Pres. Bush: Hussein's Execution a Milestone
U.S. President George W. Bush has called the execution of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's an "important milestone" as the Middle Eastern country travels on the rocky road to democracy, saying the event marks the end of a difficult year for both the Iraqi people and U.S. troops.
In a statement issued from his ranch in the U.S. state of Texas, Bush said the execution was a signpost showing how far the Iraqi people had come since Saddam's rule, underscoring the role of American troops in that process.
But the U.S. President stopped short of triumphalism, warning that there would be further difficult choices and further sacrifices for the U.S. troops.
For the sake of "the safety and security of the American people," he said that troops should not "relent in ensuring that Iraq's young democracy continues to progress."
The execution follows some three years of legal maneuvering on the part of the former Iraqi leader who ruled for some thirty years before being flushed out of an underground hideaway near his hometown of Tikrit in December 2003.
The present Bush administration has blamed the deposed leader for mass executions in the several hundreds of thousands.
Saddam was finally sentenced to death this November for the murder of 148 Shiite Muslims from a town where an attempt on his life was foiled in 1982.
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