Iraqi and Arab supporters of Saddam Hussein are dismayed to find out that Saddam surrendered like the rat that they now know he is:

But for some, his capture was a blow to hopes for Saddam's triumphant return, and his peaceful surrender was seen as a stain on Arab honor. "He swore before the war that Iraqis would fight America, and then he didn't fire a single shot," said Kassem Shelshul, a 28-year-old chauffeur living in Baghdad. "We expected him to commit suicide or resist," he said after watching video of the captured dictator.

Excuse my incredulity, but it amazes me to see that people actually bought into the heroic persona this evil weasel created for himself. Heroic men do not gas defenseless women and children, nor do they scurry out of their capitol when an army approaches it. Haven't these people been paying any attention at all?

At Baghdad's Palestine hotel, where foreign journalists and American contract workers are staying, Abil Daoud was sad. "We lost our only hope and now we are stuck with the Americans," said Daoud, who is employed by U.S. troops as a security guard.

Note to Paul Bremer: start looking for this guy and prepare the pink slip, mm-kay?

Iraqis were shocked that the man they feared for three decades was found hiding in a hole and gave up without a fight. "For the last 35 years Saddam Hussein presented himself as a lion against the Americans and the West and now today they found him like a mouse," said Laad Hamadi, an Iraqi civil engineer. "He didn't fight for his country, he didn't even fight for himself."

No, Mr. Hamadi, he spent most of his life finding other people to fight for him, and so when it came down to defending himself, he had no more courage to do so.

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