This time there's little doubt the end is near. In the war's early going, the combination of Saddam's party enforcers and paramilitary units -- along with bitter memories of the US refusal to aid the 1991 Shiite uprising -- kept the reaction to the US and British troops muted, even hostile. One of the best accounts of the long reach of terror's tentacles came from the Arab News, a Saudi Arabian daily, whose correspondent, Essam Al-Ghalib, reported: ''On camera, the general feeling among the crowd was sorrow at losing Saddam. Off camera, the citizens of Umm Qasr and Basra appeared genuinely exhilarated at the prospect of a brighter future after Saddam had been removed.''
Interviewed off camera, one man who had been chanting pro-Saddam slogans for the TV cameras said he had done so because he knew the baleful eye of Saddam's police state remained upon him. ''If the Americans were to withdraw and everything were to return to the way it was before, we want to make sure that we survive the massacre that would follow as Baath go house to house killing everyone who voiced opposition to Saddam,'' he said. ''In public, we always pledge our allegiance to Saddam, but in our hearts we feel something else.''
And as The New York Times reported on its website Wednesday, the crowd that greeted US forces in Najaf had two questions: Would the troops stay? And could they say when Saddam would be finished? That's impossible to say for sure. But as US troops close on Baghdad and the doubts about whether Saddam now holds power hardens to a belief that he soon won't, the long shadow of his terror should begin to fade.***
Remember when Afghanistan was freed and we saw the men and children running in the streets, getting their hair cut, and flying kites?
I pray we see that again. Freedom looks mighty good on a satelite dish.