As the entire world now knows, Saddam Hussein, armed with a pistol, was captured alive and unharmed by American troops on Saturday.

Domestically, President Bush has one hell of a reelection campaign commercial. Imagine the video of that Army doctor checking Saddam's fillings, with the sonorous voiceover: "Once a tyrant, now a prisoner. He will never threaten America again." Or words to that effect. Every time a Democrat complains of quagmire, the White House will be able to roll that videotape and say – with no little exaggeration – "We are winning."

Hell, even Howard Dean might have to admit that capturing Saddam was "probably a good thing" – but don't count on it.

In Iraq, the Former Regime Loyalists have lost their titular leader and a major source of cash. However, that's not the end of their fight against us. Teamed with al Qaeda fighters and bored young men with nothing better to do than shoot up Americans, they'll have to be rooted out just like Saddam was, or killed like Saddam's sons were. The lesson they must now learn is: Not even the Big Guy was safe; you're next.

Speaking of learning lessons, after any major combat action, American forces write up a "Lessons Learned" study. In it, they try to figure out what went wrong, what went right, and how those lessons can be applied to future actions. It's about time our enemies did the same.

By turning Saddam over to the new Iraqi authorities, we have shown that, like Sal Tessio in The Godfather, our war against Saddam was "just business, nothing personal." Yesterday, we had Saddam in a known location. We didn't, as the BBC seems saddened to hear, simply level the place with a MOAB. We didn't go in with guns blazing, killing civilians left and right in a hateful fury. Instead, soldiers armed with shovels dug the coward out of his hidey-hole. Soon he'll be tried (and probably hanged) by the Iraqi people whom he once imprisoned.

Today's lesson is not the one we taught them in the '90s. Then, those who would oppose us learned they could do so with relative impunity. President Clinton taught them that lesson, and we, the people, mostly encouraged him. In the first World Trade Center bombing, we showed them they could try to rearrange New York City without fear of retribution. In Haiti, we showed that a few untrained boys with old rifles could keep the United States Marines from coming ashore. In Somalia, we told them that 18 dead soldiers were enough to make us cut and run. In Kosovo, we gave them a demonstration of the new American definition of victory – that even a single American casualty was too many.

But, as the cliché goes, 9/11 changed everything. This isn't the '90s anymore. We proved that two years ago in Afghanistan, and Saddam should have learned something from the new example, rather than clinging to the older lessons.

The lessons there were legion. Harm us, and we will come after you. Train terrorists to kill us, and we will destroy the camps and drive you into caves. Hide in caves, and we will burn you out of them. And we also demonstrated that if you subjugate your own people, we will liberate them and turn them against you. We will give you fair warning, we will give you a chance to mend your ways, but in the end, do not doubt our resolve, our means, or our effectiveness.

Saddam chose not to listen. Saddam chose not to learn. Saddam thought the lessons of Afghanistan didn't apply to him. Saddam is now in a prison cell of his own making.

Saddam failed to learn the most important lesson of this new war: Do not mess with us.