Well, not everyone is cheering the news of Saddam’s capture. The Palestinians are devastated by the news (via LGF):
For many ordinary Palestinians, the TV footage of a disheveled Saddam obediently submitting to a medical exam by his U.S. captors was painful to watch: it sealed the defeat of the one Arab leader they felt always stood by them.
Saddam should have put up a fight or committed suicide, they said, and his surrender is a stain on Arab honor. “It is a big defeat for all Arabs and Muslims,” said Raji Hassan, 29, watching TV with friends in a Gaza City coffee shop.
It’s tempting to write this off as the reaction of a people opposed to freedom in any form. But if the Bush administration is smart, they won’t ignore the reaction of the Palestinians… because an awful lot of the Arab world has the same kind of mixed feelings: they hate Saddam but they hate “outsiders” and particularly the US a lot more.
They got Saddam. They won the war. Now the peace must be won, and it’s a long hard road ahead.