Disjointed thoughts on the capture of Saddam Hussein:

1. I want to know who went down in the hole and pulled Hussein out. In his press conference, General Odierno said Hussein was disoriented and did not resist, which implies that he most likely did not climb out of the hole without help. The entrance to the hole is very narrow. Assuming American soldiers crawled in to get him, whoever went in first had a lot of guts. He must have known Hussein was likely to be armed, as indeed he was, though he didn't use his pistol on himself or his captors. I hope the first soldier into the hole gets a medal or dinner at the White House or a cut of the $25,000,000 reward money, or all three. I just realized what this reminded me of: a show on the Discovery channel about African python hunters who crawl right into the snakes' holes and drag them out by their tails.
2. The idiots in Atrios' comments (no link for him or them) have already come up with a new meme: Hussein couldn't have been running an insurrection from a hole in the ground! Well, duh! I didn't have to wait for Gen. Odierno to say it to know that Hussein only went down in the hole when American troops were in the vicinity.
3. It looks like my assumption that Hussein, who is well into his 60s, dyes his hair, was only partially true. His mustache and temporary beard are mostly gray, but the hair on his head is impressively black, though it obviously hasn't been near a barber or hairdresser in months.
4. This would make an interesting pictorial quiz, though I'm too lazy (and too bandworth-stingy) to put it together. Whom does bearded Hussein resemble more: (a) Karl Marx, (b) Charles Manson, (c) Ted Kaczynski, (d) Robert Bork.
5. On the first Star Trek series, 'Bearded Spock' world is full of evil and vicious people (and aliens). Anyone who makes a joke comparing Bearded Saddam World with Mustachioed Saddam World is nerdier than I will ever be. But I bet someone will do it, and soon.
6. It's too bad they already shaved his beard. Putting Saddam on trial in a striped suit in a cage will do more for the morale of democratic Iraqis than anything else I can think of. Below is a picture of Professor of Philosophy Abimael Guzmán, founder of the Peruvian 'Shining Path' terrorists, after he was captured a few years ago. Though too lazy to come up with a URL, I have read that seeing him fat and scraggly and raving in his cage did great things for the struggle against his followers.
7. If the Iraqi courts can't think of an adequate penalty for Hussein's crimes, they could always borrow the ancient Roman punishment for parricide: sew him up in a big leather sack with a dog, a snake, a cock, and a monkey, and throw him in the river to float out to sea -- or rather to gradually sink on the way to the Persian Gulf. The punishment could even be adjusted to suit the local culture: subtract the cock and add a pig.
8. I almost forgot: Hallelujah! Woo hah! Ululululululululululululul! Sic semper tyrannis!

I guess I'd better update my Ba'ath Poker page to reflect the latest capture -- and the one before, which I haven't gotten around to, though it's been a month or more.

Update: (1:15 PM)

Great minds think alike. I see that Power Line had the same comparison to Abimael Guzmán and even the same picture, which was the first one that came up when I googled "Guzman + Shining Path".