The capture of Saddam Hussein, the No. 1 enemy in coalition forces’ war in Iraq, gives us something to celebrate &045; a Christmas gift, as one TV commentator said, from the one person we wouldn’t have expected it.

But this is also not, as a Natchez soldier reminded us, &uot;time to let our guard down.&uot;

Saddam is, by most accounts, talking to authorities, but we don’t know what he is saying and whether it will be useful to American and other coalition forces who are battling daily violent attacks in the aftermath of the war.

We don’t know if he will talk about the supposed weapons of mass destruction hidden in his country, the reason we went to war in the first place.

We don’t know if his capture will mean U.S. soldiers serving overseas can come home any sooner.

And we don’t even know if Saddam had much control, from his apparent rat hole of a hiding place, over the guerrilla attacks still plaguing the military and the Iraqi people.

But the capture of Saddam is indeed reason to rejoice &045; it is at the very least a symbolic victory not just for American soldiers who have worked so hard and risked their lives in this mission but also for the Iraqi people, who lived for decades under his tyrannical rule.

Even those world leaders who criticized the war in Iraq rejoiced at Saddam’s capture. This is a man who even in hiding kept some measure of a psychological hold on the people who lost so much under his rule &045; their family members, their homes, their freedom.

Saddam will certainly be tried for his crimes, although the details will take some time to work out.

In the meantime, we can all rest assured he will be brought to justice for evil he inflicted on his own people.