The timing of the deaths of Saddam's sons could not be better for the White House, writes Conor O'Clery.
In 1919, American marines in Haiti succeeded in killing Charlemagne, the popular leader of a rebellion against US occupation. In a bid to convince a sceptical population that he really was dead, they distributed photographs of the body. But the tactic backfired. The picture made it look as if Charlemagne had been crucified and the rebel commander became a hero.
Americans had a similar problem in Baghdad yesterday in convincing doubtful Iraqis that Uday and Qusay Hussein are really dead. But this time there is little danger that the leaders of Saddam's brutal dictatorship will be turned into martyrs by any display of pictures of their bullet-riddled corpses.
Few Iraqis will mourn the death of men who terrorised the population. Uday was renowned for his brutality, and personally took part in tortures of thousands of Iraqis, including the country's top athletes, according to Human Rights Watch. The death of Qusay will be especially celebrated in the south, where he supervised revenge killings after the 1991 uprising against Saddam.
For both the Americans and the Iraqis the double killing provides the most convincing evidence that the former regime is gone and will not be back. This makes it the most important victory for American forces since the fall of Baghdad on April 9th. Final victory is still far from secure. Saddam remains free and while he is still alive, the war has not been won.
Three days ago a tape purportedly made by the deposed Iraqi leader was broadcast, urging Iraqis to fight on as the will of the people had "not been subdued". But the Americans are now hopeful that the noose around Saddam is tightening and that the removal of his chief henchmen will lessen the fear among Iraqis about violent retribution from elements of the old regime if they co-operate with US forces.
It is self-evident that the Saddam dynasty will not make a comeback. Tuesday's killings are a devastating personal blow to Saddam, who can now be pretty certain that he, too, will be killed rather than captured if found by US troops.
Tuesday's military success also ends a long period of frustration for the Bush regime over the inability of US forces to find its most dangerous enemies. The wanted list still includes Saddam, Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Whether the deaths of Saddam's sons will actually diminish attacks on US soldiers remains to be seen. Perhaps more important in this regard was the subsequent capture of the commander of the Special Republican Guard, Barzan Abd al-Ghafur Sulayman Majid al-Tikriti, who was 11th on the US list of 55 most-wanted figures from the deposed regime.
The guerrilla forces, which yesterday accounted for the deaths of two more American soldiers, bringing the total since May 1st to 41, may not have lost their tactical leadership. But the fact that the brothers survived the war may in itself have encouraged the insurgency by former Baathist members.
The triumph of American forces has strategic consequences. It will relieve the pressure on the Pentagon from members of Congress to increase US troop levels from the present ceiling of 148,000 to combat the insurgency. It is seen as a success for the tactic of "focused intelligence" advocated by the new Gulf region commander, Gen John Abizaid, rather than just putting more "boots on the ground".
After the euphoria dies down, questions are likely to be asked in Washington about why there was no attempt to take the brothers alive. Qusay was believed to know everything about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programmes.
But for now there is only jubilation. The timing could not have been better for the White House. It distracts attention from the failure to find weapons of mass destruction and the furore over the credibility of pre-war claims by the Bush administration about the dangers posed by the Baghdad regime.
White House officials have been contradicting themselves responding to the claim that President Bush included discredited intelligence in his January State of the Union message. The President's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice last week fingered the CIA but on Tuesday her top aide, Stephen Hadley, took the blame for inserting the false claim in the speech. Hadley reportedly offered his resignation to the President but it was refused. This was inside news in yesterday's American dailies.
The news from Iraq also coincides with a decision by the Bush administration to mount a major damage-control offensive against the drumbeat of US casualties and criticism over botched post-war planning. Ambassador Paul Bremer has been in Washington this week talking up the progress made in Iraq.
Yesterday he outlined a 60-day plan to restore electric power to pre-war levels, resume criminal courts, provide a mobile telephone system and recruit and train a battalion of a new Iraq army and eight battalions of a new civil defence force.
He has been telling Congress that Iraq could have a constitutional conference as early as September, rather than a year from now, and a sovereign government within a year.
President Bush, in an appearance in the Rose Garden with Mr Bremer by his side, said the goal of the US "is to turn over authority to Iraqis as soon as possible" but he acknowledged that the rebuilding of Iraq would require a "sustained commitment" from the US. He signalled that the US was in no hurry to seek another resolution that would draw in countries that have turned down troop requests, like Russia and India, without a specific UN mandate.
The time for making the post-war administration work is running out and the Bush administration may yet have to make room for outside help. But the demise of the Hussein brothers may have helped convince Washington that the tide is at last turning in their favour and they can still do it on their own.