Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East Analyst
In the Arab world, the capture of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been greeted with emotions ranging from jubilation to dejection.
While some Arabs see the removal of a threat, others see the downfall of a hero.
Ask Kuwaitis, and they will tell you Saddam Hussein was a monster who is now safely behind bars.
Ask Palestinians, and they will tell you he was a brave leader who defied the enemies of the Arabs.
But whether they love him or loathe him, Arabs are shocked by the images of Saddam in captivity.
The man who for a quarter of a century projected himself as an all-powerful Arab leader has been dragged, bearded and dishevelled, from a hole in the ground.
How are the mighty fallen.
Even those who bitterly opposed Saddam feel the indignity of his humiliation at American hands.
There is disbelief over the fact that he gave himself up without a fight.
Some believe the Americans must have somehow drugged him; others that, for all his bravado over the years, he turned out to be a coward.
An alternative view is that the Americans have engineered an elaborate hoax and the man in captivity is not Saddam Hussein at all.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3321767.stm