"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," Bush said, barely able to conceal the glee of knowing that from that point forth, the media would be saturated with images of a bedraggled Hussein emerging from his "spider hole," paeans to our freer, safer world sung endlessly from the punditry chorus. The simplistic teamroller of good/evil would once again roll roughshod over any attempts at eal dialog about the country we've invaded and now occupy. For now, none of the ugly details matter. Americans and Iraqis and freedom lovers everywhere can sleep better at night, no longer having to fret over phantoms of Baathist butchers skulking in the dark corners of their liberty.

CNN and MSNBC and of course FOX all proclaimed Bush's "big victory," and a haggard bearded Hussein was flashed on the screen over and over, just in case, during those intermittent seconds, we may have forgotten that the forces of billion dollar benevolent bombs and sarcastic contempt for international law have in fact eradicated another manifestation of infinite evil.

But now it gets interesting. Unlike Saddam's sons Qusay and Uday, trial-free Old West gunslinging justice wasn't meted out on the spot. Saddam surrendered without a fight. With the world watching, the Bush administration will have to afford the fallen dictator some semblance of due process, something the murky rule book for their war on terror finds rather loathsome. Saddam will have to be put on trial, and with that trial, the inconvenient history of our often illegal support for Saddam will have to be trotted out, this time not just from the treasonous America-hating left. "Blowback" may just work itself into the post-Saddam lexicon of mainstream discussions on American foreign policy. Maybe.

Already, Bush is speaking of Hussein's execution, reminding the cameras of Saddam's brutality, his rapes, his tortures, and his general willingness to wreak havoc on his own people. Again, the language of absolutes rarely tells the entire story. Saddam's rise to power and his unquestionable brutality, unfortunately for Bush, don't exist in an easy to sell package wrapped only in black and white.

Now that he's in custody, many on the right will no doubt herald the coming end of Iraqi resistance. Indeed, when framed inside the narrow confines of evildoers wanting to see Saddam's return, the insurgency against American occupation seems to have taken a fatal blow. But again, the resistance is much more complex. Despite the tempting images of a Middle Eastern Lex Luthor laughing diabolically from inside his secret hideout, Saddam most probably wasn't issuing a steady stream of strategic communiques from his dank arachnid cubby hole.

The Baathists form one component of the resistance to American troops, not its whole. Lest we forget, we invaded and occupied this country in contravention of international law and on a false set of accusations. Despite what is being trumpeted on the tube, WMDs and the threat they posed to our nation were the original reasons for going to war, not to wave our benevolent freedom and democracy wand over the oppressed. The resistance to being occupied will continue, regardless of Saddam's trial.

And of course, Saddam should be put on trial. The Iraqi people who suffered under his brutal thumb deserve as much. They deserve an example of due process, and they deserve complete candor about the US/Iraq relations that often played a contributing role in that suffering. Most of all, after all these years of hardship, they simply deserve justice.

Our job now is to remain focused. Our job is to continue the struggle to elevate the discourse on Iraq, to keep pushing back the confining walls of debate and awareness, especially now, when they will undoubtedly be buttressed with another round of good guys/bad guys simplicity. We must remember, and remind those who will listen, that we are still occupying another country, one which we attacked despite worldwide and UN objection. Even though the networks are loathe to do it, we must work to supply context and nuance, to get people thinking beyond the scenario of a white-hatted sheriff finally putting Black Bart behind bars, then urging the citizens to quit thinking scary thoughts and head down to the saloon to celebrate.

--Peter Graff is a Seattle-based freelance writer, producer, and activist.