It's the end of the line. Saddam or no Saddam, the Ba'athists are being bled of manpower:

U.S. forces have launched more than two dozen raids in northern Iraq in the past 24 hours as part of an operation aimed at killing or capturing Saddam Hussein, U.S. military officials said Monday.

The raids - centered around Saddam's ancestral homeland of Tikrit - netted 46 people, including a local resistance leader and two former midlevel officials in the Iraqi government, officials said.

Given that the Iraqi people - when not frightened into submission - have no loyalty to the fallen regime, the Allies are clearly chopping away at a finite enemy. Dangers to countrymen and occupiers will continue, but it seems that Ba'athist involvement may find itself capped in the history books at just a few months following the end of major operations ("A stubborn but quickly dismantled Ba'athist resistance"). Good news as well on measuring the depth of Saddam's lies:

During another raid Thursday, this time in Baghdad, Abdullah Abbus Khandush, an Iraqi scientist associated with Saddam's nuclear programs, surrendered to U.S. authorities, according to U.S. defense officials. They said he was cooperating with U.S. authorities.

At some point, most of those with knowledge of Iraq's weapons programs will either be able to overcome fear of retaliation (more likely with the coerced) or else be offered enough clemency to perform under interrogation (high-level Ba'athists with little to lose). Add this to David Kay's anticipated report and the pro-liberation argument will soon gain another victory in debate for President Bush - and on the ground, for the Iraqi people.