THE capture of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been greeted with a mixture of jubilation and caution.
Many are delighted that the former dictator is now behind bars.
But many experts warned today that militants will still continue to wreak death and mayhem throughout Iraq.
And more were killed today when car bombs exploded in Baghdad.
Former Saddam scientist Dr Gazi George - whose wife Linda is from Huddersfield - said it was a great coup to capture Saddam.
And peace studies expert Dr Paul Rogers, of Kirkburton, said it would be a relief to millions of Iraqis who feared Saddam's return.
Saddam, who terrorised millions of his countrymen for decades, was seized by US forces on Saturday night at a farm in Northern Iraq.
He was hiding underground in a makeshift bunker.
Iraqi refugees living in Huddersfield greeted the news with jubilation and some hope to return to the homeland and the families they left behind.
Saddam Hussein's former nuclear scientist Dr George, who studied in Huddersfield, said today from his home in Detroit, America: "I believed that he would kill himself or fight to death to glorify himself as a martyr.
"What is interesting is that `powerful' Saddam was found in a mud-hole exactly like a snake."
Dr George fled to America to avoid persecution under Saddam's regime.
He said the news signalled a new era.
"Catching Saddam alive is a huge bonus in seeking justice. The mass graves uncovered on a weekly basis indicate that he had ordered his death squads to kill over 300,000 Iraqis.
"This is a great victory for humanity, for the Iraqi people and the Coalition."
Dr Rogers, professor of peace studies at Bradford University, said Saddam's capture would not necessarily mean the end to the ongoing rebellion against American troops policing Iraq.
Dr Rogers, who lives at Kirkburton, drew parallels with the aftermath of the death of Saddam's two sons Uday and Qusay. They were killed in a firefight with US special forces.
"We were told the insurgencies were going to end, if anything they got worse."
But he said the capture appeared to be overall good news.
"It will be reassuring to many Iraqis who thought Saddam Hussein would come back."
Roger Keeley, of the Huddersfield Stop The War coalition, said in the short term the capture would end some of the embarrassment for the US and British forces, who had previously failed to find Saddam or Osama bin Laden.
But he added: "The attacks on the US forces will continue and Saddam does not look like a man who was co-ordinating rebellion.
"The troops should come out because the Iraqis themselves are best able to set up their own democracy."
Rumours of Saddam's capture spread through Iraq in the hours before it was officially confirmed at noon yesterday.
America's Paul Bremer, broke the news with the simple words: "We got him."
Troops taking part in Operation Red Dawn used shovels to dig into a cellar where Saddam was hiding.
They surrounded a house in Dour near Saddam's hometown of Tikrit early on Sunday and lay in wait for about four hours.
When Saddam, who had a £16 million bounty on his head, realised US forces were outside, he had moved to a camouflaged bunker-like structure in a cellar.
He was covered in dust and appeared not to have bathed in some days.
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