A friend of mine visiting from Amman tells me how Jordanians are in despair over the loss of a great leader. Saddam, that is. It's strange that they should still think that way with the large number of Iraqis living in Jordan, who escaped Saddam's wrath. Any one of them must surely have a horror story to tell.

Every time my friend argued with them that Saddam's departure was the best thing to happen to Iraq, they accused him of being "pro-Kuwaiti"!!