Arrest of despot must be welcomed

IT is ironic, and inevitably poetic justice, that the despotic regime of Saddam Hussein should have ended where it began, in his home town of Tikrit.

His capture by US special forces at the weekend will, perceptibly, be hailed as a redemption of the US decision to invade Iraq in the first place, with the support of Britain and their coalition allies, but without the sanction of the UN.

At this stage, that decision is academic, and the arrest of Saddam Hussein has to be welcomed throughout the right-thinking world.