would gas the Kurds, if he would torture and kill hundreds of thousands of his own people, if he had the guts to annex Kuwait, what would he do next?

I now doubt that there were any. I could still be proven wrong. Maybe someday, maybe soon, maybe later, someone will let out that they know the WMD are in Syria, or buried under tons of sand at such and such a location. I think that the WMD we knew of was all there was.

The only difference between the Emperor in the story and Saddam is that the emperor went into public naked. Saddam was figuratively stripped of his clothes.

And it's not a pretty sight.