DEAD OR ALIVE...THE $64,000 QUESTION.

On Monday, the arrest of Mr. Hussein's closest confidant, Abid Hamid Mahmoud al-Tikriti, who was No. 4 on an American most-wanted list, raised some hope of obtaining more conclusive information about the former Iraqi leader. The presumption was that Mr. Mahmoud was more likely to have detailed knowledge about what happened to him than almost anyone else in the former government.

At the same time, American officials' optimism about Mr. Mahmoud's capture, near Mr. Hussein's stronghold of Tikrit, has been mixed with disappointment that he was not found to have been hiding with the former president, as some intelligence analysts had suspected.

Mr. Mahmoud's success in eluding capture for nearly two months in a country occupied by nearly 150,000 American soldiers underscored what intelligence officials said was the reality that Iraq still offered many hiding places even for a figure of of Mr. Hussein's prominence.

Conventional wisdom seems to be tilting toward alive. Read about it here.