CHICAGO, December 14 (IslamOnline.net) - On the morning hours of Sunday, December 14, Americans opened their eyes to news of capturing the long chased down ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein filling the broadcast channels and the Internet.

The news came as some U.S. broadcasting channels covered the Press conference showing Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him." And as Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who leads U.S.-led occupation troops in Iraq, telling reporters that they have captured Hussein through a 600 military men operation without firing a single bullet or hurting him.

Marked as a day of joy by many analysts and politicians who poured into through live telecast, many saw in the news a triumph to Bush’s campaign in Iraq and a challenge in the coming Presidential campaign.

“Hallelujah. Praise the Lord,” said Senator Joseph Lieberman, “this is a day of glory to American military”.

The capture of Hussein played itself into two major issues at least in the early hours after the breaking of the news, reflecting on the process of trying the former Iraqi President and its impact on the Presidential race between the Republicans led by George W. Bush and the democratic contenders and even more closely on how this will reflect on the Howard Dean and other contenders within the Democratic party.

“This is a great day for the American people,” said Senator Richard Lugar, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on NBC’s Meet the Press adding that this will give momentum to the mission of former State Secretary James Baker to Europe to help ease the financial debt of Iraq towards Russia and other European counterparts.

The expected trial (of Saddam) has been a focal point of discussion. On the same program, Senator Joseph Lieberman, a presidential race contender advocated the capital punishment for Saddam Hussein.

“This evil man has to face the death penalty,” Lieberman said, suggesting that he is to be brought to the U.S. for trial since the Hague International Court does not apply the sentence of death penalty for convicted war criminals.”

But other U.S. politicians expressed their concern towards the importance of building the trial within the right procedures especially as the U.S.-installed Iraqi Governing Council is still in its evolving phases and the political power has not yet been consolidated in Iraq.

The issue of how efficient and impartial are the Iraqi justices but who mostly served under the rule of the Hussein is another factor that plays to whether a trial within the current fragile Iraqi system could be carried out or not.

“You have to establish security before trying Saddam, he can become a martyr in the eyes of the people,” said Senator Pat Roberts in the same show warning against a hasty trial.

While others including Senator Joe Biden (D- Delaware) saw in Saddam’s trial a golden opportunity to sell the American views on Saddam and justify their presence in Iraq to the Arab and Muslim masses, stressing that the importance of the right procedures to be built into the trial of the ousted Iraqi President.

“If you put a forensic case against him it will show that we’re not going in for the oil, but we will show to all the Arab and Muslims what this man did to Muslims by killing them,” Biden told Tim Russet.

On the other hand, commentaries on the U.S. Presidential campaign keeps pouring in discussing how the latest development could well play into the campaigns.

It is quite clear that President Bush will use the capture as a tool to boost his image and echo into his campaign. Yet analysts said that it was premature to tell how far the imprisonment of Hussein will curb the resistance or will affect the insurgents’ activities resulting in decline in American forces’ casualties in Iraq and therefore decrease the pressure of Americans opposing the war on the domestic politics.

Analysts saw in the capture of Hussein a major blow to the campaign of Howard Dean who seemed to be leading the Democratic contenders so far.

Dean has opposed the war on Iraq but has been accused of not having a plan for the U.S. foreign policy. As Al Gore backed Dean in his position on Iraq and not Lieberman although they led together the quest for the U.S. Presidency in 2000, Lieberman saw in the capture of Hussein a setback to Dean and Gore yet opted to appeal to different sections of the American people by downplaying the partisan issue.

“Drop the label,” he told Russet saying that it was a joyful day for both Democrats and Republicans.

But others saw that this Presidential campaign will be more influenced by any potential future “terrorist attacks” against the U.S. and how the contenders will react to such a threat in deciding who could possibly win the Presidential seat.