SADDAM’S CAPTURE is already yielding benefits:

“We’ve already gleaned intelligence value from his capture,” Hertling said. “We’ve already been able to capture a couple of key individuals here in Baghdad. We’ve completely confirmed one of the cells. It’s putting the pieces together and it’s connecting the dots. It has already helped us significantly in Baghdad.”

The intelligence has also given the U.S. military a far clearer picture of the guerrillas’ command and control network in the city, and has confirmed the existence of rebel cells whose existence was previously only suspected, Hertling said.

From the initial batch of successes, Hertling said it was apparent that Saddam still played some role in leading the anti-U.S. insurgency.

“I’m sure he was giving some guidance to some key figures in this insurgency,” Hertling said.

Meanwhile, Jim Geraghty looks at some questions about the hunt for Saddam.