Twain would have regarded Saddam as a despicable despot. Bush he would have just regarded as simply despicable. Of course, this is based only on how he responded to bloodthirsty characters such as King Leopold and imperialist adventurer presidents such as McKinley and Teddy. We have many other delights Twain would have enjoyed being dead for: Don't forget Enron, Halliburton, and wardrobe malfunctions along with the bluenoses who find titillation (and masturbation) more offensive than mass murder. We could go on at length. The one good thing he may have liked to be alive for may have been the Red Sox. But who knows, he may have been a Yankee fan . . . Hilton Obenzinger Stanford University