John Daniszewski is optimistic that Saddam's capture will be a serious blow to the opposition, though he also reports on contrary indications.
Markus Deggerich of Der Spiegel believes that Saddam's capture will be a short-term political problem for European war critics like Germany and France, coming as it does on the heels of the failure of the European Union members to agree on a key issue for the new EU Constitution. He sees the White House trying to avoid any impression that the Administration is celebrating while American soldiers are still in daily danger. He is quite optimistic on the prospects for this helping to bring stability to Iraq, but is vague on the reasons why.
Ron Brownstein sees a short-term political advantage from this for President Bush. But he quotes pollster John Zogby saying that the real political problem for Bush is "there are still troops there on the ground and they are still in harm's way." Brownstein also reports considerable speculation that this will hurt Howard Dean's candidacy, for reasons that entirely escape me.
El Mundo also sees short-term political benefit for Bush in Saddam's capture. But this article also observes that there's little reason to believe that this will provide any immediate end to the guerrilla war. It quotes Toby Dodge of the University of Warwick expressing doubt that in the short or medium term it will have much effect on the resistance, since much of the resistance doesn't seem to have been dependent on Saddam.
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