So there I was at a comedy club in New York City, and a day or so earlier, Saddam Hussein had been pulled out of a hole someplace. The hole was an undignified locale for Iraq’s dictator, to be sure, though in the neighborhood of that comedy club, it probably would have rented for $1,500 a month.

Anyway, a comedian adlibbed a joke about Saddam. Oh sure, he said, they caught Saddam. But what happened with the guy who actually caused 9/11, huh? What about him, wandering around in a cave somewhere? Uncharacteristically for this particular, brilliant comic, it was a watery joke, for which he received watery applause from this hipster audience that wanted so much to hear President Bush get ripped a new one.

Look. Liberals – of whom I am one – aren’t doing themselves any favors acting like Saddam’s capture is anything but positive. He laid waste to what should be, by all rights, the prosperous nation of Iraq. He murdered so many people and disposed of so many bodies that his killing fields rival anything you’ll find in Cambodia or northern New Jersey. And if we can’t show that he posed a direct threat to America, he decimated Iran, rained missiles on Israel and grabbed Kuwait like he’d won it at blackjack. Moreover, Bush has learned enough by now to release pictures of Saddam as quickly as possible so there’s no question we have him.

A lot of other things are not so positive. The world still thinks America lied about our reasons for entering the war – and I, for once, am inclined to agree with the world. Nor will Saddam’s capture end the terrorism in Iraq – nor does Bush say it will. Iraq is a fractious, tribal country, and Saddam’s clan members can’t exactly melt into the crowd – particularly a crowd that wants to string their guts over a camp stove.

Also, by the way, the national threat level just went up to orange because what, indeed, happened with the guy who actually caused 9/11, huh? Meanwhile, Bush has plunged this country into a debt that our grandchildren will still be paying off – unless they elect some future charlatan who will pass the debt onto their grandchildren. And if Bush gets re-elected, it will justify mob rule in Florida three years ago. As for environmental policy, if you told me that Bush just traded the Angeles National Forest for a collector set of beach towels, my reaction would be, “Wow! He held out for the beach towels!”

But Saddam is where he should be – still thinking he’s president, probably trying to find room in his busy presidential calendar to chat with his interrogator and make way for the guy who empties his slop bucket. “Excuse me, but I am the president of Iraq. I will trade you three of my palaces for a single-ply square of TP.” The only hint of his former status is that, when health workers pick bugs from his hair, he vaguely resembles the alpha ape in some Jane Goodall documentary.

The events leading up to the war in Iraq are still questionable, as are the no-bid Halliburton contracts that followed and those stupid Humvees that civilians drive around to make themselves feel like part of the action. But we’ve got Saddam where everyone can see that we’ve got him. And he’ll never hurt anyone again.

Yay.