It is of course very good news that Saddam Hussein has been captured alive by U.S. forces in Iraq.

However, as Jesse Walker notes, the circumstances of the capture casts doubt on the notion that Hussein was somehow leading the resistance. Thus, while his capture is hugely symbolic, the anti-occupation guerilla warriors have already answered Dubya’s call to “bring it on.”

And they are unlikely to stop now that Hussein has been captured. I hope I’m wrong about that.

The big question is what, if any, useful information can be extracted from Hussein. Walker says nothing he says can be taken seriously, but interrogators have been able to glean good intelligence from Tariq Aziz and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, among others.

Will Hussein finally reveal the mystery of the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction? Why didn’t he open everything up to U.N. inspectors or work out a last-minute exile deal for himself and his family? Why didn’t he just skip the country during the chaos of the war?

Unfortunately, I think the answers to these questions won’t be self-serving but confused. Reports from top Hussein associates are that his mind had deteriorated badly in the last couple of years.

We shall see.