The executive officers of the Dictators' Hall of Fame are as disgusted with Saddam Hussein as United States President George W. Bush is. In the glare of the international media, they disavow their allegiance to the ousted Iraqi leader and agree that he is indeed a despicable tyrant who deserves what he has coming.
If that means a swift trial, a guilty verdict and execution, so be it, they glower. The humiliation of it all - the 'Tiger of Baghdad' found cowering in a rat-infested pit. The world will be a much better place without him, they declare in unison.
Then, with the television cameras and microphones turned off and the reporters leaving, they adjourn to the executive lounge for much-needed refreshments.
There, the membership secretary scrubs Hussein's gold-lettered name from an honour board and the conversation turns to strongmen of the past and present. Much as in a fishing competition, the talk centres more on the ones that got away rather than those that got caught.
There is, after all, no honour in being a dictator if the lasting image is that of a bewildered, dishevelled wretch peering up from a hole like a cornered rodent. What use did Hussein have for a pistol if he was not even brave enough to use it on himself?
Indeed, what good are weapons of mass destruction if you do not use them as your capital city is falling to foreign troops? Just what sort of a dictator was he anyway?