There’s a fascinating insta-article from Time covering Saddam’s first day as a prisoner. (Mad props to the always excellent Talking Points Memo for the link that sent me there in the first place.)
The whole article is worth a quick look if only to be amazed, as I was, to see that Time already has a “We Got Him” cover up on the site. But here’s the highlight:
When asked “How are you?” … Saddam responded, “I am sad because my people are in bondage.” When offered a glass of water by his interrogators, Saddam replied, “If I drink water I will have to go to the bathroom and how can I use the bathroom when my people are in bondage?”
A little bit later, an unnamed US intelligence official sums it up nicely:
“We can now determine,” he said, “if [Saddam] is the mastermind of everything or not.” The official elaborated: “Have we actually cut the head of the snake or is he just an idiot hiding in a hole?”