In a sense, Saddam Hussein is beyond justice – nothing can possibly bring back the mounds of corpses, and mountains of ruined lives. The case for an international court is strong, his cruelty extended well beyond Iraq’s borders. But ultimately, it is fitting that he be tried by Iraq and that his trial become a building block of a new, free Arab nation. If that can happen, then some good will have come from his evil. Hopefully this trial will be swift and his execution (can there be another conceivable outcome) private.

But an evil part of me, and I am certain many people, would like to see a unique and fitting punishment. I keep thinking of David Blaine’s plexiglass box...

Without any insider knowledge, I do not claim to have much to add to all of the punditry. It was enormously satisfying to wake up Sunday morning and learn that this terrible, terrible man was being brought to justice. Seeing this monster reduced to a filthy old man was a lesson in humility – a virtue that super-narcissistic Saddam had long jettisoned.

Aristotle in the Nicomechean Ethics compared relationships within a family to forms of government. A husband and wife are like a monarch and the people. Before modern sensibilities are ruffled, Aristotle also described a husband and wife’s relationship as a friendship (where a good thing for one is inherently good for the other.) A good monarchy was the best form of government. But a tyranny, that is a vicious monarchy, was the worst.

This metaphor of an abusive relationship helps to understand how the people of Iraq must feel, after almost 35 years under Saddam. Before March 2003, the majority of Iraqis did not know of life without Saddam. It explains the strange emotions so many must have felt at word of his peaceful surrender. That Saddam, the cause of so much brutality and pain was – at his core – a coward, must have been salt on the still open wounds.

Still, he is captured, and he will not be coming back to rule Iraq – ever. Freedom from this fear is at least one step towards the Iraqi people seizing the freedom that is their right. It is a real cause of celebration.

Unfortunately his capture may not have a substantial impact on the insurgency in Iraq. The key elements in this conflict are Iran and Syria. A moderate, prosperous, free Iraq will undermine these neighboring dictatorships; consequently they are taking great risks to ensure that this will not happen. Both nations have served as pathways for jihadists from around the world. Besides al-Qaeda, the highly effective Hezbollah terrorist group, which is practically an arm of Iranian intelligence and also has a close relationship with Syria, is active in Iraq. This is no surprise; Hezbollah’s origins were with a faction of the Da’wa movement in southern Iraq. However, the Iraqi Shia, on the whole, reject Iran’s radical Islam. But, should the U.S. abandon Iraq, Hezbollah, which has experience building political networks to support its terrorism, will be in a strong position to dominate Iraq through intimidation and fear. This would only free Iraq from one dictatorship and place it under another – destroying what progress has been made, and reducing Saddam’s capture from a historic day to a footnote.

As newspaper headlines worldwide proclaim Saddam Hussein’s capture – I am published in National Review Online, taking a turn as a pop culture critic, reviewing the new version of Battlestar Galactica on the Sci-Fi channel. I am either ahead of the curve, outside the box, or way out in left field.