There's something in the air. It's called...humiliation. Yes, you thought it was an unmitigated good thing that Saddam was captured (You did, didn't you? If not, you should have.), but some people...you know, they have to find the fly in the ointment, and if there isn't one there already, they'll travel down to the local pigstye, swat one and drag it back home just to place it there themselves.

So we have the latest media obsession over whether showing the pictures of Saddam is making Arab/Muslims feel "humiliated." I've just been listening to BBC radio which is going on and on over the phenomenon. I've heard the quotes like (paraphrasing), "Seeing Saddam on television looking like that is a humiliation to all Muslims" - as though Saddam represents all Muslims. I should think and hope not.

But what he does represent is a dirty, cowardly, loser...and no one likes a loser. Seeing Saddam on TV being pawed for head-lice may hurt some people's self-esteem, people who identify with mass-murderers for instance, but at least he has absolutely zero chance of being one of their idols. He's off the "looking up to" list.

And that's a good thing. It's an essential component in the War on Terror. Sure, there's still Osama, but he's underground (maybe even part of the ground) and on the run. Even he's not openly defying anyone, not publicly, anyway - although it's essential to get him, too.

It's possible another hero will pop up for the consumption of the "Arab street" - and we'll need to knock them down, too. We'll need to keep knocking them down until maybe, just maybe, someone decides that it might due to find a different kind of hero. That maybe what the Arab/Muslim world needs is to stop identifying with the Saddams, and start trying to find instead their Einsteins, Salks and Koufax's. Or maybe warriors, too...not like Saddam, Nasser or bin Laden, but like Bradley, Dolittle or Grant.

Now, at least, Saddam is off the table. He's humiliated, as he should be, as Yasser Arafat should be, as Arafat should have been long ago. By letting him go on and on, and worrying over leaving him be all these years, we in the West have enabled his voice. We should have taken the hit and done away with him, humilitated him, years ago.

No more genocide for Mr. Hussein. No more hero for the "downtrodden" to identify with. That's a good thing in this case. Hussein is no Gandhi - an individual deserving of respect. Showing that old mess on the TV is going to save lives. We need to do it some more with someone else.