American and British troops have captured all the primary cities in Iraq and are facing little to no resistance now. The war with Iraq is over.

A swift war by any standard, this leaves Americans wondering what the next step will be.

Our job in Iraq is far from complete and will not be complete until we put a “no-doubt” ending on the story. We must rid Iraq of the threat of Saddam or his cronies brandishing their way back into power a few years from now.

We owe it to the Iraqi people to free them completely from the fear of future dictatorship whether by Saddam or any others who desire to ransack an already broken country.

Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi, Iraq’s former prime minister, was taken into custody Monday.

Al-Zubaydi is the most senior member of Saddam’s regime to be captured and is No. 18 on the U.S. list of most wanted Iraqi leaders.

Central Command has announced the arrest of six other members of the regime.

The captures and arrests cannot stop until that regime is eliminated completely.

Plans are currently underway to set up a new government with hand-picked leaders of Iraq’s finest. Once the system of government is established and life in Iraq stabilizes, our troops can and should return home.

Yet slipping into the background is a once-powerful leader whose dead-or-alive status is in question.

Supposing Saddam is alive, he has taken with him a regime of people capable of the cruelest kinds of torture and a regime of people who would like to be back in power.

We have fought for the freedom of Iraq and to save the rest of the world from possible attack.

In our attempts to find and destroy weapons, we must not forget the dictator who made those weapons possible and sought to use them for the demise of others.