The village of Hillsborough was celebrating liberation last night after one of the strangest events in recent Irish history. The war and peace summit stretched credibility and security in almost equal measure and, of the two, it was the security that stood up better.
The environs of Hillsborough Castle were more tightly sealed during the past two days than the nearby Maze prison ever was.
But the weird collision of cultures involving the US, Britain, the Middle East and Ireland was dramatised in the media village, two miles away at the Sprucefield Shopping Centre.
Symbolising the new Anglo-American world order, journalists were located in a carpark between Marks and Spencers and the drive-thru McDonald's.
Here, Abu Dhabi TV rubbed shoulders with TG4, and as they questioned politicians emerging from Hillsborough's sanitised area, exchanges bordered on the surreal. One Arab reporter, perhaps frustrated at Gerry Adams's enthusiasm for discussing the Northern peace process in Irish, implored him to "say more about your attitude to the war".
The Sinn Féin leader said he wanted to "see the war ended", and used other measured phrases about the Middle East which sounded oddly familiar to local ears.
If he'd added that he wanted to see a situation where all the guns were taken out of Iraqi politics, nobody would have blinked.
The shotgun marriage of Irish and Middle Eastern peace processes was at least a social success, with phrases from both mingling cordially. For example, SDLP leader Mark Durkan spoke of the need to relocate the "road map" of the Belfast Agreement.
Journalists straining to hear him wished a road map had been available to the summit organisers before they located the interview area next to the busy Sprucefield roundabout.
Even so, Monica McWilliams negotiated the cordon sanitaire and the roundabout to report an "extremely heated" exchange of views with President Bush. If Mr Bush thought he was in charge of the allied forces, he hadn't reckoned with the Women's Coalition which, according to Monica, gave him an earful about the war.
"He said his wife tells him he always gets the last word, but we told him he wasn't getting it with us," said Ms McWilliams.
In fact, she added, he did, although the meaning of his parting shot - "Peace in Northern Ireland, peace in Iraq" - was not immediately obvious.
Otherwise, Mr Bush tiptoed through the minefield of Irish politics without incident. But then, risks had been kept to a minimum.
This was nothing like the Clinton visits, with no walkabouts and no rallies.
Hillsborough Castle is a ideal place for couples seeking peace and quiet (or just quiet), and from the way George Bush and Tony Blair gazed at each other during yesterday's press conference, the chemistry had obviously worked.
If two's company, three was a crowd. But Bertie Ahern's arrival was tacked on to the end of the war summit and, tellingly, his press conference afterwards was interrupted by the roar of Mr Blair's helicopter as it departed Hillsborough.